OT- Air Conditioner unit relay

[gahorN]

My friend called me last week to ask what to do about his central AC unit. He said his Inside unit was running fine, but putting out hot air, but his outside unit was silent. I was out of state and told him if he could confirm it had electrical power to it, then by long-distance I could not do much, for him to call an AC repairman. He did not have sufficient confidence in his skills to check for electrical power but he said the outside unit was absolutely "silent" and the circuit breaker was not "popped", ...so he called an AC repairman and the guy condemned the compressor/condenser unit and wanted to sell him a replacement for $1700. The repairman told him the city (Dallas) would soon require that all new units not use freon and instead use a friendlier refrigerant, therefore now was the time to convert and he could do the whole house for $3200.

My friend called me back to ask if that was reasonable and I suggested he try to find a used unit. I suggested he ask the guy how many "whole units" of the new type he's installed lately, and how many of the units he'd removed had serviceable compressor/condenser units and what would he sell a used unit for.

Long story shorter is that a local home-builder overheard the story and offered to install a new (freon) compressor/condenser unit for $1300, so my friend did it and feels good about it. Fine.

Now, here it is Friday, July 3rd, and I wake up to find the temp inside my own house to be 83-degrees. It's only 80 outdoors. :shock:

Wouldn't you know...day before a holiday weekend and I've got a full day or work already laid out to get ready for guests and my damn AC unit has failed! What's the chance of anyone making a service-call and being able to fix it on the 3rd of July? Yep. Zip.

The inside "air handler" unit is running, sSo I go ouside and find my outside compressor/condeser unit not running. I remove the side-panel and check for electrical power and find 240 volts at the input side of some complicated "relay" which is "humming' ... but no power on the output side where the wires go to the compressor and condenser fan. I cut a couple pieces of wire and jumpered across the relays 240-volt connectors and ....VOILA!... the compressor and fan start running! Yayyy!

I drive over to Marble Falls, TX (nearest town) to the AC distributor (Robt. Madden Inc (RMI) and the guy is helping a customer. I wait my turn. The customer leaves and I ask the guy if he can help me find a replacement relay, part number (I had copied the number off the failed relay) and he said he didn't have that exact part but he had a generic replacement.

Fine. How much?

$16.75.

I pull out my checkbook and he says, "and there's a Fifty-Dollar "opening fee" because it's Fridaythe 3rd, day before the holiday." I thought he was joking.

He wasn't. He said it would be $16.75 plus the $50 for selling it to me on the 3rd of July.

I forgot my anger-management courtesies at that point, and reminded him I'd bought a $7,000 AC unit from him 8 years ago and it'd be the LAST time I EVER buy anything from him again. I stormed out.

Now, I'm sitting in my Jeep, sweltering in the heat and wondering if I hadn't made a serious mistake by losing my temper and telling-off perhaps the only guy in this small town who might have the part I need before my house-guests start showing up for the weekend.

I drove down to ACE hardware, asked the guy there if he sold central AC unit relays, and he asked, "thirty or Forty ampss?" He had a generic replacement for $35. I bought it, installed it, and life is good and cool inside my home.

Morals:
1- That knothead at RMI could have simply told me the relay was $66.75 and I'd have paid it and been on my way, happy as a lark with him and his company for so conveniently having the part, and I'd never have known the part was really much cheaper.

2- I now love the locally-owned ACE hardware and will always check with them first for anything I ever need.

3- I'd be willing to bet that the friend in Dallas wasted $1300 and only needed the same relay, but I haven't the heart to tell him my story.

I'll bet you guys all knew better.

If you didn't already,....you do now.

 

[Tom N MS]

$50 opening fee..thought I had heard of every way imaginable to steal a dollar.I Hope he never sells another dimes worth of anything..

 

[BLDFW]

I had a similar problem last week. I was out in my front yard when I heard a squealing noise from the outside compressor. Sounded like a bearing going out but it went away. I paid close attention to it all day and then took a nap but woke up to the house starting to warm up but the blower was still running. I checked the condensor and found it had stopped but could hear an electrical current sound so I turned off the power and called the AC company that I bought the system from 8 years ago. The earliest they could come out was 3-7p the next day (high temps=busy). So I stayed the night at my mothers.

I met the AC guy at the house the next day. You know you're being set up for bad news when the first thing he says walking toward the Carrier unit is "oh, that's an expensive motor". Uh huh. Then when I explained the squealing noise, he says it sounds like it's "over amping". Then he hooks up his little meter and hits a reset button and says "oh yeah, it's jumping to 3 amps. Definitely over amping." In the meantime, the fan and compressor running just as it should be without a chirp.

o-v-e-r-a-m-p-i-n-g...?? Uh huh. Then he tells me that I have a bad fan motor and that he'll go back to his truck to find out what a replacement one would cost. Uh huh...... He comes back a couple of mins later and tells me it will be $465.00 to replace the fan motor or I could replace the whole condenser for $3495.00. I look at him like he's nuts and scowl and remind him the system is only 8 years old and that it doesn't need to be replaced.

I may not be 100% familiar with the fine mechanical aspects of an outdoor AC condensor unit, but when he says I have a bad fan motor and the system is running just fine as we stand there, it don't take a genius to figure out he's trying to gouge me. I tell him skip it, I'll research it on the internet and tell him to pack it in. As soon as he left, I cranked up the AC and it ran without a problem.

I contact AAA motors in Dallas and they have an equivalent fan motor on hand for $80.00. I went out the next day and bought it, installed it myself, and it's been running without a problem since. I had to pay the AC guy a $58.00 service fee and $81.00 for the new motor and consider myself lucky for getting off so cheap. I'll never use that service again. It was really clear they thought they had an idiot on their hands and would pay whatever they would charge to fix it.

Sorry, no idiot here!

 

[Dunk]

I worked as a HVAC Tech, Electrician, and well pump man for at least 15 years.

My employer for the most of that time, was not good at giving raises no matter how much money you was making for him. Usually I would have to quit to get a raise, and then get hired back with a dollar an hour raise.

Anyhow, at one point I quit him, and went to work as a HVAC Tech for a company up close to Atlanta.

These folks did business by the tactics mentioned above, Oh, you need a relay, we want to sell you a complete system.

I was not raised that way, and I could never do business like that, so needless to say I didn't last long with that company.

What I am pleased to say is that the company didn't last long after that either, and were ran out of GA due to unscrupulous business practices.

 

[Tom N MS]

Good...

 

[Den N Ms]

Hearing that story makes me wonder how many people will get shafted by HVAC repairman in the next few years.The R22 to R410 changeover will get millions of people, just like the R12 to R134 did the auto industry.Only with the R22-R410 changeover every thing will have to be changed out.None of the components will be compatible.So Get Ready and Bend Over!

 

[Billie R. Smith]

Dont know if you guys have a nasty little bug called an Earwig or not,but the stinking things have conked out my ac twice and my neighbors once. They seek out moisture ,which they find in the relay /looks like a set of point thingie,and stop the contacts from connecting. If mine quits again first thing I do is hit it with compressed air.

 

[Tom N MS]

Their day will also come......They might steal it now but they will repay..

 

[Anonymous-0]

Going rate for supply house to open after hrs.

Sometimes the counter guys make more money after hours, $75.00 each customer, than working normal hrs. Money goes direct to counterperson.

I try to work with residential customers the best I can. Most are impossible. They will NOT call their homeowner's insurance agent when most of the calls I get are storm related. They would rather pay out of their pocket and raise "he$$" about how much I charge. Usually the insurance company will pay for complete change over to the new SEER equipment. And most times that requires a new furnace, too.

I am glad I only get called as a last resort. Residential customers can actually drive one to the WHITE COATS, if you let 'em. John,PA

 

[gahorN]

(quoted from post at 19:02:08 07/05/09) Going rate for supply house to open after hrs.

Sometimes the counter guys make more money after hours, $75.00 each customer, than working normal hrs. Money goes direct to counterperson.

I try to work with residential customers the best I can. Most are impossible. They will NOT call their homeowner's insurance agent when most of the calls I get are storm related. They would rather pay out of their pocket and raise "he$$" about how much I charge. Usually the insurance company will pay for complete change over to the new SEER equipment. And most times that requires a new furnace, too.

I am glad I only get called as a last resort. Residential customers can actually drive one to the WHITE COATS, if you let 'em. John,PA

Firstly, it was not after-hours in the normal-world. It was 11 AM on a Friday.

Secondly, he was already open serving another customer when I arrived. Perhaps it was a "closed day before the holiday" thing with that company, but I'll bet he'd already made his "opening" fee off the previous customer.

He simply has lost a customer ...FOREVER... and will spend a lot of money on advertising in an effort to attract customers that I will discourage by word-of-mouth for the rest of my lifetime here.

 

[Sweating in Florida]

Any one with experience with the Mitsubisi Type system? My AC is nearing the end, has been requiring fill ups every year. Now the R22 for it is going for $300 a bottle, vs about $65 a few years back.
Second problem being that rodents get into my attic space, must be working there way up from under the crawl space. They can chew through the new duct work anytime they are in the mood.
So that"s why I was thinking of the newer Mr. Slim type units where only two gas lines pass through from the outside compressor. No duct work, and the SEER level is high.