08/21/2020
Many of you will, at some time, have to have your furnace or A/C serviced or replaced. This page has been created to give you some basic knowledge of what to expect, how to create a contract that ensures the quality you should expect, and what unscrupulous contractors will attempt to put over on you. I hope this can save some of you from some subsequent headaches.
I had an A/C condenser(outdoor central air unit) installed a little over two years ago. The unit was a four ton unit, quite large, and perhaps too large for the little van they were carrying it in. Upon arrival of the HVAC supervising manager I informed him that they could drive around to the back of my home to drop off the new unit and to have their equipment/tools readily available at the location of their work.
This supervisor failed to contact the crew bringing the condenser unit and they unloaded it in the driveway and removed the boxing. Then when they found they could have driven it around to the back of the house they attempted to load it up again, without the protective box, and slide it on the floor of the van, which had a 3/4" rubber mat on the floor making sliding the unit near impossible. This is when part of the fin damage was caused, because the installers were pushing on the grill of the unit pushing the louvers into the coil fins. More on this later.
Once they were around back they set it off of the van again, but only one installer moved the unit onto the concrete pad 25' from where they set it in the yard. This resulted in the lone installer taking it upon himself to push, manhandle, and whatever verb might be appropriate, the unit into place causing more damage to the coil fins. This A/C unit weighs over 350 # and should NOT have been a one man relocation project.
The photos attached are a revelation of the handling practices of the HVAC crew. One would think when buying a new A/C condensing unit that one would get a new condensing unit, and not one that is in worse shape than a blemished unit or even a factory second.
