HVAC Stands for “Headaches for Virtually All Customers”
When you spend enough time helping home owners diagnose comfort or health issues with their homes it’s easy to get down on the HVAC trade. There are certainly competent and conscientious companies and contractors out there, a few at least, but sadly not enough. We are fortunate to work with one such contractor “Boer Brothers Heating and Cooling” and we rely on them to help us when things are really amiss and we unreservedly recommend them to our customers, knowing full well that our reputation is on the line too. So with that said, why am I so down on the HVAC trade?
I think that the fundamental issue is that your typical residential HVAC system is more forgiving in many respects than say, plumbing, or electrical. If either of those two trades do sloppy work, you either have a light that won’t turn on, your house burns to the ground or you end up with a flooded basement or a big puddle of water on the floor. These are all things that are readily evident to even the most inattentive home owner. Sloppy HVAC work is more subtle. Maybe your house cools, just not very efficiently, or maybe you get a lot of colds or allergy symptoms, but attribute them to the weather or seasons. Most home owners are loathe to go into a crawlspace and look over the ventilation system and many more are simply intimidated by the systems, so they simply trust that their HVAC contractor did a thorough job.
So, what should you look for in a contractor and in a job well done? Here are few tips:
1. Don’t pick the contractor with lowest price, at least not out of the gate. That’s usually a sign that they are going to do the cheapest fastest job they can get by with. You get what you pay for. We are all so used to our WalMart prices we have forgotten that quality workmanship costs more. A contractor spends a lot of money on training himself and his staff, and sharp employees are hard to find. You get and keep good people by investing in them and paying them well and that requires that you charge your customers more.
2. Ask a lot of questions. Things like “how do you seal the duct work?” “do you insulate the inside or the outside of the ducts?” If their answers are not a) with a lot of “mastic” and b) “we prefer to insulate the outside of the ducts” then you are dealing with the wrong contractor. Mastic is the only way to ensure your ducts are properly sealed and stay sealed for the life of the system, and insulation on the inside of the ducts slows air movement (make your system work harder) traps dust, mold and other contaminants (deteriorating air quality over time). Do a little research and don’t be afraid to ask questions. If they can’t explain why they do what they do, find someone else.
3. Ask them what their thoughts are on oversizing vs undersizing the cooling system. An oversized system will cool your house quickly but will not have time to dehumidify the air and will therefore allow the air inside the house to become more humid, causing you the home owner to feel hotter and have to set your thermostat lower to be comfortable. When a house is properly sealed (air sealing) and the duct work is sealed, you can get by with a smaller system that will run a little longer but will do a better job. Overall this will save you money.
4. Ask them if they will examine the integrity of your existing duct system before they install a new system. We have been in many homes where there is a brand new high efficiency system that was just installed and all of the existing duct work is in such poor shape that half the air is going into the attic or crawlspace rather than in the home. We often get these types of calls when the home owner doesn’t understand why their brand new furnace or A/C unit isn’t performing as well as they expected and the contractor didn’t bother telling them they needed additional work on the ducts either because they didn’t want to do it, or because they were afraid they might lose the bid with a higher cost. If a contractor is willing to do the wrong thing just to make a buck, then you definitely have the wrong contractor.
5. Lastly, put on some old pants and shirt, gloves, dust mask, grab a flashlight and get in there and take a look (it’s not as bad as you think usually). Nobody cares as much as you about your house and nothing beats the old “look for yourself”. The saying goes “expect, but inspect”. Turn on the heating or cooling and feel for cold/hot air leaking around the system. Did they do what they said they would do? Did they leave a mess of old parts, dirty ducts, debris lying around? A tidy job site is a good indicator of a conscientious worker and with HVAC, details matter. Is everything connected? don’t be afraid to give things a little tug. Nothing should come apart that easily. Remember that this is your last chance to have them fix anything that wasn’t done right. Once you pay, your leverage is gone. A properly functioning system should not leak conditioned air into the attic or crawlspace, there should be no holes or gaps in any of the joints or connections and all the connecting ducts should show visible evidence of mastic (a usually white paste hardened on all the connections and fittings).
When properly installed, a heating and cooling system can bring comfort and clean air to your home for years and years. When poorly installed, that same system can bring dust, dirt, mold or worse, carbon monoxide into your home. Despite all this, if you aren’t comfortable that you can make a good choice, hire an independent consultant, such as an energy auditor to validate that the work was done correctly. Energy auditors understand the concept of a house as a “system” and can recognize a good install vs. a bad install. Spending a few extra dollars to get a quality install will pay off quickly when it comes to heating and cooling your home and when it comes to your safety why take a chance?
