Air conditioner coils and fan motor

I would call AHS and raise hell. Sounds like a rip off to me.

The entire AHS is a rip off :) A good fan motor for an external condenser up to 4 tons (don't know about bigger ones but those are not common in residential units) can be easily purchased for something like $150. Replacing it is half-hour job for anybody who has even rudimentary skills. Total cost would be less than AHS "copay".

Those home warrenty/insurance companies are all rip offs.

The cost of the motor from a repair man does not surprise me.

A few years ago my AC quit. Called 'One Hour AC people and the man came out, abut 5 minuits said a capacitor was bad. Relpaced it and was about $ 350 for the bill. The capacitor should now be over $ 50 allowing for a large markup that is usually charged and I was told it would be $ 100 just for the man to come out. That ment I got ripped out of about $

I hae bought a capacitor and relay for it off ebay for about $ 25 total for my 'insurance'. The capacitor the man put in only lasted about 2 years, and my ebay one has been in longer than that.

The repair companies have to keep certain parts in stock or know a place to buy them locally. My last company had around a $ 2 million stock only because of telephone stock for emergencies. No local place to buy locally.

No dice on the dirty condenser causing the motor bearings to fail. It was just age. And $750 for motor, fan and cleaning is way over priced. I would contest the bill. Maybe you can get an estimate from the motor installer's competitors to compare. You can be sure that AHS wouldn't have paid $750 for that repair. Ask them how much they would have paid. Eric

Sure they do. My dad worked as an appliance repar man from about 1950 to 1965. The company he worked for would usually mark the parts up about double. That is why I would not have minded paying $ 50 for a $

It is hard telling how much repair stock the company I worked for had but probably in the millions. This was a very large industrial plant. Some parts were stocked by companies 50 miles away, some parts had to be specially made and could take weeks or longer.

Very few professional repairers will provide service for these aftermarket warranty companies because they don't pay anywhere near the going rate. I still get calls from these companies and I had to threaten one to stop call ing.

Around these parts, we call these warranty "technicians" trunk monkeys, bec ause they often don't even have a truck but work out of their car. When th ey're not doing warranty work they pick up bottles and cans on the roadside - it's about the same pay they make doing the warranty work.

So what happened is that the thief the warranty company sent out to look at your AC figured he'd get $750 out of you instead of the $225 that they wou ld pay him.

To make sure, he threw you under the bus.

I don't know if your state has a board that oversees licensing, but you sho uld make a formal complaint.

The first thing you should do is cancel the warranty. You should also go on social media and blast both the thief and the warranty provider. I'm sure folks will be thrilled to hear how this thief told the warranty company it was your fault.

If you do, post it here and I'll share it.

Over here people are often warned not to use google to find repairmen in case of equipment/plumbing failure as there are loads of "middlemen" that list themselves as "24h service at home" companies and then have regular self-employed workers that they send off and that have to pay hefty amounts to the middlemen to get those jobs. This results in customers being overcharged like 5 times above what would be normal rates.

Apparently that "AHS" is a similar company, with an insurance policy in addition to the scam. I would not be surprised when they pay in only a very small fraction of the cases. A repairman usually has no problem in pointing out some "your own fault" thing to an unknowing consumer.

The one my wife called was advertised on TV. The man showed up in a truck with all the lego on it for that company and he had a paper that listed 5 ot 6 groups of standard charges. We were on the lowest as it was just a capacitor replacement that took maybe 10 minuits from the time he left his truck looked at the AC and went back to his truck and replaced the capacitor. It was over $ 300 for that.

Not only for the capacitor, but also for the TV ADs.

All of these anecdotes remind me of the complaints about TV repair men char ging $50 to replace a 25-cent capacitor if you brought it in to the shop, a nd $100 if he came out to your place. The argument always was that part of the charge was for knowing which part to replace.

That is why I had no problem when I was told it would be $ 100 just for the man to come out. Not for him to add over $ 200 more for a $ 15 part that took 10 minuits to find and install. I would have allowed him $ 50 for the markup on the part.

Save money; don't watch!

Mike.

I think that one was more like:

- 25c to replace capacitor

- 49.75 to know which one.

(not really depending on location)

However, that is a different thing. What this discussion is about is more the charging of $250 for a repair that reasonably would cost $50, just because of the middlemen involved and their scheme of scamming people in dispair.

Right. I just had some painting done on the house. I told the painter I did not want an itimized list of what all he used, just how much the job would cost. I don't care if he bought paint for $ 50 a gallon because he gets a discount and the list price is $ 70 a gallon.

It gets me when I go to the car dealer to have the standard service of oil change, tires rotated, and a few other things when I get it safety inspected as required by the state. They list many things even like the shop towels they wipe their hands with and the disposal fee for the old oil. I know they have to wipe and wash their hands and get rid of the old oil. All I need is the bottom line cost, or if they have to do anything extra like install new wiper blades or light bulbs to pass the inspection.

When I paid the AC man to come out for $ 100 I was expecting that to cover his trip and other odd things. As it only took him 10 minuits to find and replace, I feel ripped off getting charged $ 300 for the $ 15 capacitor. I felt like the bill should have been more like $ 150 total. Now if he had taken a lot of time to find a difficult problem, a higher charge would be required.

In many cased it is not the actual part cost, but the over all charge that I complain about. Had I not known that a capacitor should not be over $ 25 (their cost) I might have thought $ 200 for a part may be reasonable.

The point (at least my point) was not what a reasonable cost of a repair would be, that of course depends on a lot of things not the least of which is the local standard of living.

My point is that with the reasonable cost of some repair being e.g. $50, there exist companies that make effort to be at the top of search results for such repairs, and then overcharge by at least 5 times. Often relying on customers that do not ask first what it will cost, will not shop around to compare offers, or are in immediate need of help. And in this scheme, the companies advertising the service are not even providing it themselves, they are middlemen that only operate a service to take orders from customers (by telephone, or these days by phone app) and pass them on to existing people performing the service.

Sometimes they even provide some "subscription/insurance" service that is part of the scam, in that you pay some premium for "guaranteed repair at no cost" of certain things, then find that your particular repair is not covered by the scheme.

Actually, over 28 years with these guys we've made out pretty well... a couple of new water heaters, a new furnace, a couple of under slab leaks, total rebuild of the condensers parts (except fan motor) and much more. But there is no denying they can be a pain in the ass with "second opinions" and arguments over coverage.

Yep, it would have come down differently if I had been here. I would have told him to get back in his truck and buzz off. A few of AHS's contractors are actually honest and I would have tried to get one of those for a "second opinion".

The type or maker/model of the A/C would be helpful.

The fan motor has another purpose besides blowing air through the cooling coils. Some air conditioner models use the condenser fan blade to transfer excess drain water onto the condenser coils; if the drain port becomes clogged, the excess water can cause the unusual noise as the fan blades slosh through it. Drain the excess water and make sure the port is no longer plugged to clear up this problem. (...) The fan motor bearings and/or bushings can become worn over time and cause the unusual noise. They can also become worn if the blower wheel is unbalanced, which happens when there is a buildup of dirt because the air filter has not been changed. When the fan motor becomes noisy on a window air conditioner unit, it means it needs to be replaced.

Note the comment about the unbalanced fan and dirty filter.

If the drain is clogged, the fan will splatter water all over the insides of the air conditioner causing any unprotected steel to eventually rust. I personally haven't seen a clogged drain hole ruin a bearing, but I can see how it might be possible.

I didn't see any mention that the air conditioner was making (bearing) noises. In my limited experiences with motors, they always announce impending failure through vibration, noises, smoke, and eventually trip the overload protector. Because, it was not mentioned, I'll assume that there was no vibration, noise, or smog prior to the motor "failure". If the fan had been unbalanced by excessive and unsymmetrical dirt buildup, it certainly would have vibrated and/or made noises. Because the condenser coils are not moving, some dirt on the condenser coils is unlikely to cause a motor unbalance. However, some dirt on the fan might cause an unbalance. If the A/C or motor had a thermal breaker, it would have tripped long before any overheating would cause a bearing failure.

Do you do this regularly? "Cleaning Air Conditioner Coils (How To Video)"

If there was no vibration, noise or smoke, my guess(tm) is all that happened was the A/C tripped an over current breaker. Since it happened while you were away, I'll further speculate that the noiseless "failure" was either caused by a change in the way the A/C was operated by the cat sitter, or a power surge delivered the electric utility. I'm a little suspicious why it would fail while you were out of the area.

If the repairman specified that dirt on the condenser coils caused a bearing failure, I suspect he's a crook and should be treated as such. However, if he indicated that dirt on the fan blades caused the motor failure, he might be correct. Since there was no mention of vibration, noise, or smoke, I suspect the former, and a complaint should be filed with AHS.

Also, please note that in California, repair shops are required to "offer" the old parts to the customer. You might want to ask the repair guy for the old motor so you could have a motor shop inspect the bearing. If he balks or provides creative excuses, you will have a good clue as to his honesty.