I'm sad that there are crooks in the AC field. A couple
years ago, a news team did a sting, and found that many of
the techs who showed up either didn't find the problem (one
wire unconnected) or did other damage while they were
working. That's a shame.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"cjt" wrote in message
...

To a point I agree with you. I lose sight of the fact that
a lot of
people lack the basic skills to even attempt such a task.
I was perhaps lucky, on my first attempt at AC repair, I
peeled the
sheet metal on the outside unit and quickly spotted the
problem.
That emboldened me to go deeper the next time. I do have
fairly
advanced mechanical and electrical skills though, I have
worked as a
auto dealer line mechanic, and the electrical I've picked
up as I
went.
Having owned several older homes you just learn it, if you
have more
desire to learn than money for service calls,
I have replaced nearly every component, over the years, on
various
units, except a compressor, & for that I'd call a pro.

I dealt with thieving HVAC repairmen for years before
becoming disgusted
enough to learn to do much of my own servicing. It's about
the only
business I know where failure of a $20 part can result in a
$2000 repair
bill. That said, there are limits to what one can do
without equipment
that justifies a service call by someone who has it already.