On Wed, 13 Jun 2012 07:09:51 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

On Jun 13, 10:04Â*am, "HeyBub" wrote:
Dottie wrote:
My air conditioner is a Trane. Â*It was installed in August 2007 and we
have had a routine maint. Â*service call every year - no problems until
now. Â*It stopped working sometime Saturday P.M. Â*I noticed that it was
running constantly but the house was warm -- Â*so I cut it off. Â*A man
came yesterday afternoon and the problem is in the part that sits
indoors (as opposed to the compressor which is outside). Â*It will cost
$1200 to fix....parts and labor. Â*The temp here was 94 in the house
with the windows opened - and I'm not brave enough to have them open
at night. Â*Anyway, we only paid a little over $5,000 for the a/c when
new. Â*The service dept is going to call me today and set a time to
come out and work on it - providing they can get the part without a
problem. Â*Question -- when is it more economically smarter to just buy
a new a/c and not try to fix the old one. Â*The part (I was shown) is a
copper part that looks o.k. - it just stopped regulating the freon).
One thing that did tick me off -- the service man who came out was
more interested in selling me a service agreement that would take a
discount off future service calls and parts and include routine
checkups. Â*I have no idea if I will stay here (recent widow) after the
market improves but I am thinking about trying to get smaller place,
less upkeep, and really don't want a three year service agreement.
Just wondering what you'll thought.

It may be too late for you, but others might be interested in my experience.

My 10-year old Trane went belly-up during Hurricane Yikes three years ago -
we suspect rapid cycling on/off of the power caused by the storm.

Anyway, my son has a neighbor who's tuned in to the immigrant Hispanic
community. The neighbor put me on to a chap from Guatamala that does a/c
work for an a/c company during the day and moonlights at night. He, in turn,
was acquainted with one of his countrymen who makes a market in used
compressor units (retrieved from replaced or (I guess) burned down homes).

So, he brings over a two-year old RUDD unit, replaces the kaput Trane,
evacuates the system, and recharges everything.

This takes about 45 minutes starting at 8:00pm.

I give him $750 cash.

That was three years ago and everything is still working swell.

I guess the trick is finding that entry point to the underground economy.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I think the other trick is being very lucky. I wonder
how many of these types of repairs go south? And
when there's $750 involved, not sure I'd play those
odds. I'd also wonder where that 2 year old working
compressor came from. Unless a lot of houses
burn down in TX, I'd bet a lot of them come from
guys stealing AC units. It's a major problem around
the country.
I got one from the neighbours when they put a new furnace and AC unit
in shortly after the previous owner put a new AC in.
I installed it myself and had my nephew, an AC/Refrigeration mechanic
recharge it for me.