DIYbanter - View Single Post

Clare Snyder

On Tue, 02 Apr 2019 21:52:22 -0400, wrote:

On Tue, 2 Apr 2019 18:42:05 -0700 (PDT), TimR
wrote:

On Tuesday, April 2, 2019 at 5:03:15 PM UTC-4, Ralph Mowery wrote:
In article ,
says...

Could be as simple as a short in the thermostat wires, maybe from some rodent.
Whatever it is, if you have reasonable DIY skills you can probably fix it
for not much, maybe $25 for a relay, worst case I guess it could be a
control board. With a HVAC tech, you're pretty much at their mercy
and they can hose you right proper if they want to.

Yea, thay can really hose you.

A couple of years ago on a Saturday the AC quit. Called the man and was
told it would be a minimum of $ 100 for him to come out. Ok with that.

He got here and replaced a bad motor capacitor in about 15 minuits. I
was tlaking with him, and he was open and frindly. Gave me osme
pointers about it. He then asked me what I though the capacitor would
cost. I told him they paid less than probably $ 25 for it and the
markup was about double , so $ 50. He said the company had a fixed rate
of $ 300 for the capacitor repair.

Yeah. The local (but highly rated) HVAC repair charged me 85 to show up, and $250 for the cap. It was $12 at the local supply, but they wouldn't sell to me as I'm not a contractor.

HVAC suppliers are real pricks when it comes to homeowners but they
are not the only place that sells motor capacitors.
As long as it's not gas related or refrigerant I've been able to buy
anything I need under my cpmpany name