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PostPosted: Fri Jul 12, 2019 5:54 pm 
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Location: Rolling Meadows, IL. USA
:OT:
In our area some the heating and cooling companies have been telling customers that it is illegal to re charge R-22 systems .
IN ALL MOST ALL CASES IT IS NOT! this is a scam!
I went and looked at a system today where a customer was told he MUST replace his system, it was illegal to repair after checking the system it needed nothing.
The other scam is the out door unit only makes a loud hum and does not run it is very often just a bad capacitor not a dead compressor, several people have been told they needed a new system and come to find out all it needed was a capacitor.
There is enough money to be made without riping off people, the favorite victims are older women. :thumbdown:
All of the above were from large "trusted" companies!
Sorry for the rant but it makes me mad and people need to know.
I have been involved in the HVAC&R business sense 1977

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PostPosted: Fri Jul 12, 2019 7:42 pm 
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Location: Seattle, WA, USA
Hey Monte,

I'm willing to bet that a big reason for the scam is the scarcity of technicians that know R22 systems. In our area, R410a is the only thing anyone is familiar with.

Even if you can find a tech that knows R22, the cost of the refrigerant, which is no longer manufactured, often ends up making the cost of the repair more than a replacement. This was the situation that we found ourselves in when our HVAC unit went TU. All my experience with refrigeration has also been with R22 in large hydro chillers, and so I was very skeptical when the cost analysis was presented, but the numbers were hard to argue with. The upside is that our new R410a unit is more efficient than the old R22 unit.

Cheers,
Tom

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PostPosted: Fri Jul 12, 2019 9:22 pm 
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Location: Rolling Meadows, IL. USA
tms wrote:
Hey Monte,

I'm willing to bet that a big reason for the scam is the scarcity of technicians that know R22 systems. In our area, R410a is the only thing anyone is familiar with.

Even if you can find a tech that knows R22, the cost of the refrigerant, which is no longer manufactured, often ends up making the cost of the repair more than a replacement. This was the situation that we found ourselves in when our HVAC unit went TU. All my experience with refrigeration has also been with R22 in large hydro chillers, and so I was very skeptical when the cost analysis was presented, but the numbers were hard to argue with. The upside is that our new R410a unit is more efficient than the old R22 unit.

Cheers,
Tom

My gripe is with the dishonesty of the companies that say that it is against the law to repair these systems, not when a system is truly dead, I have condemned several myself for leaking coils, bad compressors, ...
"Under the Protocol, which was amended four times since 1988, total United States HCFC production and consumption should be phased out by 2030." https://www.goodmanmfg.com/resources/hv ... -to-r-410a
R-22 was used until 2004 most of those "newer" systems were SEER's of 13 or better witch is the current standard. If a tech can't figure R-22 out he is not much of a tech. At wholesale R-22 around here is considerably less than $20 per pound, one service company was charging $100 per pound.
FYI R-410a (and all of the refrigerants in the R-4**) as well as the R-134a are on the hit list in the near future.

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PostPosted: Sun Jul 28, 2019 8:06 am 
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Location: Lake Burton in the NE Georgia Mountains
Now you've got me worried Monte. Over the past 4 years, I've been required to replace 3 commercial units at my store at considerable cost and now I wonder whether I've been taken advantage of..... how would a consumer know for sure?

Skyrider, aka not so "cool" anymore....


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PostPosted: Sun Jul 28, 2019 2:03 pm 
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Location: Rolling Meadows, IL. USA
Spend the money for an additional call from an other company, do not tell them someone else commended the unit. Most resettable companies will not take offense.

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