HVAC Maintenance Plans Worth It Las Vegas
Many HVAC companies offer their clients a maintenance program with system installations or repairs. In fact, A Tech Heating and Cooling has its own preventative maintenance plan which home owners can benefit from.
Depending on the amount of services required by the HVAC unit or system, contracts can run anywhere from $150 to $500+. However, before determining if that extra maintenance cost is worth it, it’s important to understand what a maintenance program is as well as the benefits associated with one.
Why Do We Maintain Systems?
Although you wouldn’t think to compare your HVAC unit to your car, these two things have a lot in common when it comes to maintenance. Just like engine repair or body restoration work can be really expensive, so can HVAC unit repairs.
With cars we can avoid having to pay for an entire engine by making sure that it is maintained properly. This is also referred to as preventative maintenance, because it prevents bigger costs from occurring later on.
Preventative maintenance is also why auto owners have their engines tuned up on a regular basis, and this is also why they replace their oil after a certain amount of miles traveled. Another thing auto owners do to prevent costly repairs is having their cars washed on a regular basis and making sure that the outer coat of the body isn’t damaged.
In a way, auto owners have their cars on a “maintenance program” just like HVAC owners do. Auto owners “spend” anywhere from $500 to $1,000+ a year maintaining their car, but it pays off in the costly repairs and replacements that are avoided with proper maintenance. So when what it really boils down to is that maintenance costs aren’t something you “spend” money on, but rather something that you invest money in today and see returns over the months and years ahead.
So Are HVAC Maintenance Programs Worth It?
Maintenance makes sense, but that idea alone wouldn’t be a great reason for investing $150 to $500 on yearly HVAC unit maintenance. The true reason maintenance programs are worth it is because they lower energy costs and extend unit life, avoid costly repairs and down-times, and for some manufacturers even keep warranties valid.
The U.S. Department of Energy states that “neglecting necessary maintenance ensures a steady decline in air conditioning performance while energy use steadily increases.” This is definitely something home owners do not want to deal with.
So to avoid similar problems with your HVAC unit and rising energy bills, the U.S. Department of Energy recommends cleaning and checking the following HVAC unit components:
- Air conditioner coils
- Coil fins
- Condensate drains
- Window seals
The U.S. Department of Energy also recommend preparing your HVAC unit for winter, as well as hiring a professional for maintaining a home’s entire HVAC system throughout the year.
Energy Star, an environmental protection agency, is another program that recommends seasonal and yearly HVAC maintenance. This agency was actually established in 1922 with the sole purpose of “[helping] businesses and individuals save money and protect our climate through superior energy efficiency.”
Our Take on Whether Maintenance Programs Are Worth It
To A Tech Heating and Cooling, the maintenance recommendations above as well as the energy savings associated with proper maintenance don’t surprise us. We’ve seen first-hand over the past decade just how beneficial maintenance plans are for home owners, their HVAC units, and their energy bills.
But don’t take our word on it. There are dozens of research experiments on the amount of energy savings and bill lowering that HVAC maintenance programs bring forth. Even though we’re an HVAC company and can vouch for our own maintenance programs, we encourage home owners to be skeptical and to look at the research themselves.
Our conclusion however, based on the research and recommendations from the U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Star, as dozens of experiments, and our own data, it’s clear that maintenance programs are worth it.
Where A Tech Heating and Cooling Excels
Although the U.S Department of Energy recommends a limited amount of maintenance procedures, we go much farther than their basic recommendations. With A Tech Heating and Cooling’s maintenance program, all of the following tune-up procedures are included (when applicable):
• Thermostat checked for proper calibration
• Inspect the compressor and condenser fan motor
• Check and monitor refrigerant levels
• Inspect and oil fan motors (seasonal)
• Test unit by putting it thru full operation cycle
• Check super-heat and sub-cooling readings
• Test unit starting capabilities
• Test safety controls
• Measure volts and amp draws
• Inspect return air filters
• Lubricate moving parts (when applicable)
• Electrical components checked and tightened
• Inspect condenser coil & clean as needed
• Check air flow
• Measure temperature delta between supply & return
Our Maintenance Program Approach
Preventative maintenance plans should be all about saving home owners money, and that’s exactly what we believe in. If your HVAC unit needs a repair for any reason, and you’re part of our maintenance program, we will automatically discount your repair by 15%. This insures that you’re saving money by preventing costly repairs later on, and when an inevitable repair may happen, you save money once again. Clients in the maintenance program also receive priority scheduling.
From our own data we’ve been able to support the fact that people subscribed to a maintenance plan require fewer repairs, boost their HVAC unit’s efficiency, lower utility bills, and see consistent performance from their unit.
