When you are looking for an air conditioning company to perform a routine maintenance on your ac system, it is hard to know what to expect. What should an AC maintenance include? How much should I expect to pay? How should a proper, routine maintenance take?
We have answered all these questions in this article, so that you know what to look for, and more importantly…what to stay away from!
1. How Much Should My AC Maintenance Cost?
Let’s Start with the most commonly asked question, when it comes to routine maintenance on your ac system…
How much should it cost?
When researching different HVAC contractors, you are likely to find a wide variety of prices for maintenance, ranging from “Free” to $260 per year! It also depends on what part of the country you are in.
Starting on the low end, if you see an ad for a “Free” ac maintenance, or an ad for $19 up to $49 for a routine service, you should expect to have a HIGH PRESSURE salesmen, who will assuredly find a “problem” with your system that needs to be fixed immediately. The bottom line is, if it sounds to good to be true, IT IS!
Realistically, it will cost any HVAC contractor at least $45 just to get a technician to your door, (between paying insurance, drive time, gas…etc.), and that doesn’t even include paying the technician to complete the service. The minimum expectation for cost in Southwest Florida should be $75 for a single routine maintenance and $150 for an annual plan, (including 2 services).
2. What Should be Included in my AC Maintenance?
Now that we have established a price expectation, let’s talk about what you should get for the money that you are spending…
There are a few key elements to performing a true “preventative maintenance” that should be done on every service, to actually prevent the most common breakdowns, and they are as follows:
- Clearing the Drain Line
- Cleaning the indoor evaporator coil
- Cleaning the outdoor condenser coil
- Changing or cleaning the filters
Many HVAC contractors will charge extra for these services, or will not include them at all! If you see an advertisement for an “AC Inspection” this is most likely a visual inspection only, and will not include any real preventative maintenance.
3. How Much Time Should an AC Maintenance Take?
Knowing what price to expect, and what should be included is great, but if you don’t know how long it should take to be done properly, you may not be getting what you paid for.
To complete a proper AC maintenance should take a minimum of 45min if all of the services mentioned above, are being done. The service could take as long as 2 hours if there are issues found with your system! If your technician is done in under 45min, that should be a red flag, and time to start asking questions.
At Non-Stop Air Conditioning & Heating in Southwest Florida, we ask that you set aside a minimum of 2 hours for your air conditioning maintenance, so no one feels rushed.
