Public Perception or Misconception?
February 25, 2008
I have copied and pasted below, a conversation between a homeowner and “All Experts”, Bill Brainard. Bill has helped thousands of homeowners with HVAC questions over the years. In this situation, the homeowner is asking if the brand of equipment he is considering, lives up to it’s larger then life reputation and if the price he has been quoted is reasonable.
The first point I want to bring out is that of Brand. If you look, the homeowner is considering Carrier because his original brand, Bryant was not doing the job. Sounds reasonable, right? Well, it is until you learn that THEY ARE THE SAME! Bryant and Carrier are made in the same factory and are mostly identical. Then Bill points out that Carrier’s repair reputation is not the best. But wait a minute, I thought it was the best? 
How much is R-22?
February 24, 2008
Here’s the deal. In the post below, this homeowner has just had about 7 lbs. of R-22 refrigerant added to his air conditioner. He tried to pay the contractor but was told he would have to bill him because he didn’t know the current price. The homeowner also had the contractor give him an estimate to replace the entire system. This was what the contractor spent most of his time on according to the article.
Now, the homeowner gets a bill for this service and is stunned. Because the forum he was originally on has a rule of no pricing talk, he eluded to the price by saying he recently had four Michelin HydroEdge high end radial tires put on his car and it cost just about the same as 6.7lbs of R22. So I come up with approximately $450-$500.
