for those who have central ac/heat do you have some one to check it let's say twice a year? Is this necessary? I have friends that have a company do that and others that say this is not necessary Your opinion please.
Nope, I had mine serviced a few years ago. I may get it serviced this spring, but doubtful. We do change the filters regularly.
I have this done on my short term rental here in Florida. I would hate to have someone visiting and the AC not working. There are also small parts that burn out over time and need replacing and those are also covered in the yearly fee. It is also cheaper if they need to come fix something the other months.
ADDED
I should have added that I do not get our home AC/heat pump serviced unless its not working and we cant fix it. Since our rental is not always occupied we need to check it regularly. We have also had people leave ALL the doors open and set the AC temp to 65 when its 100 outside.
Nothing says "Thank You" like breaking my AC unit.
I have mine checked twice a year. I had my house built and they didn't give me the top of the line furnace and ac so I do have it checked. Its 12 years old so I am praying I wont have to get another one soon.
Our unit is 17 years old....we're living on borrowed time with it...but we get it serviced 2x per year - Spring and Fall.
We believe that taking care of it is what has kept it "alive" for so many years.
We change our filters once a month too.
We do have ours checked twice a year.
When we built our house, the entire system AC, outdoor units, 2 furnaces (gas heat, electric air) were not the quality we would have preferred and our electric bill was running $700 in the summer and gas was $500 in the winter.
We ripped everything out, replaced and upgraded with a new top quality system and furnaces and the highest my electric has been since is just under $400 and gas under $300. I admit that we keep temps at our comfort level and we don't conserve that well.
All that said, before we ripped out the initial system, I kept complaining of smelling gas. Finally, I called the gas company and told them because I have a good nose and I knew something was not right. Well, I was right, the builder system had a flaw... there was a gas leak, they moved us immediately out of our NEWLY built house. Turns out there was a leak and there was a crack in a part of the furnace and it never should have been installed because of potential gas explosion and/or carbon monoxide issues.
Needless to say, we did not allow our builder back in this house. We fixed everything and upgraded at our cost to make sure everything was safe and stays safe. We do have a relationship with a very good AC/heating business which helps because we trust them completely.
We don't skimp when it comes to health and safety issues. Do you really NEED it? I don't know, but for $100 to check it out and deem it safe is worth it to me.
I've only had my gas furnace and central air checked out once in 19 years, and the units themselves are about 30 years old.
No, we don't have ours serviced even every year. 99% of the people that have them never call anyone until they need a repair, some people never have to call anyone.
Change your own filters and keep it clean. If it's working fine then there's no need in my opinion and I grew up with a sibling owning a heat and air business.
We have central heat--no a/c. We have the furnace checked every couple of years and maintain it ourselves every year. We vacuum it out, make sure no loose wires, can change the thermocouple myself if needed. Our second floor apartment has wall heaters and he has them checked every 4 yrs or so. Those are really old--not sure how old really but they are not connected to a larger furnace. Mainly checking for any wires that need to be replaced, vacuuming to get out the dust and checking the gas connection.
Unfortunately, I know a several people that do maintenance of : light the pilot and turn up the thermostat.
Once per year or at least EOY is what we do.
I'm a general contractor and spend a lot of time fixing HVAC units in commercial spaces. Believe me, every cent you spend on a high-quality HVAC maintenance schedule is worth it. You don't want to hire just anyone - check around and see what company in your area has a really good reputation. But you definitely do want to have your filters changed several times per year (you can ask them to show you how to do this, and do it yourself, even, because it is very easy), and at least once per year, you need the coils to be cleaned (with hot water at a minimum, and for coils that are very dirty, do a chemical clean).
Keeping the coils and filters clean will help the unit function at its top efficiency, which saves you money every day you use it. And it helps keep the condenser and compressor running longer, which is important because when those break down, you're faced either with a very expensive repair, or an outright replacement of the entire HVAC unit. Just spend the $75 once or twice per year and keep your unit in good shape.
Ours is 16 years old. It is original to the house. My husband has lived here that entire time. To the best of my knowledge ours has never been serviced.
