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Comment by oceanplexian | Hacker News Reader

HVAC must be one of the most dishonest professions in the US. I’m not in NYC but received similar quotes($15-20k to do a few rooms).

Obviously having family in South America where there are millions of these installed by unskilled labor I decided to DIY. So I installed 2 units with 2 heads each, including pouring the concrete pads, vacuuming the line sets, and charging them. Took me two weekends and about $4000 in materials including the units themselves. It’s been two years, none of the BS fear mongering issues have happened, and they have almost paid for themselves.

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Private equity has been buying out HVAC companies in the US. The technician are forced to drive up sales. So instead of repairing something, they now recommend new equipment. I saw this difference in behavior at an HVAC company I used for a 10 years. The owners were retiring and the private equity bought them out. You really have to go by word of mouth and seek out the smaller companies.

Similar thing happened for Veterinary care clinics.

https://www.reddit.com/r/HVAC/comments/16asntf/lets_talk_abo...

There is a very different pattern I learned to recognize with Private Equity electricians. Its not all negative- they have fast availability and good communication (because they have office staff), but that’s the end of the good stuff.

You call for one broken outlet and they pull out fancy branded folders and pens with checklists of every little thing that could possibly be upgraded (inplying its needed for safety) present you with a multi $K bill and then do a little magic 10% discount for some reason to make you think its a good deal.

That said I get my petty revenge by asking questions at the free consult (marketing opportunity) then hiring local guys instead, whenever I cam find them.

RAM Air in San Marcos, south of Austin. Ask for Edgar. He's self trained and likes to rebuild boards from scratch. He'll service out to west Austin if the job is big enough. He mostly trains techs. So, if you ask, he'll happily walk you through a repair in the phone. (Most jobs are only 20–40m.) He makes his money on the big jobs with repeat customers. When he retires ... fuck me.

Many HVAC technicians are not good at service calls (troubleshoot and fix); they are sales people in disguise. I also heard many local HVAC/plumbing companies are owned by private equity of sorts.

They even have DIY friendly ones now where you don't even need a vacuum pump (not that it's hard but it is one more thing). So easy

The part that always makes me chicken out is the electrical, did you have any issues with that part?

The electrical is relatively easy. It's not much harder than replacing a frayed power cord on a lamp (with an extra wire if the unit is 220 rather than 110).

Managing the lineset is the scary part (though it's not that hard). You're vacuuming copper lines that you've hopefully sealed correctly. If you get that wrong and your refrigerant yeets off into the sky, you have to call in help because it's hard for an unlicensed person to get the refrigerant legally. That half-hour of work and ~$1 of materials will cost you a punitive amount of money.

It should be super-easy these days to get the license.

Ten years ago, I downloaded a free study guide and took the test in-person at an A/C supply shop for about $50.

Today, you can take the test online.

Thanks to ripping off by HVAC contractors, many are signing up for EPA 608 certification to get the refrigerant legally.

It’s really easy, 220v is not that hard to install and is the scam scam run by people installing ev chargers.

You do have to go through the permitting process which means having someone come out to view it and write off on it and if you state it properly it should be less than $200.

Electrical is both surprisingly easy and surprisingly hard.

The actual work involved is relatively easy and straightforward. However, the code and regulations are extremely difficult to navigate. There’s a lot of non-obvious things you have to do to be code-compliant.

Some understanding of electrical circuits, split phase motors, and control circuits (using step down transformers, relays, contactors) is extremely helpful. HVAC systems contains at least two motors--blower motor inside and compressor motor outside. And control circuits are activated by a thermostat.

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