I bought my current home a little over three years ago. The home is about seven years old and has a ClimateMaster Tranquility 27 system. The previous owner had the equipment "serviced" by the company that originally installed the system when the home was built. Since I have no prior experience with geothermal equipment I signed up for the company's semi annual service. The serviceman come out at the beginning of the heating season and the beginning of the cooling system and "do their thing". I've recently started trying out some of the quirks in my system, and have been following this forum. Many of the threads talk about operating information that I have never been furnished at the time of my seasonal service. About all the documentation that is furnished at the time of the service is that the filter was changed and a statement that the system is operating properly. Can someone explain: 1. How frequently should a geothermal system be "serviced"? 2. When should the service be performed? (It seems like any system problems are more likely to be visible on very hot or very cold days----not in the first week of the heating or cooling season.) 3. What steps should the technician perform during this service? 4. What information should the homeowner expect to receive at the conclusion of this service?
1. I have the following customers: never, once every 18 months (spring then fall), once every fall, twice a year. Their choice. I do not have a recommendation, but I do recognize I have clients' that like the peace of mind. 2. Generally your inspections are to predict and mitigate problems, not necessarily encounter them. That would be a service call to troubleshoot an issue. So before heavy demand periods makes sense. 3. Temps, pressures, power, general housekeeping, recommendations 4. We have switched to digital (gocanvas) and can immediately e-mail our inspections forms while onsite.
Service agreements are an attempt to level out the hills and valleys of HVAC service cash flow and labor needs. Some are worth the money some are not. I worked for a guy the told me not to mess with any thing just go to the basement and make noise for a while. My jaw dropped to the floor, as I am certified to teach combustion analysis. I got write to worked when he found out that I would actually do a proper service call on gas combustion equipment and other heating stuff. On the then new end-shot burners, I would pull and wash the burners to get the dust out of them and insure the proper firing pattern through the heat ex-changer. That's enough about him, he is gone and I am still washing burners. 1. I like to see my machines once a season. That said my wife and I are our company and like to do our PM for folks before the rush. Since we have limited manpower we have trained our customers to expect us to respond to emergency's first, because when it is their turn, we will be there in drive time. 2. A knowledgeable person can "see" what is going on with a system in the shoulder seasons. The trick is to know what a system is supposed to do. Not just change the filter and bless the unit. Not just making noise so that the service agreement looks valuable to the customer. You have to do all the testing work. 3. The testing differs from system to system. Now that I know what I know, my body after thirty plus years of doing HVAC service is failing me. I need a new knee and some hand reconstruction. So my days of three flights of stair and a roof hatch are over. I think and my wife, who is in charge of the service truck jumps up and down stairs for me. I could make a list of what I would do, but the game is on. 4. Make model and serial numbers. What things where checked, results thereof. What tests were done and the results noted on paper. Detailed reporting of findings and detailed recomendations. The list could turn into a book. The most important part of this agreement should be to develop trust between the provider and the customer.
