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October 25th, 2022
At Fire & Ice, we pride ourselves on performing quality service. From your first sales call to our post-service check-in, it’s our job to make sure you have a great experience.
When choosing an HVAC service provider, make sure that you’ve conducted the proper research. HVAC services can become expensive very fast, so it’s best to work with a company that is not only qualified, but one that values your investment and time as well.
According to industry reports, on average, you will pay $319 to have your AC repaired or serviced. If you need your furnace looked at, you can expect to pay an average of $268. You can also spend upwards of $2,900 for serious HVAC repair jobs or installations.
There are many HVAC companies in Canal Winchester, Ohio. Customers might need help while trying to choose the right one. To help, we’ve listed some well-regarded contractors that service the Canal Winchester area.
Although we believe here at Fire & Ice that we’re the best choice for many homeowners in Canal Winchester, we also invite healthy competition. With that in mind, here are some respected companies.
Canal Winchester Heating and Cooling
Canal Winchester Heating and Cooling is a member of the Five Star Heating and Cooling Group. They provide plumbing services, repairs to furnaces and air conditioners, unit installations, and ultraviolet light services.
CHC Service Co, Inc.
CHC Service Co, Inc. has been in operation since 1983. They currently provide services in Columbus, Gahanna, Canal Winchester, Lancaster, Newark, Pickerington, and Reynoldsburg. Their services include installing and repairing residential and commercial air conditioning units, preventative maintenance, heat pump repair, and fresh air ventilation service.
Kessler Heating and Cooling
Kessler Heating and Cooling offers HVAC services to a variety of building types including single-family homes, apartments, water-treatment sectors, government buildings, food and beverage facilities, and geothermal systems. According to their website, they provide installation services, maintenance, repairs, and system design assistance.
Keystone Heating and Cooling
Keystone Heating and Cooling specializes in repairing York, Goodman, Rheem, Carrier, Bryant, and Lennox systems. They currently install gas and electric furnaces, and perform system tune-ups, plumbing services, air conditioner installation, and heat pump repair.
Patriot Air
Patriot Air has provided heating and cooling solutions to residents of Columbus and the Central Ohio area since 2004. According to their website, they can perform installation, maintenance, and repair of air conditioning, furnace, and heat pump systems.
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How to Choose a Qualified HVAC Company
There is a huge difference between a technician who is learning the trade on the job as opposed to one who has honed their expertise in the classroom. HVAC systems get more complex every year. Communicating furnaces and air conditioners, high-efficiency ductless systems, “smart” thermostats, and so on. All of these require specialized knowledge. In addition to trade schools, technicians can get certified to demonstrate their HVAC knowledge.Read more - Fortis College: Columbus, OH, HVAC Trade School
The Importance of HVAC Certification
North American Technician Excellence, or NATE, is the nation’s largest nonprofit certification organization for heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration technicians. NATE certified technicians through a series of knowledge and experience-based tests. To remain certified, you must undergo follow-up training and testing every two years.
And speaking of training, there is always more to learn outside of the course material covered by NATE. Again, you can choose to hire someone who’s looking at a system and taking a guess about what’s wrong with it. Or you can trust someone who is trained by his or her company in the latest technology.
Ongoing Education
Some manufacturers offer ongoing coursework, and there are a few training centers where you can catch up on the latest equipment. It’s a fair question to your prospective technician: How much additional training have you had recently?
And, if you’re wondering, Fire & Ice has the largest training facility in Central Ohio, where veteran and budding technicians undergo over 200 hours of training every year.
Commissioning of HVAC Systems Is Essential
On every installation we do, whether it’s an entire system or just an air conditioner or furnace, we perform a thorough commissioning that tracks dozens of variables. This ensures the optimal performance of your equipment and will provide ideal indoor air quality.Commissioning is not always performed by industry folks. There’s a chance that your installation will be just as good without testing it in this way, but there’s no way to know for sure. Commissioning can take up to an hour of extra time. Rather than racing to the next job, technicians should perform it every time to make sure the work they did is up to the standard you deserve.
This demonstrates a commitment to do the installation properly. It allows your unit(s) to work the best they can, ensuring efficiency and comfort. It also guards against future repairs due to sloppy work, (which is far too common), and may prolong the lifespan of the system.
Read more: The Importance of Commissioning in HVAC
It’s also a benchmark demonstrating that the company that commissions an HVAC system is being paid by the hour rather than by the job. The difference is that in the first case, the technician takes the time to do things right and doesn’t take shortcuts.
In the second case, the worker is being paid by piece rate; it’s a measure of many many units they can install in a single day. If they can rush through a job in four hours - a typical installation takes six to eight hours - then they can do two jobs in a day and get paid twice as much. Did they cut corners to get the job done quickly? It’s the quality of the work that matters most to homeowners, not the quantity of systems a tech can perform.
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Final Quality Inspection (FQI)
A week or two after installation, a Fire & Ice representative will return to your home to ensure everything is functioning properly, to make sure you understand your thermostat and comfort options, and to inspect the quality of the work that was done. If something is wrong, we’ll make it right. An installation may be good enough to run, but we’re not happy until it’s done right.
We’re proud to be the only contractor in the area who will return for this visit to make sure you’re satisfied. Additionally, we provide financial incentives for jobs that don’t have callbacks. Meaning, if something isn’t done properly and we have to send someone back out to correct it, the technician does not receive a bonus.
What’s the Right-Sized Equipment for Your Home?
We stress the importance of a Manual J Load calculation because 1. It’s important, and 2. It’s easy to skip, and without it, your HVAC system will suffer and you’ll pay the price in comfort, energy bills, and equipment repairs.
A proper load calculation is required by national building codes and most state and local jurisdictions.
RELATED: Sizing Your Air Conditioner, Heat Pump and Furnace
The calculation is a series of measurements to determine the correct power (referred to as “size”) for your air conditioner, heat pump, and/or furnace. It includes windows (number, size, quality, which direction they’re facing), insulation (age and quality), doors, ceiling height, square footage, number of occupants, and a handful of other factors. It takes only ten minutes or so to do.
The reason it gets omitted is that it saves time. HVAC contractors can get away with skipping it because they can arrive at a ballpark figure easier. They can rely on the equipment that’s to be replaced and use that size - whether that was sized correctly or not.
It’s also possible to get a load calculation by looking only at the home’s square footage. That’s the easy way out, but that approximate calculation is also often wrong.
If your contractor doesn’t bother with a Manual J load calculation, that should send up a red flag. If they skip it, what else might they skip?
Read more - Cutting Corners: A Look at the Best and Worst HVAC Company Practices in Columbus, OH
Fire & Ice Customer Reviews: Canal Winchester, OH
Read some of the great things our customers have had to say about our business:
“I purchased a new Trane Furnace and Central AC from Lowe's and it was installed and will be warrantied through Fire and Ice Heating and Air here in Columbus, Ohio. It has been handled exceptionally well. The sales representative Brian and the installation team led by Lane were professional, knowledgeable, and capable, and I will recommend this firm if presented the opportunity.” - Chris N.
“We are very pleased with Fire & Ice. Scott did an excellent job of explaining what HVAC system we needed and explained the installation process plainly. Our installers Lane and Floyd did a great job installing and explaining the new system. We are very glad we chose Fire & Ice and would recommend them to anyone. Price, service and follow-up are great!” - Jack E.
Next Steps to Getting an HVAC System in Canal Winchester, Ohio
We get excited about improving ourselves and solving HVAC problems for our customers. We’d prefer other companies in our field of expertise do the same. But contractors can get a bad reputation for good reason.
We’re here to identify some of these bad practices in the hopes of holding other HVAC companies to a high standard. We also want to inform our customers what to watch out for.
We know we’ve tossed a lot of information at you in this article. To help you keep track of it all, we created a checklist that you can print to help you remember some of the pertinent questions to ask when you’re in the market.
If you’d like to speak with us, we’d love to talk to you. Please allow us to show how our methods can give you the best of all worlds.
