Revised:
June 8th, 2021
Toward last summer we were having difficulty cooling the whole house. And we had a few issues where it was freezing up outside and at the evaporator coil as well. So, we would have conditions where the lower levels would be either freezing cold and the upper levels would be hot. We knew that we should probably start budgeting for a new air conditioning unit. And four or five months later here we are.
You know, the first thing I wanted to do this morning is I walked out to look at it I wanted to get a towel and wipe it off. [laughing] I don’t want to get excited about a condensing coil or an air conditioning, but it’s an investment and it’s going to perform.
I’m actually a home inspector and I’ve been inspecting houses for over 17 years, and I do have a construction background as well. As an inspector I’m going in and out of several homes a day. I see an average of a thousand different furnaces a year. From all makes and models. Whether they’re ductless split systems to just regular split systems. Heat pumps. Boilers. You name it I see it. I’ve seen a lot of new installs and I happen to recognize I would see some equipment that really looked good. Professionally installed. Actually, when you start talking about transitions off the top of a furnace into a plenum that looks like it grew together. And I knew, I don’t know anything about Fire & Ice but that’s probably who I would want to do my install. So, after a little bit of investigation and some phone calls that’s who we decided to go with.
The process was smooth. We reached out to the company. They sent Josh out to our home. And he was very respectful for our home. Obviously, shoe covers. All the COVID precautions were taken during that time. As well as the install. He went over the value. He showed us that they’re insured, they’re all licensed, the training that each technician has. When they don’t just set the equipment in. They balance it, they have they have them leveling stuff, you know, static pressure, gas and oxygen ratios, and that’s all checked. It ain’t like they took something off the shelf, plugged it in and say “here’s your new furnace, have a nice day.”
After we went over the value of Fire & Ice he wanted to see our old equipment. He went and did a complete evaluation of that equipment. And basically, he wanted to size the equipment compared to what we had. And then he evaluated the ductwork and identified several issues with the existing ductwork and our air distribution with supply and return. So, there was some modifications to our ductwork as well as our new equipment.
It was a smooth process once it was all measured up and we knew which products we were going to buy. Fire & Ice reached out to us and conveniently scheduled a time to have the install and it was basically a one-day installation. It’s actually a package deal. The guys come in were very professional. They were well dressed, and they spoke well. Obviously, they knew their profession very well. As well, they were clean. I showed up toward the end of the install and they had my house covered in drop clothes. They had their own waste baskets. They had everything in its proper place. They left no mess. And most importantly at the end of it they actually brought us back down to the equipment. Identified all the equipment. Walked us outside to show the new condensing coils. To the thermostat, made sure we could operate it. That goes to the filter. To the Aprilaire humidifier. All the equipment was gone over. They spent about thirty minutes with us just explaining the equipment.
Before I knew I could hear that old compressor running outside the front door. And by not hearing it run, I was like “wow”. Not only does it look good I can’t hear it run which is actually very good. Because we have windows and front doors adjacent to it. And knowing that we now have the correct size of our equipment. Knowing that it’s going to be more efficient. We’re going to save on our heating and cooling bills as well. And we may not live here for, this is not our forever home, but we can now advertiser that the HVAC has been updated. We have a nice little packet, and we can leave that out for the new homeowners if we decide to move on. It will be a selling point.
So, as a home inspector, we’re going to identify whether or not the equipment is functioning normally. We don’t go in and size the equipment or anything like that. So, if there is a deficiency with any of the equipment, we’re going to identify that to them. With my experience now with Fire & Ice they will probably be at the top of my list I would suggest that they consult with them for pricing and availability.
