New Albany, Ohio’s Best Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning Companies

Are you in the market to buy a new heating or cooling system? Are you looking for a reputable heating, ventilation, or air conditioning contractor? In this article, we’ll go over the best HVAC contractors in New Albany, Ohio.

Here at Fire & Ice, we believe we can handle any residential heating and cooling job, but we also want to be transparent with our customers. We understand we may not be a good fit for everyone. That’s why we’ve come up with an alphabetical list of New Albany HVAC companies with good reputations to help homeowners choose which one is right for them.

Bryant Heating, Cooling & Refrigeration

As their name implies, they are a Bryant Factory Authorized Dealer, but they also service all makes and models. Their licensed technicians are trained in all the major brands including Carrier, American Standard, Trane, Amana, Bryant, Rheem, and more.

Buckeye Heating, Cooling & Plumbing

Locally owned and operated, Buckeye Heating, Cooling & Plumbing has been providing heating, cooling, and air quality services to residential customers in the greater Columbus area since 1948.

New Albany Heating & Cooling

This HVAC company is a member of the Five Star Heating & Cooling Group. Their range of products and services includes everything related to HVAC equipment and indoor air quality products.

Westerville Air Conditioning and Heating

They are a member of the Five Star Heating & Cooling Group, a network of home services companies throughout the Midwest.

Wise Heating & Cooling

Wise Heat & Cooling has more than 30 years of experience in all phases of HVAC products in New Albany, Ohio.

Read more: Top 7 Things to Look for When Choosing an HVAC Company

How to Vet HVAC Companies

HVAC services can be expensive, so it’s important to work with a company that is not only qualified but that values your investment as well.

Sadly, some companies advertise low prices and prompt service but skimp on quality. What you might wind up with is a cheap HVAC system that has poor energy efficiency, needs frequent repairs, and will quit long before its expected life expectancy.

The U.S. Department of Energy is blunt: “HVAC quality installation and maintenance practices have not been widely adopted throughout the industry.”

At Fire & Ice, we believe that you desire and deserve more than that. But weeding out the good companies from the bad is an inexact science. We’d like to offer some free advice on what to look for and what questions to ask. Read on.

Does the Company Hire NATE-Certified Employees?

NATE stands for North American Technician Excellence, a nonprofit, independent certification organization for heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration technicians.

A NATE certification exam tests a technician on the following concepts:

●        Basic construction, scientific and electrical knowledge

●        Safety, equipment, and tool essentials

●        How to achieve good home comfort conditions

●        How to measure indoor temperature and humidity

To maintain the NATE certification, techs must meet continuing education requirements of 16 training hours every two years. This helps ensure they stay up-to-date on the latest HVAC technology.

In the HVAC industry, a NATE certification is the gold standard for heating and cooling equipment excellence.

It’s not a necessity, but we strongly recommend that techs be NATE-certified.

Read more: Certification Programs: What are they, and why are they essential for your HVAC contractor

Are the Techs EPA-Certified?

EPA regulations under Section 608 of the Clean Air Act require that technicians who maintain, service, repair, or dispose of equipment that could release refrigerants into the atmosphere must be certified.

Air conditioners need refrigerant to run. If you’re buying a new one, you should know that your old unit more than likely is using a refrigerant called R-410A. The new unit will use R-454 B. (R-410A has been banned and is no longer being manufactured.)

Your tech - who must be EPA-certified - needs to collect the old refrigerant in sealed canisters and return it to processing centers. Failing to do so carries huge fines if discovered.

Importance of Ohio Licenses, Permits, and Inspections

Local governments issue a building permit to give a contractor or homeowner permission to alter, move, or add to structures on their property.

Permits are required by law for air conditioners, heat pumps, and furnaces. Before work can begin, contractors must obtain, or “pull,” a permit.

Some HVAC professionals don’t pull permits because it saves them time and money.

These are some more of the reasons your contractor may not pull permits:

• They aren’t licensed. Unlicensed contractors can’t pull permits
• Pulling permits costs time and money. Just as some contractors don’t perform load calculations, some don’t pull permits.
• They’re afraid of the inspection. Permits lead to inspections. Some contractors are afraid to face a third-party inspector’s scrutiny.

Permits and inspections protect you. An inspection ensures that your equipment is safe for you and your family. This means that inspectors check that the installation aligns with the manufacturer’s specifications as well as local and state building codes.

Your HVAC contractor should be licensed in your state of Ohio. A contractor in any industry must meet certain requirements to get licensed - and stay licensed.

The State of Ohio requires individuals to have five years of experience in their industry before they can even think about taking the 10-hour HVAC license test.

Read more: Permits & Inspections for HVAC: What They Are & What You Risk Without Them

Does Your HVAC Contractor Pay by Quantity or Quality?

Real estate agents and car salespeople get paid by quantity. Our opinion is that HVAC techs should not, though some of them are.

What’s the difference?

Air conditioners and furnaces don’t come out of the box ready to be plugged in and they’re good to go. They are sophisticated, and it takes time to make them part of the system. One little thing wrong can doom your furnace to a life of costly repairs and even premature failure. It will also cost you in your energy efficiency and comfort.

That’s why it takes six hours or so to install a single piece of equipment. It takes eight hours or more (with two techs working) to do a whole system.

But if techs are being paid “piece rate,” they might be inclined to rush and skip a few steps. In other words, techs get paid for the number of units they install or repair. If they can do more jobs in a day, they get paid more.

Contrast that to the professionals who are paid by the hour. Their work won’t be the fastest, but they don’t rush. They get the job done right.

A quality installation or repair is always worth it.

Commissioning of New Installations

Concerning the piece-rate employees who are in a hurry to move on, one crucial step that they might skimp on is the commissioning of new equipment. It’s relatively simple to set up a new furnace, connect it to the existing ducts, turn it on, and get heat.

But there’s much more that needs to be done. The manufacturer includes specific requirements for each piece of equipment. They do this because they know that their machinery will work at its optimal capacity if certain, exact conditions are met. What’s at stake are HVAC components that may or not be best at energy savings, and may or may not deliver the comfort a salesperson promised.

Commissioning isn’t always quick or easy, but it’s the right thing to do for homeowners.

Full commissioning takes about 45 minutes per major equipment type or 60-90 minutes for a full system.

Each installation should be thought of as designing a system that matches your home. There are no “one size fits all” solutions. That’s also why commissioning is important. Because that “one size” on 10 different homes will be fine for some, adequate for others, and horrible for some. If you’re unlucky enough to have one of these bad designs, you’re throwing away hundreds of dollars in efficiency, will face more than your share of repair bills, and will lose years off of the life of your equipment.

Are the Techs Third-Party Contractors?

We have heard multiple stories from homeowners who said that a third-party contractor showed up at their home on the day of installation without any markings on their truck or as part of their “uniform.” They simply sent the contractor on their way without letting them in their home.

There’s a very good reason why HVAC companies shouldn’t hire third-party contractors: You deserve to know who the stranger knocking at your door is. Have they passed a drug test? Are they insured? If they’re not insured by the company that’s paying them, that places you, the homeowner, in a precarious position. If the contractor gets hurt, who’s liable? It’s a legal mess you shouldn’t have to deal with.

So why would a company hire third-party workers? It’s cheaper, plain and simple. The companies don’t have to pay for training, can skip the cost of insurance, tools, and trucks, and don’t have to pay for drug tests or uniforms or tools.

Do the Salespeople Perform a Manual J Load Calculation?

At Fire & Ice, we talk about load calculations a lot for a simple reason: Many contractors don’t do them. Skipping them leads to equipment failures, energy loss, and diminished comfort. Homeowners will be on the losing side in every conceivable way.

Major HVAC equipment comes in sizes; usually, it starts on the low end at one and a half tons and goes up to five tons. The tonnage (or “size”) refers to how many cubic feet of air a unit has to move to condition it.

The Manual J was designed by the Air Conditioning Contractors of America, and contains some simple mathematical equations to help contractors size the equipment accurately. It includes the cubic feet of the home but also considers the number of occupants, the size and quality of windows, how much insulation is in place, and more.

If contractors aren’t using it (it’s not required by law), they are at best guessing. They may look at the equipment that’s to be replaced, using the size of it, and will recommend the same size. Pity that doesn’t take into account several factors that could dictate a size up or down to be accurate.

A second wrong method is to use only the cubic footage of the home, which doesn’t account for the home’s net heat loss or heat gain. It’s lazy.

And if your salesperson is that lazy, that should send up all sorts of warning signs that the installers will cut corners, as well.

Finding the Right HVAC Partner in New Albany, Ohio

If you’ve never worked with HVAC professionals, it can be hard to separate the good, honest ones from the dishonest, shady ones.

Before you start on your project, we urge you to do some homework. We’ve offered some pointers, but if you want some more information before a sales meeting, please consider downloading our HVAC Contractor’s Checklist, posted below:

And we would be pleased if you would consider Fire & Ice as one of your possible contacts. We consider our service to be among the best you’ll find in New Albany and Central Ohio. Click on the button below to get the process started.