HVAC
7 miles from downtown of Mckinney, TX
Sean Kelly says: āWhen it's high summer in north Dallas you know the worst can happen: your AC goes out! And no wonder, with temperatures in excess of 100ĀŗF (40ĀŗC) and humidity over 80%, you can see why AC systems struggle to make the indoors livable because the outdoors is a virtual hellscape. WHY DO I EVEN LIVE HERE?!?
My system went out after I had gone to bed, giving me just two hours of blissful, cool-air sleep before I threw off the covers to find the indoor thermostat said it was 80ĀŗF (27ĀŗC)āand rising. Yep, the inevitable happened: the AC went out.
I had been using a local (Allen, Texas) company (keeping my hard-earned Allen money in Allen!) but it went under. Thankfully some quick web searches revealed another local company that had plenty of plaudits: Air Comfort Solution. It was 2am by this point so I left a message.
But by 8:45am that morning Bryan Patton of ACS called back and asked if I still needed service. HECK YES, I did! And was I ever surprised by the quality and attention of Mr Patton. He arrived to check out and diagnose the problem in my 10 year old Trane outdoor condenser unit, finding issues with the capacitors and the fan. However, the Trane used a sophisticated DC communication system that he wasn't certified to fix, and advised I find an expert. He even waived the "trip fee", saying that he couldn't look himself in the mirror knowing he accepted money and without fixing the problem.
That struck me: it's rare to see that level of personal honor and dedication.
That's when I immediately asked him for an estimate to just replace the entire unit. The price was reasonable and he suggested that he and his team could even have it replaced THE SAME DAY. Now at this point I thought lack of sleep had caused me to hallucinate but he repeated it and IT HAPPENED.
Even despite numerous flash-flood-causing storms, they worked in between squalls to remove the old Trane and install a new American Standard outdoor unit. The old error-prone DC communication was gone, the system turned on, and after a few fits and starts, beautiful crisp, cool air began pumping out the registers.
I was almost tempted to put on a parka!
All the while, Bryan Patton's honor was backed by an efficient work ethic, dedication to getting the job done, and a friendly demeanor. He didn't pull punches about bad news but was realistic and optimistic as needed. And his price seemed beyond fair.
I fully expected multiple miserable nights of sweltering heat following the system failure. But thanks to Air Comfort Solutions, I had exactly zero! That night, I slept under numerous blankets, feeling safe and secure as the crisp, chilled air surrounded me.
Thanks ACS! Thanks Bryan Patton!
UPDATE 2021-05-05: Jeff came out to look at another unit that would start intermittently. ANTS! Yes, for some reason ants were collecting in the contact relay (see the picture) and getting killed by the voltage but when enough of them got in there they prevented the compressor from starting. Bryan sent Jeff to look and was able to get a new set of contacts installed the very same day. He left the old contacts for me to see and yikes those ants sure are awful! Anyway, so happy that things are back to normal and so quickly too. Thanks Jeff & Bryan...ā ShowĀ more