Date: 11/04/2019
Author: upwardengine
Date: 11/04/2019
Superb! It began with the first phone call. I inquired about American Standard products, so Jason knew I was looking at the expensive stuff. He was the only dealer I spoke with who suggested anything but the most expensive line he sold. When he presented a bid, I asked about filtration, and he said it included a standard one inch pleated filter. I asked if a better filter might be advisable. He replied that he didn’t think anything else was significantly better, short of a $1400 Trane electrostatic unit. He described this unit as “life-changing” for people with pulmonary disease, but since I was healthy he didn’t think I would find it worth the cost. A dealer who recommends the most cost effective solution instead of the most profitable! I did some further investigation of the Mechanical Air and decided to go with them. Jason’s installation was entirely professional, indeed meticulous. As the condenser was to be far from the furnace/evaporator, plumbing and wiring were considerable. It was all neatly laid out and secured with straps. Ditto the plumbing and ducting in the furnace room. When a job expected to take three days stretched out to six, the quality of the work did not falter. If it took six days to do it right, Jason took the time to do it RIGHT. When we decided that a concrete pad would be preferable under the condenser, Jason interrupted his work for two days while the pad was laid. After the plumbing was complete, he evacuated the system, and only after it had held the vacuum overnight did he consider it leak-free and ready to charge. Then, with the system operating, he spent an hour measuring temperatures and adjusting flows around the system for optimum efficiency. I doubt if you can find a better furnace/AC dealer/installer than Mechanical Air and Jason. If you find a better price, be careful. I learned from my reading that improper installation is a leading cause of A/C failure, and proper installation takes time. Shortcutting installation is an easy way to lower a bid. BTW, if you look at my other reports you will see that I have written very few rave reviews. I am quite willing to be critical if warranted. Jason earned this rave. Gratuitous note on AC sizing: Manual J is a standard for sizing residential ACs. It calculates the size unit needed to maintain an inside temperature of 75 with an outside temp of 95 and the AC running continuously. There is no margin for hotter days or rapid cool-down. People with such units have told me that they cool their houses continuously during the summer because, if they let them heat up while they are away, it takes until sometime that night to get the house back to a comfortable temp. Manual J says I need 1 1/2 tons. Because different dealers were giving me different numbers (I did not yet know about Manual J) , I retained an HVAC engineering firm to calculate what I needed. Using a commercial program (not Manual J) they calculated that I needed 2 tons, but added that they thought I would be happier with 2 1/2. Quite a jump from Manual J. I decided on 1 1/2 tons with another 1 1/2 in reserve, aka a 3 ton 2 stage. The first stage handles the load with Manual J efficiency most of the time (advertised SEER for a two stage AC is for second stage; on first stage it delivers higher than advertised SEER), while the second stage is available for hotter days or rapid cool-down. (Some say that it is more efficient to keep the house cool at all times during the summer, but this violates the laws of thermodynamics. No one recommends keeping a house warm at all times during the winter, and, according to thermodynamics, it makes no more sense to keep it cool at all times during the summer.)
Superb! It began with the first phone call. I inquired about American Standard products, so Jason knew I was looking at the expensive stuff. He was the only dealer I spoke with who suggested anything but the most expensive line he sold. When he presented a bid, I asked about filtration, and he said it included a standard one inch pleated filter. I asked if a better filter might be advisable. He replied that he didn’t think anything else was significantly better, short of a $1400 Trane electrostatic unit. He described this unit as “life-changing” for people with pulmonary disease, but since I was healthy he didn’t think I would find it worth the cost. A dealer who recommends the most cost effective solution instead of the most profitable! I did some further investigation of the Mechanical Air and decided to go with them. Jason’s installation was entirely professional, indeed meticulous. As the condenser was to be far from the furnace/evaporator, plumbing and wiring were considerable. It was all neatly laid out and secured with straps. Ditto the plumbing and ducting in the furnace room. When a job expected to take three days stretched out to six, the quality of the work did not falter. If it took six days to do it right, Jason took the time to do it RIGHT. When we decided that a concrete pad would be preferable under the condenser, Jason interrupted his work for two days while the pad was laid. After the plumbing was complete, he evacuated the system, and only after it had held the vacuum overnight did he consider it leak-free and ready to charge. Then, with the system operating, he spent an hour measuring temperatures and adjusting flows around the system for optimum efficiency. I doubt if you can find a better furnace/AC dealer/installer than Mechanical Air and Jason. If you find a better price, be careful. I learned from my reading that improper installation is a leading cause of A/C failure, and proper installation takes time. Shortcutting installation is an easy way to lower a bid. BTW, if you look at my other reports you will see that I have written very few rave reviews. I am quite willing to be critical if warranted. Jason earned this rave. Gratuitous note on AC sizing: Manual J is a standard for sizing residential ACs. It calculates the size unit needed to maintain an inside temperature of 75 with an outside temp of 95 and the AC running continuously. There is no margin for hotter days or rapid cool-down. People with such units have told me that they cool their houses continuously during the summer because, if they let them heat up while they are away, it takes until sometime that night to get the house back to a comfortable temp. Manual J says I need 1 1/2 tons. Because different dealers were giving me different numbers (I did not yet know about Manual J) , I retained an HVAC engineering firm to calculate what I needed. Using a commercial program (not Manual J) they calculated that I needed 2 tons, but added that they thought I would be happier with 2 1/2. Quite a jump from Manual J. I decided on 1 1/2 tons with another 1 1/2 in reserve, aka a 3 ton 2 stage. The first stage handles the load with Manual J efficiency most of the time (advertised SEER for a two stage AC is for second stage; on first stage it delivers higher than advertised SEER), while the second stage is available for hotter days or rapid cool-down. (Some say that it is more efficient to keep the house cool at all times during the summer, but this violates the laws of thermodynamics. No one recommends keeping a house warm at all times during the winter, and, according to thermodynamics, it makes no more sense to keep it cool at all times during the summer.)