Business ProfileforZimmerman Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning

On October 6,; Z, responded to report of a blank thermostat screen. While the sensor was drying out, the tech said that my a/c system was running “sub-optimal”, and he felt that he should add more coolant to the system. The price, $1127, seemed high. Later I decided that I’d call the installer of our a/c equipment and schedule them for a second opinion. On 1st tech returned with his yellow glasses and ultraviolet light to look for dye stains on the exterior of the a/c coil. He found no dye stains on the outside. Then he told me that, “all of those black and white speckles marks are micro-cracks” which means that he should remove / replace the 5-year-old cooling coil with a new one. When we finally did connect with each other, he said that he’d need another $1868 to remove / replace the coil. I asked for an official price quote, to which he texted me a quote which was another suspicious warning sign in my estimation. Sec guy arrived on Nov 15th, for the second opinion. He related that he has practiced a/c work for 42 years. he said “all i can do is remove all of the coolant, weigh it in the Freon tank on my digital scale and then make a decision.” He also opened up the attic unit where the cooling coil is located and ran his electronic Freon detector over the coil looking for the presence of the cooling gas and none was detected. He also opened up the filter compartment and observed the white speckles on the coil. He said that he has heard of micro-cracking, but has not run into it in his long career. He found 11 lbs, 5 ozs of coolant in the system. Per the Carrier unit name plate, there should be 7lbs, 8 ozs of coolant in the compressor unit. Plus, by his calculations, another 1 lb, 5 ozs in the lines for a total Freon charge of 8 lbs, 13 ozs in the system. Therefore, second guy found 2 lbs, 8 ozs of extra coolant in the system, the coolant that Z had added on October 6th. Sec guy charged $194 to perform this check / removal work.