Customer ReviewsforJoe's Comfort Air, LLC

They added R22 freon To my unit knowing darn well, that it had a leak and not expression that to me. R22 Leaks are highly toxic and can damage the environment especially through causing ozone depletion. My son is a Licensed HVAC technician In a different state from where I had this work done about a 1526 miles away. When I talked to him and told him what they had done He said they should not have put any in knowing there was a leak. Section 608 of the Clean Air Act prohibits the knowing release of refrigerant during the maintenance, service, repair, or disposal of air-conditioning (AC) and refrigeration equipment. EPA requires proper refrigerant management practices by those who buy or sell refrigerant, technicians, owners and operators of AC and refrigeration systems, and others. These requirements apply for all refrigerants that contain ozone-depleting substances, e.g., hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), and non-exempt substitute refrigerants, e.g., hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs) and blends thereof. This can be looked up online. I Try to explain this after the fact 3 days later and they didn't want to hear anything of it. Instead they tried to bash me. Little did they know I have a camera on my house and caught the whole thing on video.

We are sorry to see that this former client is still under the impression that we did something outside of our scope of work. The client’s unit is 17 years old & we have previously condemned the system on a previous service call and advised the customer it needed to be replaced. Upon arrival the first thing the techs did was turn the unit on. Everything came on but the compressor. After getting the model number off the compressor and they looked up the proper size capacitor and then compared it to the label for the compressor. The technicians noticed the compressor was rusted out and there was signs of oil residue. The customer attempted to install his own new capacitor from a local supplier that was so far off that the compressor wouldn’t start off it. They also found the customer had wired his capacitor up improperly. This could have caused a direct short or potential fire and we advised the customer of this as well. The techs installed the proper sized capacitor and wired it properly. We identified leaking around the rusted-out compressor and confirmed when the leak detector went off as soon as they even got close to the area. The customer after the fact told us we didn’t attempt to find any leaks, but he witnessed our detector going off several times without even needing to get close to the area. At that point we stopped checking for leaks because we knew due to the age and the fact that the overall unit was falling apart there was no point. We wouldn’t do any major work on a rusted-out unit. We then hooked up the gauges and topped off the unit so that it would start cooling. We had already been out to this house before and the homeowner wouldn’t consider replacing the unit. We had no idea how long it would last because its literally rusting apart. Despite that we talked to the customer again under his carport and gave him a price to replace it. He said he would never pay that much to replace it. This will be the second time telling someone to replace a 2006 unit. The lead technician that serviced the unit has over 20 year’s experience as an HVAC service manager and technician. Upon trying to resolve the matter over the phone with the client the customer insisted he had more knowledge than the technician on-site. This client was advised he needed to replace the failing equipment on multiple service calls and over the phone. Furthermore, this client attempted to work on his own unit and refused to take the advise of replacing the system. We understand the concern with regard to the R22 usage but although R-22 is being phased out, existing equipment containing HCFC-22 still be serviced. R22 can be used to service existing equipment. Servicing includes replacing failed components especially for residential equipment under 50 lbs of refrigerant. This can also be looked up on the EPA guidelines. We support using responsible and practical practices in our business but also need the compliance of clients to do so. Working on your own equipment when you are not a professional HVAC technician is not best practices. A client refusing to comply about replacing the system after being advised on more than two occasions is also irresponsible on his part. The client also has a responsibility in minimizing impacts on the ozone layer and the climate system.