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CJ Lehrer and Sons Contracting
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Introduction: We are electrical, heating and air conditioning contractors.
We have been family owned and operated since 1977.
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James W.
Jan 13, 2016
I returned home from work, on the evening of January 4th, to find that our heat pump, a Trane that was installed in December of 2007, had stopped operating correctly. The outside units fan was running but not the compressor. Luckily, we have a pellet stove for heat.
On January 5th I turned to the internet and I ended up on Home Advisor to find a HVAC contractor to look at our heat pump. I clicked Request Quote and received a phone call rather quickly from Charlie at CJ Lehrer & Sons. We talked at length about my issue and he said it sounded like the compressor. Charlie came out to my house a few hours later to inspect my heat pump. He went over to the outside unit while I stayed inside to turn the heat on so he could hear the noise the unit was making. When I went outside Charlie said that he was sure the compressor was bad. He, then, checked the pressure in the line and said all that looked good. At this time, we went inside to talk options. Charlie made it obvious that he is not a fan of Tranes and that it was better to just replace the whole system. I kind of figured that if the compressor was bad that it would be better to get a new system since the Trane was too small for the house (we build an addition in 2014). Charlie said that he would work up some prices on replacing the compressor and installing a new Air Temp (never heard of it) 4 ton unit. I paid him $98 for the service call and he left. About 30 minutes later Charlie called back with prices. He quoted me $1,600, labor only, to replace the compressor and $7,500 for the new 4 ton Air Temp heat pump.
The next morning I decided to call my cousin, who is a HVAC contractor but lives 1 ½ hours away, to ask for his opinion on my situation. My cousin was skeptical about the compressor being bad after just 8 years and asked if Charlie had checked the start capacitor and start relay. I told him that I didnt know. My cousin told me to do nothing until he gets down to my house to check the heat pump out.
On January 11th my cousin got to my house to check my heat pump. He, immediately, found that the start capacitor was bad as well as the start relay. After installing $75 worth of new parts my heat pump works fine.
I called Charlie to let him know what the real problem was with my heat pump and he stuck with the fact that he thought it was the compressor so Im not sure what to make of this. Does Charlie not know what hes doing? Is it just Trane systems he does not know? Or, and I hope not, was he just trying to rip me off.