Mini-split heat pump died

[TnAndy]

I installed a Mitsubishi 18,000 BTU mini split about 20 years ago....mounted the indoor & outdoor units, ran the piping & wiring....fairly easy job. Paid a HVAC guy to come out, vacuum down the lines and turn the gas loose from the pre-charged compressor end. Worked fine all those years, finally the other day comes we needed a little bit of heat for a chilly morning, and nothing coming out. Indoor fan ran, outdoor fan ran, so I'm thinking "no, or low, gas". Called a guy off Craig's List...he comes, hooks a gauge up "No gas". Hooks a bottle of nitrogen up, you can hear it SSSing out of the line going into the compressor. Vibration over the years wore a hole in the line is our guess. 20 year old unit, end of service life I guess.

SO, the guy prices me a new LG unit (he doesn't handle Mitsubishi) for $4300 installed. Sends me an email quote with the LG model he proposes. I look it up online, I can buy it for $1809, no tax, free shipping. If I were to need a new line set.....it uses 3/8 and 5/8", just like the current Mitsubishi...but where the new units connect 'might' well be a few inches short of reaching....that would add $149. I assume his cost from a local jobber would not be any higher than $2k, and likely several hundred less.

My question is: DO HVAC guys (him & 1 helper) really make $2300+ for a day's work ? In East Tennessee ??

Probably not even a full day if he can reuse the line set in place, and that line runs across a wide open, accessible attic (10/12 pitch) with plywood floor....can't get much easier.

I mean I'd have paid 500-800 bucks to keep an old guy from climbing around/etc....but 2300 ?

Emailed him back, said 'call me a cheapskate but you're way overpriced'....and I guess I'll be ordering the unit and putting it in myself. I may spring for a set of gauges and a low-medium end vac pump, and just do the whole ball of wax.

I DID pay him for the service call on the old unit. Asked what I owed him when he was finished looking at it (1/2hr, tops). He says "Nothing if you buy the new one from me, $70 otherwise" I handed him 70 in cash, and said "If you put the new one in, you can subtract it from the total if you want"....which is code for "Yeah, I know you can simply overprice the job that much and I'm getting nothing"...but whatever... I feel like we're square on the first visit.

 

[RNeumann]

I doubt he is making a killing off anyone. But if you don’t want to pay it look into a MrCool unit. Those are pre charged and don’t need to be purged first. A total DYI operation.

 

[Overtaxed]

I have a family member who works in commercial AC. There's a lot of profit in it, let's leave it at that. And I suspect residential is even higher because you're dealing with so many wildly uneducated customers. Also, you need certifications and licenses to buy the gas, so very difficult to DIY. I'll look into those Mr. Cool units though, never heard of that before, could be a good option for some of my locations.

I just had a new AC installed in the house. The parts cost was about 2K, the total bill was close to 5K. Now, that said, I don't envy that job, it was a nightmare, yes, it was only a day for 2 guys to do it, but it was an awful day of work and it would have been near impossible to do by myself, even if I could get the Freon and had all the gauge sets and pump.

 

[Alien]

We got a Panasonic split unit from Harvey Norman retailer, reverse cycle 7.1 kw inverter for about $1100 and $500 install and about $200 to run a dedicated power supply about 20 meters. Had it 18 months now and it just about warms the whole house from the lounge room.
Your prices seem very expensive to me.
We did get a good price on it but if we had paid full retail it was only about $1699.

 

[DMax82]

My Mitsubishi 12k BTU mini split cost me $2600 installed. This was in an attached apartment on my new home build. Not sure of the model, but a quick Google search shows them in the $1200-1700 range for sale online. Presumably no sales tax and maybe free shipping.

 

[3Ts]

I got an LG 18000 BTU mini split and installed it my self. The AC company wanted around $4k. I bought the unit from and company in New York and had it shipped to Texas for less than $2k. Installed it my self with my wife's help and we're in our mid 60's at the time. I did buy a vacuum pump and digital vacuum gauge for about $250. The instructions were clear and included everything that needed to be done. I skipped the "purge with nitrogen" step because I didn't have nitrogen. But everything else was straight forward. The key is having 25' of line, that way the freon charge does not need to be adjusted. The biggest problem we had was lifting the 35# indoor unit and sticking the lines thru the 3" hole in the wall.

 

[SimS]

OP;
Would repairing the leak, recharging put the unit back into service? BTW you're not a cheapskate, you're frugal. Big difference. Good luck.

SimS

 

[Sigarms]

I have a family member who works in commercial AC. There's a lot of profit in it, let's leave it at that.

This is a FACT...

The average HVAC company in the United States averages 2% net profit.

Sat down with a guy who has 10 guys working for him, ran his books, he did over 1.4 million in sales the previous year, and he was actually in the hole do to doing "free" work for people who couldn't afford it.

Worked with a 2 man show who worked out of his house, no overhead at all (at least in his mind), owned everything he had, no bills. Ran his books and he STILL was running at 18% overhead. He was bewildered.

Run a HVAC business, employ mulutiple people keeping them busy and drive TO your customers job instead of having them come to you. Most guys who run companies would be better off working for 20-30 bucks an hour and leave the headache behind.

1 - Price
2 - Service
3 - Availability

Pick two of the above as you can't offer all 3 and stay in business...

Single zone system, depending on the model and the capacity (NOT SEER rating), $4,300 is an average price.

 

[TnAndy]

This is a FACT...

The average HVAC company in the United States averages 2% net profit.

Sat down with a guy who has 10 guys working for him, ran his books, he did over 1.4 million in sales the previous year, and he was actually in the hole do to doing "free" work for people who couldn't afford it.

Worked with a 2 man show who worked out of his house, no overhead at all (at least in his mind), owned everything he had, no bills. Ran his books and he STILL was running at 18% overhead. He was bewildered.

Run a HVAC business, employ mulutiple people keeping them busy and drive TO your customers job instead of having them come to you. Most guys who run companies would be better off working for 20-30 bucks an hour and leave the headache behind.

1 - Price
2 - Service
3 - Availability

Pick two of the above as you can't offer all 3 and stay in business...

Single zone system, depending on the model and the capacity (NOT SEER rating), $4,300 is an average price.

I understand....but this is a one guy/one helper show. Overhead ought to be minimal.....but OK....throw in 20% overhead...call it $500 bucks on $4300. I KNOW the equipment cost is $1800 or less (I would be paying retail for it). I KNOW the job is less than a day.

$4300 - 500 = 3800 - 1800 = 2000 Take another 200/day out for the helper....likely high, even with matching taxes/insurance (which OUGHT to be part of that overhead), he ain't paying the helper $20/hr HERE.

Hence, $1800+ . Assuming 8hrs (it won't be), that works out to $225/hr. Still seems a bit exorbitant >to me< .

 

[herm0016]

We just paid about 12k for a Mitsubishi 3 head, 12k, 9k and 9k installed. took 3 guys 2 days, plus a full day for an electrician. a clean and professional crew. retail on the unit i got installed is about $5500 online, without all the accessories.

28,6 BTU 18 SEER Mitsubishi Tri Zone H2i Hyper Heat Pump System 9+9+12 | HVACDirect.com

after fuel, a 300 dollar permit, supplies, insurance, van, tools, taxes, etc.. I do not think anyone is getting rich, maybe the insurance guy. a 20 year old unit may not use a refrigerant that is cheap and readily available today.