I would highly discourage using Efficiency Heating and Air as well as any Goodman A/C units. We live in a new construction home, which as of now, 2010, is only 2 years old that Efficiency Heating and Air installed the HVAC system.
The first issue started almost 2 years ago when the upstairs A/C unit could not keep up on summer days and reached almost 80 F when set at 70 F. They sent a technician out who did not do a pressure check and told me everything looked fine and left no paperwork.
I called an outside HVAC company and spent money to have them evaluate the system. They informed me that the system had a Delta T that was only 8 degrees when 15 degrees was minimal, dye was found in the system which meant someone had to have previously been looking for a leak, and also found the unit appeared to have a bad thermal expansion valve or similar component issue.
After this, I spoke with the owner of the company and informed him that his company did not evaluate the system properly and would be responsible for repairs as well as the cost of the other company’s evaluation.
The technician never bothered to call to let us know he would be late even though we were the first appointment of the day and when trying to go through the receptionist, she was not helpful in tracking the technician down either. This wasn’t the first time they were hours late.
They came and found poor pressures and added 1 lb of refrigerant and glo-stick to the upstairs and a ½ lb of refrigerant to the downstairs unit without bothering to try to find the source of the leak on either unit. A brand new unit shouldn’t have refrigerant leaks!
I kept smelling refrigerant in the house, which I would describe as a mix of a hydrochloric acid vapor and a volatile organic - very irritating to the nose. I called Efficiency about the smell and was told that you can’t smell refrigerant, which is absolutely not true!
Once again I called about the upstairs unit not keeping up with the set-point temperature and the smell of refrigerant in both the upstairs and now the downstairs as well. They told me once more that there is nothing wrong with the unit.
Rains hit and we have water leaking in the roof along the air conditioning vent in the attic. I call Efficiency about this and they come to change the cap. Water leaking along the air conditioning vent in the attic still. I call Efficiency again and they “tar” the roof along the vent. Obviously their installations are not top-notch quality. A neighbor across the street also has this same issue and their system was also installed by Efficiency.
This summer, the upstairs unit is still not keeping up with hot days and I am still smelling refrigerant. Efficiency finds pressures were low again and added another 1.5 lb of refrigerant and more glo-stick. Still not bothering to determine the source of the leak.
A Goodman representative comes to the house with Efficiency and proceeds to tell me that there is nothing they can do and that the system is doing what it is designed to do.
July 21, 2010 after many calls and constant nagging, finally a technician crawls under the house, and finds that the evaporator coil on the downstairs unit was leaking refrigerant into the house. The evaporator coil on the downstairs was replaced and another 1 lb of refrigerant was added. Still no one has bothered to find the source of the upstairs leak or double check the downstairs system and connections.
I asked Efficiency to have an industrial hygienist come and monitor the air in the house to make sure we are still not inhaling refrigerant and they have refused to do this to make sure that our safety is taken into consideration.
Efficiency does not care about customer service unless they are pushed, does not care about individual safety, nor EPA regulations on the release of refrigerant into your home or for that matter the environment. Their products (particularly Goodman) and installation are subpar.
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