Heat pump needs looking at before summer - who do you call in Conway?

Our heat pump limped along all winter out here by Lake Conway. Lukewarm air a lot of nights and the backup strip heat kept kicking on, and the electric bill showed it. I told myself I'd get it checked in the spring and here it is almost June with the 90s coming.

The fellow I used for 20-some years retired and I think sold to a bigger outfit. Left two messages with them and nobody's called back. Maybe they're slammed, I don't know.

So two questions. Who do you call that actually shows up the same week this time of year? And how do you tell an honest tune-up quote from an upsell? Last time I had somebody out (not the old guy) it went from a $90 tune-up to a list of things I "really should" do before it quit on me. Maybe it needed some of it, maybe not, I couldn't tell. I don't know enough to argue with a man standing in my carport holding a gauge.

My sewing room is the back addition and it's the first room to get miserable once it passes 80, so I'd like this settled before it gets bad. No high school football to keep me distracted till August either, so I might as well get something done.

Any names appreciated, and what you paid if you don't mind saying.

OH MAN THE MAN WITH THE GAUGE IN THE CARPORT THING, I FEEL THAT. I DON'T HAVE A NAME I'D SWEAR BY, WE WENT THROUGH TWO COMPANIES OUT IN CENTENNIAL VALLEY BEFORE ONE STUCK, SO I'M WATCHING THIS THREAD TOO

WHAT HELPED ME WITH THE UPSELL THING. ASK THEM TO SHOW YOU THE BAD READING OR THE ACTUAL PART (A PHONE PIC IS FINE), ASK WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU WAIT ON IT, AND GET IT WRITTEN OUT BEFORE YOU SAY YES TO ANYTHING. IF IT'S OVER A COUple HUNDRED BUCKS GET A SECOND LOOK, A SECOND OPINION IS CHEAPER THAN A WRONG REPAIR

ALSO CALL AGAIN THIS WEEK, DON'T WAIT ON THEM. EVERYBODY'S AC QUITS THE FIRST 95 DEGREE WEEK AND THEN THE WAIT GOES FROM DAYS TO WEEKS. HOPE THE SEWING ROOM MAKES IT

Asking to see the part or a phone pic is a good one, I never thought to do that. Mostly I just nodded and said "well, okay." The written quote before saying yes makes sense too.

Monday's Memorial Day so I'll give that outfit one more call Tuesday morning, and if I still get nobody I'll start working down whatever names turn up here. Sounds like waiting on them is the worst thing I can do.

Sewing room is already about 78 in the afternoon, so I'm on the clock. Thanks for the heads up on the 95 degree week.

Tuesday morning is smart. When you call, say right up front that you've got lukewarm air and the backup strip heat running a lot. Some outfits will fit you in faster if it sounds like a real problem and not just a tune-up. And ask what the tune-up price covers before they come out, so you're not hearing it for the first time in the carport.

I don't have a name for you. The company we use has been good to us, but I've only had them out twice and I'd be guessing on how they handle a busy week. Hopefully somebody else chimes in.

One more thing, write down how old your unit is before you call. If it's pushing 15 years that changes whether a repair even makes sense, and a fair tech will tell you that straight. 78 in a sewing room with the iron going is no fun, hang in there.

Good tip on the age. I went out to the carport this morning with my reading glasses and the sticker on the outdoor unit says 2011. That's 14 years, so right in the zone you're talking about. The old fellow put it in for us, which is part of why I'm sorry to lose him.

I'll lead with the lukewarm air and the strip heat like you said, and ask up front what the tune-up covers. If somebody tells me straight that it's near the end, I'd rather hear it now than in August. Never thought about it, but a fair man would probably say so even if it costs him a repair job.

Still just names so far, but it's Sunday and Tuesday's the plan.

Rick, 14 years isn't a death sentence. A 2011 unit should be R-410A, so you're not stuck chasing the old phased-out refrigerant, and that matters if he starts talking about a recharge. Heat pumps work both seasons here, so they wear out sooner than a cooling-only unit, but 14 is more middle-aged than dead.

Here's how I sort honest from upsell. An honest tech puts gauges and a thermometer on it and tells you the numbers before he tells you the price. If he says "low on charge," the next sentence out of his mouth ought to be "so where's it leaking." Topping off a leaker for $300 every June is just a subscription. And if he says you need a whole new system before he's even pulled the panel off, thank him and call somebody else.

Lukewarm air plus strip heat constantly running could be something cheap and dumb like a bad capacitor, a sensor, or a defrost board. It could also be a leak. Ask which one he thinks it is and why. If he can't explain it in plain English, that tells you something.

Hose off the outdoor coil and swap the filter before anyone shows up. It's free, and it takes away one easy thing for him to bill you for.

My old guy got bought out too, by the way. Now I get a text with a stock photo of a smiling tech. Progress. Good luck Tuesday.

Shane, that "subscription" line is about right. My sister-in-law paid for a top-off three summers running before anybody said the word leak.

Rick, since it's Memorial Day and you're home anyway, the coil is a good one to do today. Flip the breaker off at the panel first and use a regular garden hose, gentle. Not a pressure washer, those fins bend if you look at them wrong. Pull any grass clippings and leaves off the sides too.

My mother-in-law used to say before window units came along, everybody out our way just sat on the porch with a church fan till dark and slept with the windows open. Sewing room would've been a lost cause. Good luck Tuesday, hope they actually call you back.

Barb's right on the breaker, and I'd add one thing. There's usually a disconnect box on the wall right by the outdoor unit, a little gray box with a handle or a pull-out block. Pull that too, so nobody flips something back on while you've got a wet hose in your hand. Spray from the outside, top to bottom, gentle. If there's cottonwood fluff or that gray matted gunk on the fins, let the water soak it and don't scrape it with anything.

Rick, here's something that might get you moved up the list Tuesday. Once the coil dries off, put the thermostat on cool, drop it a few degrees, give it 15 minutes, and go look. Is the fan on top spinning? Do you hear the compressor humming? Is the bigger copper line cold and sweating, or iced up? Even "the fan's not turning" or "there's frost on the line" tells the dispatcher something. It sounds a lot more like a real call than "I want a tune-up." Also peek at the thermostat and make sure it isn't sitting on emergency heat. I've seen that cause a winter bill like yours.

I don't have a name for you either, which seems to be the theme of this thread. Out our way in Beaverfork a lot of the good ones are one or two truck outfits, and they don't pick up because they're under somebody's house. Leave a message with your address and the 2011 on the sticker, and then call again Wednesday if you haven't heard back. Hope the sewing room holds out.