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Questions & Answers

Answers to Common AC Repair Questions From Our Customers 

Fox Family Heating & Air Conditioning is your fast, honest, and friendly HVAC company serving Sacramento, Rancho Cordova, and all of Northern California.

HVAC Replacement estimates are $0 while the cost to get a qualified technician over to look at your system is $99. For a full breakdown on service costs and to see how you can make that fee disappear!

The easiest way to answer this question for you is to have you click the link above to schedule your appointment. This way, you can immediately see our available time slots. Just fill out some information, click the slot that works best for you, and we secure your spot in our schedule.

Most of the time, we will get out to your house on the same day or the following one. During the crazy peak times, we can be booked as far out as a week.

I tell my technicians to let you know they will repair the part. Then they have to make sure the rest of the system is running correctly. The reason for this is that we can’t see how the rest of the system is working if another part of the system is malfunctioning. We never want you to think we are finding additional issues with your system just to rack up the repair bill. We do, however, want to avoid allowing a plan to run with other known issues. That inconveniences you with more time off work to wait for us to come back out.

Routine repairs: 30-40 minutes

Our technicians have fully stocked vans that can make your repair on the spot without going to the parts store. There are universal parts that help with this process. If a system is still under warranty, we would have to make that trip to get the part and usually come back the same day. Sometimes it’s the next day.

Some repairs can take as little as 30 minutes. We have seen heating and cooling issues thousands of times. What may be difficult for you to diagnose may be routine for our experienced HVAC technicians.

After we repair the part, we will start the system up and make everything else is working before cleaning up.
More significant Repairs: 90 minutes to 2 hours.

Other times we will diagnose a bad motor, gas valve, low refrigerant, and other items. These may still be routine for us to diagnose and even repair; they just take a little more time to perform it. Maybe 90 minutes to 2 hours.

7 to 10 business days

Still other times, we run across a specialty part like evaporator coils, variable speed motors, two-stage control boards, compressors, or heat exchangers. These are original equipment manufactured (OEM) parts and fit precisely into your specific system. Sometimes the supplier in town has them in stock. Other times, they have to order them from the manufacturer. That process usually takes 10 to 15 business days.

There is overnight delivery on some parts. But we don’t usually go that route because the manufacturer won’t warranty the item if it gets damaged on the way here. The companies like UPS, Fed Ex, DHL, and USPS are concerned with handling those overnight deliveries or expedited deliveries with that extra care.

One final thought on these delivered parts: We’ll wait for your part to arrive at our shop before scheduling the appointment to come back out to your house and make the repair, though. We’ve looked bad making the return appointment before the part arrived and had to reschedule, making it inconvenient for you.

It depends on the type of repair. A broken AC can cost anywhere from $100 – $2,000. If the part is easy to replace and inexpensive then it will be on the low end. Other times replacing a motor that may be a special order part can be on the higher end.

“If there’s no air coming out of the registers in your rooms”, there may be a problem with the part of the indoor unit or air handler.  If the outdoor unit isn’t running or the fan isn’t spinning, there’s likely something going on with a component on the outdoor AC.

If the system once cooled your home but doesn’t now, a part may have failed or refrigerant could be leaking.  You could just have a dirty air filter, too.  If you check your filter and it’s brown or grey, it’s time to change it!

This can happen when you have a clogged filter or a dirty evaporator coil. Another reason could be that your HVAC system is having refrigerant line issues.

Tune-ups are $75.  They involve an experienced air conditioning technician testing and cleaning the cooling side and the heating side of the system, depending on the time of year.  In the spring and summer, an air conditioning tune-up is performed by spending 45 minutes to an hour and a half with a forty-five-point checklist testing to make sure all the parts meet factory standards.  Factory standards means everyone understands the system is aging in years but are all the components still measuring and performing to acceptable levels.  If they aren’t, repairs will be suggested and can usually be replaced during the same call.

Tune-ups are $75.  They involve an experienced air conditioning technician testing and cleaning the cooling side and the heating side of the system, depending on the time of year.  In the spring and summer, an air conditioning tune-up is performed by spending 45 minutes to an hour and a half with a forty-five-point checklist testing to make sure all the parts meet factory standards.  Factory standards means everyone understands the system is aging in years but are all the components still measuring and performing to acceptable levels.  If they aren’t, repairs will be suggested and can usually be replaced during the same call.

Our diagnostic fee, which is $99, doesn’t go towards the cost of the repair.  One point we try to make here is that even though other companies say they will include it in the cost of the repair, they are very likely just hiding that diagnostic fee into that cost.  Customers will see their repair pricing is higher than ours and then realize they’re going to be charged the diagnostic fee regardless of whether a repair is made or not.

We have over 1000 maintenance club members who never even have to pay a diagnostic fee, and they receive 15% off the cost of their repairs.  Our maintenance club members are folks who have used us as first-time customers and liked us enough to allow us to come out twice a year and perform the necessary preventive maintenance on their system, so we can try to make their system last longer, run more efficiently, and be safer for their families. It’s an annual or monthly payment that prepays for the tune-ups, allows them never to have to pay a diagnostic fee and receive priority service over non-club members during those busy times of the year.

Your technician will ask you a few questions about your system and go straight to the problem so you can begin cooling as soon as possible.  If you can help us out by telling us everything you’re unhappy about your system, the service tech can address them one by one.  The diagnostic service call is one where we are primarily focused on fixing the part that is broken or not performing correctly.  If you are looking for a thorough combover of the entire air conditioning or heating system, perhaps you could have us come out for a separate call known as a tune-up. 

When the service season comes around, I’m sure you understand that we need to get the repair made for your family and move on to the next one that may be suffering from no heating or cooling as well.

You’d request a tune-up when your system seems to be running just fine.  But you know getting preventive maintenance will make your system run cleaner and last longer.

You’d ask for a diagnostic appointment if your system isn’t running quite the way you think it should be.  For example, the Friday before you went camping for the weekend, the AC was working just fine, but now the air coming out doesn’t seem to be as cold.  Some people just call this a service call.

You can get a more detailed description here:   Do I Need an AC Tune-Up or a Diagnostic Service Call? 

Our diagnostic fee, which is $99, doesn’t go towards the cost of the repair.  One point we try to make here is that even though other companies say they will include it in the cost of the repair, they are very likely just hiding that diagnostic fee into it.  Customers will see their repair pricing is higher than ours and then realize they’re going to be charged the diagnostic fee regardless of whether a repair is made or not.

We have over 1000 maintenance club members who never even have to pay a diagnostic fee, and they receive 15% off the cost of their repairs.  Our maintenance club members are folks who have used us as first-time customers and liked us enough to allow us to come out twice a year and perform the necessary preventive maintenance on their system, so we can try to make their system last longer, run more efficiently, and be safer for their families. It’s an annual or monthly payment that prepays for the tune-ups, allows them never to have to pay a diagnostic fee and receive priority service over non-club members during those busy times of the year.