We are currently in the middle of a remodel and, of course, our AC unit went out. We had an HVAC company come out today and he said we had a leaking condenser and the outside unit needed to be replaced. We did this through our home warranty (2nd year in the home and kept the home warranty because we knew the AC unit was old).

Questions:
1. Is a leaking condenser an indication for complete replacement?
2. Using our home warranty, will we have any say in what brand is used to replace?
3. Are there preferred brand? I've seen other threads recommend Trane.
4. Is it common to replace the outside unit, keep the inside unit, but have to purchase modification parts to make them work together?

Thanks. Just making sure that we get what we need and that its quality work, versus going outside the warranty and paying for it ourselves.

Will home warranty really replace an HVAC unit? They don't put coverage limits? Or try and patch the old unit for as long as possible.

They will most likely only change the condenser coil and not the whole condenser. They will only fix what is broken.

If they do say they will replace the condenser, then you will not have a choice on brand. It quite possibly could be a unit that has been sitting in a warehouse for years. I would request a buy out for the condenser and put that towards a new unit (or system) of your choosing installed by your choice of contractor.

Thanks.

ukbb2003 said:

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They will most likely only change the condenser coil and not the whole condenser. They will only fix what is broken.

If they do say they will replace the condenser, then you will not have a choice on brand. It quite possibly could be a unit that has been sitting in a warehouse for years. I would request a buy out for the condenser and put that towards a new unit (or system) of your choosing installed by your choice of contractor.

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This is spot on. They will give you a dollar amount for the condenser that you can use to purchase whatever you want from whomever you want.

just have them pay you the cash value of the repair and get it fixed yourself (properly) with a better contractor

We had friends steer us away from home warranties claiming they were crap. We were busy with other stuff when buying the house so didn't really research it further and just took their word.

You will get better answers from our HVAC gurus
and know that I prefer to recommend quality (saves time/money/surprises in the long run) over fast/cheap/whatever options that require a lot of good luck and clean living to work out.

1. some condensers are old enough & COVID production hobbled to not have a proper replacement in the cheaper brands ... even a Carrier 18-20yo has these troubles with major parts such as this
2. HW reports to me in Aggieland say No Choices in most anything, whatever is cheapest/fastest/profitable to warranty company & they come over whenever they want
3. I have posted Consumer Reports list of good-bad brands in other HVAC threads here ... I agree with Trane BUT the other half of making a brand tops is a quality dealer/installer to make it work ideally
4. since units outdoor comes married to indoor, a transplant in either begats a foreign relationship that needs a translator to communicate/work as a team again, ergo the need for mod.parts ... you are lucky this is an option


A. If it were me, always avoid home warranty deals and have a more direct relationship with the best in town, especially if a house system SO important as this
B. Remodeling costs/sf are head & shoulder above new construction, so once committed to this long-term investment it seems logical you would replace old & tailor a new HVAC system into place so can forgetaboutit 20 years.

aggiepaintrain said:

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they will never pay for a new system just patch the parts until you get fed up and buy your own new system

they are pretty much worthless

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You can fight it and win depending on the company and how hard you want to work. Got one replaced at my current house and it's fine. Took maybe two weeks of fighting them and tracking down their leadership on LinkedIn and figuring out their in house email naming convention by getting idiot front line employees to forward me email chains to get there so YMMV.

they are crap, but, if you get it paid for when buying a home then you can still just utilize it to pay you cash in lieu of repairing anything, then use that however you want.

My daughter and Son-in-law just had a claim on a home warranty for their older washer (less than 2 weeks in a new home).

Home warranty technician was out promptly and part was $350. The home warranty company offered a $375 gift card from Lowe's.... Not bad in my book. There was a $50 fee for making the claim.

Aggiewes '87

Aggiewes said:

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My daughter and Son-in-law just had a claim on a home warranty for their older washer (less than 2 weeks in a new home).

Home warranty technician was out promptly and part was $350. The home warranty company offered a $375 gift card from Lowe's.... Not bad in my book. There was a $50 fee for making the claim.

Aggiewes '87

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Not bad, but also not the norm. And probably less headache from them because it was $375. But what's the cost they're paying into the home warranty. I'd wager more than $325.

Quote:

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Will home warranty really replace an HVAC unit? They don't put coverage limits? Or try and patch the old unit for as long as possible.

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Most likely not. I have American Home Shield and their HVAC replace/repair max is $1500/year per policy.