Rant: A homeowner in Phoenix told me I was wasting time on compressor maintenance

Honestly, I thought I had it all figured out with my pickup truck AC compressor repairs. I always swapped the whole unit if it failed, charging around $600 each time. Then a retired HVAC guy from Mesa told me I was just being lazy and that I should try flushing the system and replacing the orifice tube first. He said 80 percent of compressor failures are just contamination, not a dead pump. I tested his advice on a 2015 Ford F-150 last month and it saved the customer $350. Has anyone else had a similar moment where a customer's feedback actually made you a better tech?

2 comments

2 Comments

verar2112d ago

Idk, maybe it's just me but swapping the whole compressor sounds like a safer bet if you don't want a comeback. Flushing is kind of a gamble unless you're real sure nothing got metal chunks inside the system. I'd rather pay for the piece of mind than save money and risk having to do it all over again.

nina_johnson8612d ago

Honestly the thing nobody mentions is how well you can actually get the old oil out. I did a flush on a system once that looked clean but the filter kept clogging a month later. Ended up swapping the compressor anyway so i wasted time and money.