Latest / Shafer Heating and Cooling Service Repair Podcast / 🛠️❄️🔥 Do I Really Need Biannual HVAC Tune-Ups and Maintenance?

Transcript

🛠️❄️🔥 Do I Really Need Biannual HVAC Tune-Ups and Maintenance? · Shafer Heating and Cooling Service Repair Podcast

• 0:01
  Nathan Shafer, Shafer Heating and Cooling. How are you, my friend?
• 0:05
  Hey, good, Jim. How are you? I'm living the dream. Thank you so much for joining
• 0:08
  me today on the program. You're my go-to guy for HVAC.
• 0:13
  Love this question that's come in. Do I really need annual maintenance?
• 0:18
  I say biannual, actually. How about that one?
• 0:21
  So annual minimum, biannual suggested. How did I do? You're spot on.
• 0:29
  We're all done. All done.
• 0:32
  So, all right. So let's go a little deeper. Biannual, why is it important for
• 0:36
  you guys to come out twice a year to my home to check out my HVAC system?
• 0:41
  Yeah so i think you know at first we just look at uh what is the manufacturer of your.
• 0:46
  Of your equipment you know require and so if you look at
• 0:49
  if your system's people are well it's brand new i just got it
• 0:52
  it's a year old six months old two years old
• 0:54
  whatever uh no need for that right it's under warranty well technically if you
• 0:58
  read through any manufacturer's warranties without the proper maintenance the
• 1:01
  warranties are avoided they they won't or don't have to stand behind that unit
• 1:06
  and back it up picture your car if you don't take care of it maintain it you
• 1:09
  take it back in because whatever's broke on it,
• 1:12
  the dealership's going to say, well, you haven't maintained,
• 1:14
  you haven't taken care of it.
• 1:15
  And so there is the maintenance side of this, just the cost of ownership and
• 1:18
  having that unit and the right thing to do to protect it.
• 1:21
  And so there's number one, but then number two, as that system runs,
• 1:25
  all systems decrease in efficiency over time.
• 1:28
  Now, whether you maintain that system or don't maintain that system is going
• 1:32
  to depend if you picture that graph on how fast yours is dropping or if it's
• 1:36
  just slowly over time. So picture UV bulbs and different things.
• 1:40
  Everything over time, you know, deteriorates over time in its effectiveness.
• 1:45
  An HVAC system is no different. But if we maintain that system,
• 1:48
  we can keep those efficiencies up because we can keep it at factory fresh conditions
• 1:52
  and operating cleanly for as long as possible.
• 1:56
  And once again, therefore, saving money and increasing the life of that equipment.
• 2:01
  So, yes, biannual is by far the best. Get it checked once in heating mode and
• 2:06
  cleaned and kept up to factory fresh conditions as well as once in cooling mode doing that same thing.
• 2:12
  I've heard, speaking of heating and cooling mode, that it's best to test the
• 2:19
  heating system, the furnace, on the coolest day you can before you get deep in the season.
• 2:25
  And certainly with the air conditioning system, if it's 68 degrees outside,
• 2:30
  but if it's 88, it helps. Is that true or does it not matter?
• 2:36
  Uh i mean yes and no it's easier on certain things but
• 2:38
  there are ways that we can take and and put that
• 2:41
  system into a real life situation um even on those milder days and so um we
• 2:47
  run the majority or a big part of those during those times because that's what
• 2:50
  we call in the hvac industry the shoulder season uh when it's spring ish and
• 2:54
  when it's fallish you know those certain months there's not enough need and
• 2:57
  so that allows us to be able to run a lot of those and we have thousands of club members to go run.
• 3:02
  We do that with our technicians because we don't have a lot of demand service.
• 3:06
  However, we also have guys on staff that run those year round because just like
• 3:10
  changing the oil in your car, it's not necessarily based off,
• 3:14
  hey, a certain time of year that I do it.
• 3:16
  It's based off of runtime. So same thing with your system.
• 3:19
  There's ideal times as far as for the contractor for us to do that because of scheduling purposes.
• 3:25
  When it's 95 out, it's a lot of no cools coming in, right? Or if it's zero degrees out.
• 3:30
  However, for as far as the system goes,
• 3:32
  really, as long as it's being done biannually, that's the main thing.
• 3:35
  Whether it's in the middle of summer, the beginning of summer,
• 3:38
  it's based off of the runtime, it's the routine, it's the every five to seven
• 3:41
  months that it's being done.
• 3:42
  That's what's key. And that's what's going to keep that system in those great
• 3:45
  conditions and working properly.
• 3:47
  When people join the VIP club with you guys.
• 3:52
  Is biannual maintenance part of that? How does that work?
• 3:55
  Yeah. Yeah. So lots of great things with the VIP membership.
• 3:59
  That is one of those where we come out twice a year, once in heating mode and
• 4:02
  once in cooling mode. And it's automatic.
• 4:04
  We call you, set it up, schedule it so you can set it and forget it, right?
• 4:08
  So it gives the client great peace of mind, as well as with that,
• 4:12
  they get lots of other benefits.
• 4:14
  So things like priority service, guaranteed service, then 24 hours on certain
• 4:18
  plans that we have. Some plans are 48 hours.
• 4:21
  They get discounts on repairs up to 20%, discounts on new systems up to 10%,
• 4:25
  no diagnostic fees 24-7, even in the middle of the night or on holidays.
• 4:30
  They get lifetime warranties on parts replaced. And so just lots of great benefits
• 4:35
  that come with being that true VIP member.
• 4:38
  And like I said, it's where our happiest customers go with it.
• 4:41
  They have the least amount of problems. They have the most peace of mind,
• 4:44
  and it's extremely affordable.
• 4:46
  It's not just affordable. Yeah, it's actually cheap. It is, and the value is fantastic.
• 4:53
  Oh, my goodness, yeah. So for the people who are listening and watching this,
• 4:58
  it would be foolish for you not to join the membership.
• 5:04
  Um, and if you don't care about your HVAC system, then you wouldn't join the membership.
• 5:10
  It just doesn't make any sense. You know, it's like education.
• 5:12
  You either want to learn or you don't. If you don't, don't go to school.
• 5:15
  If you do go to school, read the books.
• 5:17
  And, and so my point is, is if you want to get this done twice a year,
• 5:23
  you're going to get more value when you get the membership, VIP membership.
• 5:28
  It just makes more sense because you're going to get more bells and whistles.
• 5:32
  There's priorities and discounts and so forth within that, right?
• 5:35
  Yeah, absolutely. And we've ran the numbers many a times, and this is actually
• 5:40
  going super conservative.
• 5:41
  We've actually seen them on average of saving even more, $2,000 and $3,000.
• 5:45
  But on average, time and time and time again, our VIP club members save around
• 5:50
  $1,000 per year when they're active on that membership.
• 5:53
  And they're only, the investment is so little. I mean, we have different plans.
• 5:56
  It's even from $17 a month to $30 a month, depending on which plan they go with.
• 6:00
  So for really pennies on the dollar, they're saving an average of a thousand
• 6:04
  bucks a year between all the different benefits, savings and utility savings.
• 6:08
  It's just smart to have Schaefer and, um.
• 6:12
  The entire team at Schaefer Heating and Cooling take a look at the system on
• 6:17
  a regular basis, kind of like your doctor.
• 6:20
  I mean, you know, if you're really taking care of yourself, especially as your
• 6:23
  body gets older, you want to have a doctor who knows you, knows your body, can see things.
• 6:30
  Not just when you're sick, maybe it's your wellness calls.
• 6:34
  Well, same in your business. You can call a wellness HVAC checkup.
• 6:38
  We're coming just to take a look to make sure things are running right.
• 6:41
  Like, oh, this isn't right. Let's tweak this.
• 6:45
  And you document all that. You know the system.
• 6:49
  So when you do get that phone call and it's an emergency call,
• 6:53
  you guys already have a record of what's going on, what you did.
• 6:57
  And some of it may be under warranty because you just did install that a couple of years ago.
• 7:02
  And, you know, they're doing the right thing. They're getting it maintained on a regular basis.
• 7:07
  And it just makes a lot of sense.
• 7:10
  Yeah, 100%. We've got actually just a few moments ago, a customer called,
• 7:15
  a maintenance technician is there right now.
• 7:16
  And they said, I had no idea my system wasn't running correctly.
• 7:20
  It seems to be cooling. It's extremely hot outside, but I have noticed it's
• 7:23
  running a little bit longer.
• 7:24
  I've started to slowly start to see my utility bill just increase over this past bill.
• 7:29
  Come to find out the technician found there's just some small adjustments that
• 7:31
  needed made in that system, some changes that had happened.
• 7:34
  And the technician brought up before the client had even mentioned anything.
• 7:37
  He said, well, actually, do you think it could be tied to this year that we've
• 7:40
  noticed? And they said, yeah.
• 7:41
  They said, well, yeah, I didn't even think about it. We've been comfortable,
• 7:43
  but this is slash little tweaks.
• 7:45
  If that would have kept going, that could have been, you know,
• 7:48
  huge over the course of the summer.
• 7:49
  So, yeah, it's just really, really, really important to do for sure.
• 7:54
  Awesome information. All of Nathan's information is located in the show notes. He's one click away.
• 8:01
  Thanks, Nathan. Appreciate it, buddy. Thank you, Jim. See you.