WildBill wrote:03Lightningrocks wrote:WildBill wrote:SRO1911 wrote:you have to have a license under e.p.a section 608 to purchase refrigerants. to get the license you have to take a test - the test costs 30-50 dollars. most places offer a studyguide and test for 100-150 check out epa test .com a manifold will run you 30-300 dollars, but a good manual yellowjacket is all you need for r22, should be 50 bucks or so with good hoses.
the skills to safely use it? thats up to you. You need to know the ambient air temp to determine the proper charge pressure, its not rocket science but you need to keep in mind that there is some danger associated with freon - including asphyxia, frostbite, destroying your very expensive ac unit and other bad crap.
I would have thought that a "normal" certified HVAC technician would already know this stuff. Maybe the guy who worked on my AC had his OSHA license. I didn't ask.
Most do know they are required to have EPA certification. BTW... I noticed you used the word certified. Certified technician is not the same as a licensed and insured contractor.
I did use the wrong word. I did not know that a person needed a license to install or repair A/C units.
Yeah, in an attempt to protect home owners from felons, the state decided to require all service technicians fill out a form and pay a fifty dollar a year fee to register with the state. Some of these guys are now using that certification card to fool people into thinking they are allowed to perform contracting work. They have zero legal authority to be doing work on their own.
Here is one difference. A service technician working under proper licensing makes a mistake that burns your house down. He will have insurance that will more than cover the situation. Joe Bob, the certified service tech, "doing you a deal" , has no insurance and most likely couldn't afford to pay if he burned your dog house down. Typically this is the very guy that claims legitimate companies are ripping people off by what they charge.
Here is a gun analogy. I can make a zip gun for about twenty bucks that will fire a bullet out the end of the barrel. Why does it cost me 1400 bucks to buy a gun that fires a bullet out the end of the barrel from Kimber?
Like the freon cost mentioned so eloquently in an earlier post, along with an opinion questioning professional HVAC companies integrity. Those type comments stem from a serious lack of knowledge on the actual costs to run a real business.
It is like claiming that Pappa Johns is ripping me off when they deliver a pizza and wings to my house and charge me enough to buy the raw ingredients to make ten pizzas and fifty wings. How about that cup of coffee I drank that cost me a dollar fifty? Heck... I paid for ten pots! What is that all about. Waffle house ripping me off? Nope... It is about what it cost to get that cup of coffee conveniently in front of me so I can simply drink it.
Funny stuff to anyone who thinks about the raw costs of anything compared to what it cost for the end user to purchase that service/product. It cost serious money to operate a legitimate business. Any business ! Especially a service type business.
My apologies for getting a little sideways with my response but nothing digs in my craw like being told, by a maintenance guy or some other guy working on the outer edges of a legitimate HVAC service company, that I am ripping people off with what I charge. We don't sit around the kitchen at night with our wives just randomly making up numbers. What we charge is based on calculations and formulas we have to use to insure we are not out of business in six months. The very same formulas and business plans used by other service sector companies. It is after all, a real business, not just something we do on the side.
Be careful who you trust to work on your HVAC equipment. At the very least, make sure it is a Properely licensed and insured HVAC contractor.
Thanks for the explanation.
now?.. 13 is the lowest allowed and soon the lowest allowed will be 14 SEER. 
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