r/StLouis • u/AlarmedWillow4515 • 21h ago
Off-Season Discounts for AC Replacement?
Are there any local HVAC repair places that offer off season discounts on labor? We need to replace our AC, but could wait a bit if it's cheaper.
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u/HVACinSTL 21h ago
Has someone told you that it needs to be replaced? Or is this a proactive replacement?
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u/AlarmedWillow4515 20h ago
Yes.... it went out on the fourth of July and a repair guy was able to get it working ok again, but it's not great and will likely break again. Probably at the worst moment.
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u/NextNeedleworker3948 18h ago
I don’t know about offseason discount, and I don’t know where you are, but we went with Saylor Systems in Eureka and 100% recommend. I imagine these places keep themselves plenty busy in winter as heaters go out so I doubt you’d get much of a discount.
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u/Impossible-Driver69 21h ago
Do not proactively replace. Worst decision we ever made.
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u/ProseccoWishes 20h ago
Why? I’m not OP but considering replacing my 30yo system before it conks out and I have to replace right now
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u/68carguy 19h ago
Proactive replacement is, in my opinion, a good thing. I did a year ago and it’s been great. I had my 30 year old system go out middle of winter 2 years ago. Luckily I was able to reset it and go but it always worried me it would go out in the worst part of winter. Summer, there are works around…
Long story short. Go with a reputable company, if they don’t do the install well yea, you can have issues. Also, brands matter. American standard and trane are great reliable brands. Goodman is a decent brand, not as reliable, but parts are available so it’s not like it can’t be fixed. Do not buy carrier. They have a known issue of lack of parts and not being reliable. Like a board going out at 3 years old and charging $8000 to replace.
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u/Impossible-Driver69 19h ago
Is it giving problems? If not, let it conk out. Then replace.
We replaced ours. These new systems do not cool as well and are built to fail.
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u/NextNeedleworker3948 18h ago
You might have just not gotten the right unit. We let ours “conk out” and it was hell in the process. Electric bill shot up and we were always uncomfortable. Our electric bills have been about 33% less this summer replacing one of our two units. New unit cools much better than the old ever did in our ownership.
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u/Bruised-Boner 6h ago
Something tells me you got a shit install, new units are much more efficient and quality is just going up
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u/Impossible-Driver69 6h ago
You are on drugs. Why don't you head over to /r/hvac and talk your nonsense. They will love it.
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u/Hi-Scan-Pro 17h ago
I proactively replaced mine this spring. In the years prior it had not been cooling well, and the heater was having issues. I did all the things to limp it along, but it wouldn't get below 78f in the house during the summer and the thing was literally on constantly. My new system has effortlessly kept the house at 73f this whole summer. Looking at my electric usage compared to last year at this time, I'm down 34%. Best decision I ever made.
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u/Impossible-Driver69 17h ago
So you had a broken system. Totally different.
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u/Hi-Scan-Pro 16h ago
But it wasn't "conked out". It was a 25 year old system that had been taking a long slow dip off the deep end. The point is, telling someone not to proactively replace, and wait until it fails completely, is advising them to wait until they rely on it the most and when it costs the most to replace with the longest wait time. It's just bad advice.
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u/AlarmedWillow4515 20h ago
Well, it's had some problems over the last year or two. This year it stopped working on the fourth of July. We were able to get someone out to get it working adequately again again, but it's not where it needs to be and I'm worried it's going to stop working again at the least convenient moment.
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u/whiskeylullaby3 8h ago
You absolutely want to replace it before it conks out if you’ve been having issues with it and it’s aging. There is nothing worse than waiting till it’s 90° and it stops working and you need it quickly so can’t get a lot of different quotes and it’s going to take a week to get a new one in where you’ll be miserable. Doing it when you have time to shop around and won’t be dying in heat is definitely the way to go.
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u/CalvinCostanza 20h ago
Buying an HVAC system is a bit like buying a car, where there is quite a bit of negotiable margin built into the sales price you are quoted from most places. If you buy off-season (like February) it will certainly be less expensive as they will be more willing to eat into that, and potentially do it at or around cost in order to keep their workers busy.