Central Air Systems

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They were reasonably priced, and on time for the job. They were knowledgeable and they smoothly guided us through the selection process for the best system. Everything went very well.

Initially, the contractor was called in to repair our old units. They recommended replacing the systems as our system used a old Freon. We did some research, and that turned out to be accurate, so we contracted them for the job. <br /> The installation went very well. Our first summer we had no issues. We bought the service contact, which basically includes a one time and quot;check-upand quot;, filters not included. The second year we again took the service contract. The service man came out, and told us the system was working fine. He gave us a bill for replacing the filters Two weeks later, it got hot out. No cold air. We called the service department back, and they told us there is no Freon in the unit. Turns out when we had our roof replaced, the roofing contractor hit the Freon lines with a few nails. This was NOT detected on the previous visit, which left us wondering what exactly the service man did on the first visit aside from changing the filters. It would seem checking the Freon would be one of the few things they would have to do. They then gave me a quote of almost $3000 to fix this. I called the roofer and explained what happened. He maintained that the A/C contractor should have put up nail shields knowing that a roof may be replaced at some point. The A/C contractor said it's the roofers fault. So we were stuck in the middle. I asked the roofer to call the A/C people to work it out, saying I don't really know who's fault it is, except that it is clearly not the homeowners. The roofer was extremely responsive and said he would pick up 50% of the cost, but $3000 was very expensive for a minor repair like this. The A/C contractor was very set in not accepting any responsibility. I never got past the service manager, and the owner never picked up the phone. The best they offered was to lower the cost to $2000 and a free service contract for the following year. Having decided already that the service contract was next to useless, we found an alternate A/C contractor who did the job for $1400 with a warranty. The roofer sent a check for the $700. Still nothing from the A/C contractor. It's a shame because we were very happy with the first install. <br /> I would not recommend them only from the service point of view. I did ask more than one A/C company and A/C repairmen and they have consistently said that a nail shield should have been used. I don't know the actual code myself, but they have all said that is and quot;best practicesand quot;. <br /> <br />

New system was installed two years ago. Developed leaks which required several visits to recharge the system prior to the coil replacement. <br />

responded within an hour of my calling. Sent someone out immediately an within 2 hours air conditioning was up and running. <br />

good but price of r22 coolant is rediculous. high than younestimate average for my area. <br />

My experience with them was excellent. The overall installation was excellent; they did a great job. Their people were friendly. They came in at the price they quoted. So I was very happy with the installation. Their timeliness was great. They were very good with servicing the system.

We have a two floor home and they were able to snake the vents down to appropriate locations on the first floor cleanly and neatly. One significant detail is that the didn't oversell us on the size of the condenser unit -- they said a 4 ton unit Lennox unit would work fine for our 3400 sq ft home when others were going with a standard 5 ton quote. We were a bit concerned but their confidence (and guarantee) that the 4 ton unit was the right way to go moved us in that direction. We chose a higher end 2 stage compressor. They were right -- it kept our home very cool even on the hottest days this summer. <br /> Overall workmanship was excellent. Job went smoothly. I visited their facility before signing the contract to make sure all looked businesslike there and was given a tour -- not fancy, but definitely businesslike and they had a lot of AC units in stock -- which inspires confidence!

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<p>This home improvement project was initially started with the intention of upgrading our 30-year old gas-hot air heating system by replacing the existing furnace with a new high efficiency (and gt;95% efficient) gas furnace and adding central air conditioning. However, we had major concerns with the systems being proposed by several HIVAC contractors including:</p> <p>and middot; The location of unsightly high efficiency gas furnace PVC vent pipes on the front of our house </p> <p>and middot; Significant modification of existing heating system ductwork which is not optimum for second-floor air conditioning </p> <p>and middot; The installation of a noisy air-conditioning compressor outside with refrigeration lines running up the side of the house to an air handler in the attic to cool the second floor. (Note: Our small house has few closets and we did not want to lose any precious attic storage space.) </p> <p>These concerns led us to investigate other types of high efficiency heating systems and we started to learn about geothermal heat pumps which promised even higher heating and air conditioning efficiencies. This set the stage for our selection of Central Air Systems to install a new heating/cooling system in our home. </p> <p>Central Air Systems was originally contacted to provide an estimate to install a high efficiency gas furnace heating system and central air conditioning. Barry Gross, the president of Central Air Systems came to inspect our home’s existing heating system and to propose a system upgrade as we requested. Right from the start, Barry impressed us as being someone who listened carefully to our needs, ideas and concerns and was genuinely interested in our satisfaction. Unlike other contractors, he was willing to work with us by using the existing house ductwork to see how well the air conditioning worked before considering ductwork modifications or attic air handlers. Barry also offered a creative solution involving the addition of through-the-wall-vents to promote the circulation of conditioned air in the second floor rooms with the doors closed. We were very pleased with this a low-cost approach and even more pleased with the direction our conversation took next. </p> <p>Based on information posted on their internet website we knew that Central Air Systems also installed geothermal systems. So out of curiosity, we asked if our property size and location would be suitable for a geothermal installation. Barry became very excited with our inquiry because he has been heating and cooling his home with a geothermal system since the mid 1980’s. He enthusiastically explained the principles and benefits of geothermal technology, the feasibility of installing a geothermal system in our home and the qualification for a federal tax credit that would significantly reduce the ultimate cost of the system. It became clear from this conversation that a geothermal system was the way for us to go. The fact that a geothermal heat pump installed in about the same basement space as the old furnace would provide both heating and air conditioning completely addressed our concerns about the appearance and noise of heating/cooling equipment on the house exterior. The only geothermal equipment outside the house is the ground-loop used to exchange heat with the earth which is below grade level. As an added energy saving feature, the geothermal system is designed to preheat tap water before it enters the existing gas fired hot water boiler. The preheated water is held in a 40-gallon insulated storage tank until it is needed. </p> <p>We are also glad that we followed Barry’s advice to implement an open rather than closed geothermal ground-loop configuration. The simple open geothermal ground-loop consists of just two wells; one that supplies ground water from the aquifer to the geothermal heat pump where heat is either extracted or added to the water depending on the mode of operation (i.e., heating or cooling) before the water is returned to the aquifer via the second well. A closed geothermal ground-loop re-circulates a water/antifreeze mixture through a very long length (~1000 feet) of plastic tubing. Our application and limited property area would dictate the use of a vertical closed ground-loop configuration requiring three or more holes bored hundreds of feet deep into the earth. The closed-loop systems proposed by other geothermal contractors we consulted were significantly more expensive to install and would not have performed as well as the open ground-loop system. These contractors were concerned about poor quality ground water fouling the equipment. However, Barry’s recommendation was based his own personal experience with open ground-loop systems. He assured us that the ground water quality in our area would be suitable for an open ground-loop system. Independent water quality test results obtained by the well drilling contractor confirmed Barry’s claim. </p> <p>Overall, it has been a very pleasant experience doing business with Central Air Systems. Everyone at Central Air Systems with whom we have interfaced, including office personnel, the service manager and the crew who installed our system, has been very professional, courteous, knowledgeable and genuinely concerned with achieving our satisfaction. They all have listened intently to our ideas and have thoroughly addressed our questions and concerns to ensure that we would be fully satisfied with the geothermal system installation. </p> <p>The service manager not only expedited the installation of our geothermal system but also coordinated both the well drilling contractor’s and electrical contractor’s efforts with Central Air Systems’ work. He made sure that we would not suffer a cold winter night without heat during the installation process. He clearly explained the installation process and schedule to us so that there were no surprises. He was and is still very responsive and patient in answering all of our questions concerning the installation of the geothermal system and its operation. </p> <p>The installation crew was fantastic. They worked hard and efficiently to complete the installation in 2 and frac12; days. The neatness of the resulting system layout and plumbing reflects the superior craftsmanship of their work. We are particularly grateful for their patience and ideas to determine a satisfactory location for the system’s 40-gallon hot water storage tank. The crew was very conscientious and careful about protecting finished floors and walls along the route through the house taken to remove the old heating system and to bring in the equipment and materials for the new geothermal system. They also thoroughly cleaned up the house upon completion of the installation. </p> <p>We are extremely satisfied with the geothermal heating/cooling system that Central Air Systems designed and installed in our home. Our home is much more comfortable now. The large temperature swings that were characteristic of our old gas furnace heating system have been eliminated and the new geothermal heating system now maintains the set temperature to within 1 degree Fahrenheit. We are looking forward to the cooling season to experience the new system’s air conditioning mode of operation and are eagerly waiting to see the reduction in home heating/cooling costs expected from operating this system. We are confident that we have made a wise investment and now have the most efficient and cost effective home heating/cooling system available. We highly recommend doing business with Central Air Systems.</p>

I found this company on the Lennox website. They came up as a "Premier" Lennox Company with "quality installations". We set a date. The Central Air Systems crew of 5 showed up and it was obvious that they were not the advertised uniformed factory trained service technicians . There were no uniforms, they seemed more like day laborers and they brought nothing with them they had to ask me for drinks, so they obviously didn t know they were working until the last minute. The entire installation only took them one day, about 7 hours. Three days later with only the fan on, I found black particles of debris spewing out of both of my bedroom registers, landing on my dresser, bed etc... They came back and replaced one duct completely and half of another duct since he "couldn t get to the whole thing". Apparently, replacing a 3-ton system with a 4-ton system creates more air flow and subsequently starts clearing out any debris in the vents that had been there since 1990 (incredibly, he told me they were mouse droppings). A week later, I went into the attic space myself to find pink duct insulation sticking out -- I could easily feel the plastic on the inside. On others, the 2 inch silver Venture tape had already come off. The tape holding the duct attached to the air intake was also loose I could easily move it with one hand. I also cleaned out a bucketful of pieces of plastic pipe, copper pipe, nails, wrappers, a cardboard box etc Then I put back the pink insulation that had been moved. At this point, I sat down and wrote an email to Barry Gross, the President of Central Air Systems Inc. Three days later, Central Air Systems came back to fix the tape problems and check for crimping. The next day, April 22, I decided to run a test of the system myself. I turned on both the fan and compressor and went into the attic space to check for leaks. Much to my dismay, there were several leaks. However, the worst one was from a collar that actually extended below the unit basically I was now cooling my attic. Please note that it was not my job to be in the attic space checking on what was supposed to be a quality installation by this company they never tested the system for leaks at any time. Three days later, at my request, they had Mastic Sealant with them and sealed everything. I was told not to turn on the system for 24 hours and they never came back to check it. My driveway is at an angle. They leveled the plastic pad under the compressor on 2 pieces of slate (from my driveway) and a piece of wood -- no one knows if it is even treated. So, I have someone coming in the fall to build a brick foundation for it. This technician trained at Robbins, the first company who did an outstanding installation job in 1990. After going through the attic he simply said, This is definitely not a Robbins Installation. He knew immediately that it had been a rush job and said he never could have done this in a day. What a shame , he said. Buyer Beware.

IT HAS BEEN CONVENIENT BECAUSE THEY ARE WILLING TO TRY TO ACCOMMODATE MY BUSY SCHEDULE. I HAVE FOUND THEM TO HAVE A GREAT WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE ISSUES I HAVE FACED. THEY DO NOT HORSE AROUND, BUT TAKE CARE OF THINGS QUICKLY.