Home comfort, explained before it is sold

Twice a year is the honest answer here, and once a year is the minimum. A system in the West Valley runs more hours in one summer than the same unit runs in two or three years in a temperate climate. Cooling gets checked in spring before the load arrives; heating gets checked in fall. Most manufacturer warranties also require documented annual service to stay valid, so skipping it can cost you twice.

Less than the brochure suggests. Equipment rated for fifteen to twenty years elsewhere commonly gives ten to fifteen here, and a neglected system gives less than that. Run hours and dust are what wear these units out, not age on a calendar. A system that has been maintained will outlast an identical one that has not, often by years.

Age, the cost of the repair, and what else is likely to fail next. A cheap fix on an eight-year-old system is usually worth doing. A compressor on a fifteen-year-old system that is already struggling usually is not, because you are spending most of the price of a new unit to keep an old one limping. We will tell you which one you are looking at, and we are not paid more for saying replace.

That comes from a load calculation, not from the size of the unit sitting there now. Square footage, insulation, window area and orientation, ceiling height, and duct condition all feed into it. Oversizing is a real problem in this climate: a unit that is too large cools fast, shuts off, and never runs long enough to pull humidity out or to circulate air evenly, so the house feels clammy and the equipment short-cycles itself to death.

Cleaning and inspecting the condenser and evaporator coils, checking refrigerant charge against the actual conditions, testing capacitors and contactors, measuring temperature split and static pressure, checking the condensate drain, tightening electrical connections, and inspecting the filter and airflow. You get a written report of what was found and its condition — not a verbal “looks fine” on the way out.