Sierra Air Services Inc

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We scheduled the unit install, and needed to change it due to the heavy rains.  The next date was set up and Ray did the install. The unit is in and functioning.   The home definitely felt more comfortable while I was there.  A properly balanced unit not only cools, but dehumidifies properly. I'm not sure if I'll get much positive feedback.  Many tenants will only let you know of a problem, not happiness with improvements, but I want to make sure we do a good job of maintaining our homes.
I have all of our homes under their Silver Service contract.  Which basically you pay for your spring and fall service visits, and discounts on parts or issues that come up or, like on this home, a discount on purchase of a new unit.  OH, and they contact you to get the service scheduled.  It can be easy to forget, and this helps me LOADS.   If there is a problem during a busy time, we are taken care of more quickly.  I'd also like to mention, when we buy a home, and ask about when their HVAC as serviced, or whom they used, so often a seller thinks when they had an issue fixed, they think they had a service.  NOT TRUE. Also even new homes may not have a proper system for the house.  Remember it goes out to the lowest bidder.  This is one of your homes most expensive systems.  Take proper care of it.  I say all this because I take care of 5 nice homes.  It is cheaper to pay for proper maintenance than have one breakdown after another and just limp along.  And, CHANGE YOUR AIR FILTERS.

Quickly responded to my call for service and began to evaluate the systems.  One unit was fine and one unit had a leak and therefore low on refrigerant.  Leak was fixed and refrigerant added.  System began to cool again.  No other work on units were disclosed by technician. A couple weeks later the same unit with the repaired leak again stopped cooling.  Having just paid $440 to repair the unit, I decided not to call the same company to evaluate the unit again.  The new technician determined the system was shutting down due to high coolant pressure after leaving the outdoor condensor unit.  He told me what the two most likely causes were, one being dirty outdoor coils.  He asked if I have the unit serviced annually and I told him I had for the two years I have lived in the home. (I have used Sierra both years to perform a spring checkup.)  He suggested checking to see if the coils were clean before diving into a more complex check in the attic. As he washed the coils, a very large volume of dirt washed out of the unit.  Much more than could accumulate in our climate in one or two years time.  After cleaning, the unit was able to properly cool the refrigerant, and the house began to cool off.  After watching the unit run for 30 minutes, system pressures indicated the refrigerant was overcharged and one pound of coolant was removed. The unit continues to run properly.  My complaint is simply that the spring check did not include, or neglected, the most basic of maintenance items, cleaning the coils.  A water hose and a spray nozzle would have saved me a second service call and given me better service from my unit.

They were very prompt and also followed up without pestering. They were courteous and very responsive.

Ray came for the initial bid and evaluation of our home.  When he came I really thought I'd be using the company that had came to bid earlier that day.  I'm not sure how to make this point clearly, but at first I was a bit aggravated with Ray.  He is very detail and point knowledgable and of course HVAC isn't my specialty.  I would say something vague, or what I call ballpark, and he would clarify what I was trying to say.  While a bit irritating to me at the time. I now appreciate his patience and clarity and knowledge of these systems.  The process of picking the system components take a while, and of course I was trying to keep the expenses down.  He spent quite a while with me, as I was cautious of such a large expense, he was so patient when I totally changed my decision and rewrote the contract for our job.  I do want to say, he was there long enough for my husband to come home, (who is an Engineer) and they conversed and of course my husband drilled him about different technical aspects of the systems and the changes he was planning on making to our ventilation system and his reasoning for lowering our AC tonnage from 5 tons to 4 tons to improve efficiency and comfort.  (oh, and he was right.)
     The install of the system was straight forward and what you would expect.  I had never heard of the word plenum but Ray had, and i guess it is part of the magic.  That was built to correct air flow, I think .  Ha.  
     At first we had planned on getting a middle to mid-upper level system.  Concerned that the upper systems would be more problem prone, and the efficiency wouldn't really be there, but more hype and expense.  The best system was of course  a bit more expensive, but we really expect it to pay us back in efficiency.  (and $$$)   We ended up going with the Platinum ZM AC, which in this area AC is the workhorse of taking care of your home.  Our entire system is amazing.  There hasn't been a lot of cooling days since we got our system, but it has still been impressive. There have been days I turned on our cooling to take advantage of dehumidifying the house, and it's worked quickly and simply.   Our October electric bill was 2/3 less than the month before.  While October really should have been just 1/4 less, in reference to prior years adjusted for temperature.  That was amazing.  Our heating bills have been lower than expected as well, even though for the Austin area we are having a "rough" winter.
     I don't want to elaborate too much about the system controller, but it really is great.  It gives all kinds of data, and options to set up daily controls.  It is the ComfortLink II XL950 Control.  Look it up, it's great.  They don't advertise like so many others, but I have no doubt this is the best.  
     The Sierra Air office has contacted me several times to make sure things are going well, and if I've had any questions.  I also want to add that they follow up and take care of registering your products for their warranties, and you receive copies of confirmation.  We are anxious to experience summer with our new system, and I will update when I know more.  I do want to share we love the fan of this system, it doesn't make a lot of noise and we aren't hit with high speed cold or hot.  It just gently moves the air and we are so comfortable!!  Here I was so concerned about not spending an additional $2,000, and I think that was what made the big difference in our comfort, and cost savings.  Over the 10-15+ years we expect to use this system, that would only be $11-$16 a month for this savings and comfort level.  I was being wrongly frugal.

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Ray and John did a great job. They came by to thoroughly inspect the house and take various measurements before they submitted a quote. They were the only shop to inspect the attic and examine the duct work. As a result, they found several places were ducting was coming apart or had not been sealed properly. They took the time to show me exactly where ducting problems were, and what I could do to fix them.
The bid was reasonable, and included all the extras that some companies leave off to show a lower price than final.
The work was done professionally. There were several problems that occurred, none the installers fault. Despite these setbacks, there were never any complaints or excuses. They just kept going and got the work done.
We are very happy with the new system. 
Overall, one of the best experiences I have had with a repair/install contractor.

It was a very pleasant experience.  They did all that was agreed upon and more.  They were courteous, prompt, knowledgeable and did not attempt to sell us on more than was necessary.  Comparing this to other like companies, we were more than satisfied.

Fixed the problem quickly. Very courteous and professional. Sierra will be our go-to heating and A/C company from now on.

The process went very well. He had some supply problems that weren't his fault thus not foreseeable. This led to some short delays but not of any consequences to us. He always made sure we were adequately being provided a/c especially during the extreme hot weather. And sometimes he responded to those who were during without which was ok with us. He is a good communicator and is very easy going. He is very knowledgable and has multiple credentials. He is not the kind of guy who tells you one thing and does another. If you want things done the right way, he's your guy.

It went fine. We have used Sierra for about 8 years and have not had a bad experience. They arrive on time and are neat and clean. In the 8 years that Sierra has serviced our HVAC system we have had two failures, both AC, during very hot weather. The Sierra team was responsive and empathetic to our plight.

Ray recommended a blower cleaning - I looked and it is filthy.  He also recommended a negative pressure test.  We will be getting these jobs done next week.

it went very well,linda and chuck started the job on the 12th and finished the next day,they had placed  a return line in the crawl space I use to acess the rest of the attic  ,,,and gladly re located it when i explained  my  problem,,,they maintained my crawl space around the air box as i requested,,and this meant alot to me,,this job was done so that the 3.5 ton unit outside would match the 5 ton unit in the attic,,,a 3.5 ton coil was added to the air box,,,where was the home warranty in all this ??? sitting on the side line,,they,,"Allied",,,gave no help at all...
my ac system in this 20yr old house is much improved due to Ray calculating CFM's,,,
I feel,Sierra,who I found in the church bulliten,,will take care of any problems that may  or may not arise...in the future,,,and will stand behind their work...

The technician who came found and fixed the leak without problems.