air conditioning repair woes - replacing condenser fan motor

[Anonymous]

wednesday, we had a tech come out to diagnose a loud noise our a/c unit was making sporadically the night before. the noise couldn't be replicated, so the tech determnied that the loud noise we'd been hearing must be attributable to some debris in the unit, and it was operating normally. on thursday, we called back to let him listen to the machine, and it was determined the system was inorperable, and the condenser fan motor needs to be replaced. i am completely annoyed.

(1) is it unreasonable to expect a professional to be able to diagnose the issue absent the noise?

(2) the tech comes highly reccommended, but would you use him in this instance?

(3) if you've had this repair done, how much did it cost? we're being told $650 for factory parts (on top of the $130 paid the other day), which seems like a lot, but i cannot get another company to give me even a rough estimate of what this repair would cost without having them come out and doing a complete diagnostic assesment.

so ready for autumn...

[Anonymous]

the cost for the part is about right if the labor was included in the quote. Was this on the outdoor unit? If so did the tech check all the capacitors to the motor? Sometimes when those go bad the fan motor will not start but it will make a terrible buzzing sound.

It is difficult for techs to diagnose issues if they cannot get it to repeat the issue. At the least he/she should have checked all the electrical connections and cleared any debris from your unit.

Good luck

[Anonymous]

It's a double-edge sword. If the tech would have recommended replacing the fan motor, because it might be going out, he might have been accused of trying to cheat you. He did the right thing in telling you the problem could not be identified due to the unit running well (when he was there).

Unfortunately, $500 is the going rate in Texas (not using factory parts). However, you don't need a factory replacement and the motor will cost the tech around $80-$100. This job will take him about 45 minutes on average and does not require rocket science. His profit will be around $500+ for an hour of time. That's why I learned to do the job my self, but you could shop around now that you know what's needed. Call around and get a phone quote for replacing a condenser fan motor and it's capacitor.