Heating And Air Conditioning Honolulu | Air Condition Repair In Hawaii

EDUCATION

These are some of the common questions & answers you need to know as a concerned consumer about to purchase an air conditioning system for your home.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY - AIR CONDITIONING TAX CREDITS

High efficiency R-410a air conditioning systems being designed and specified on all of AMV Air Conditioning Inc. proposals can qualify for a (HOME ENERGY EFFICIENCY IMPROVEMENT TAX CREDITS) of up to $500. Upon acceptance of AMV's professionally written proposal, we ask that you please verify with your tax accountant on these tax credits being given by the United States Department of Energy as of January 2006. For more information simply simply this URL link at http://www.energy.gov/taxbreaks.htm (see note below regarding tax credit versus tax deductions).

Note: About Tax Credits A tax credit is generally more valuable than an equivalent tax deduction because a tax credit reduces tax dollar-for-dollar, while a deduction only removes a percentage of the tax that is owed. Beginning in tax year 2006, consumers will be able to itemize purchases on their federal income tax form, which will lower the total amount of tax they owe the government.

Note: Duration of the available tax credits Improvements must be installed in or on the taxpayer's principal residence in the United States. Home improvement tax credits apply for improvements made between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2007.

NEW FEDERAL MANDATES REGARDING AIR CONDITIONING EFFICIENCY:

As of January 26, 2006 all air conditioning manufactures are being forced by federal law to stop producing low energy efficient air conditioning equipment. New standard efficiency rating on a/c equipment is being raised from 10.00 SEER to high efficiency 13.00 SEER. Standard efficiency units will be sold until the current inventory is completely sold out.

IMPORTANT R-22 REFRIGERANT PHASE OUT NOTICE:

Effective January 1, 2020, R-22, the refrigerant currently being used in all residential and most commercial air conditioning systems will be phased out and no longer be manufactured. The equipment AMV Air Conditioning Inc will be recommending in the proposal for your project will allow you to continue being able to service and use your air conditioning system way beyond the phase out period due to the new R-410A refrigerant being used to operate the air conditioning system. Before you make a decision to install any air conditioning system in your home, AMV Air Conditioning Inc. strongly encourages you to do your own research by visiting the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) website at http://www.epa.gov/ozone/title6/phaseout/22phaseout.html.

DO I NEED A BUILDING PERMIT TO INSTALL AIR CONDITIONING IN MY HOME?
No, unless the installation work you are doing will include modifying the electrical in your home to provide power for this air conditioning system. On a renovation project on the site electrician already has a permit for the electrical to be done all you need to do is include the a/c as part of the electrical work. On an existing home, your licensed air conditioning contractor will need to obtain a permit for the electrical work to be done on your home. Therefore, if you are installing a ductless split system, central air conditioning or a window air conditioning unit requiring a dedicated 110 or 208/230 volt outlet, yes you do need to get an electrical permit to ensure the work is being done by a qualified and licensed electrician.

WHAT DOES IT COST TO OBTAIN AN ELECTRICAL BUILDING PERMIT?
AMV Air Conditioning Inc will charge a minimal fee to process the electrical building permit at the Department of Permit and Planning office. Once you receive your written proposal there will be a section that will state what the Department of Permit and Planning will charge for the permit based on the dollar value of your project.

ARE THERE ANY RESTRICTIONS WHERE I CAN PUT AN OUTDOOR COMPRESSOR UNIT FOR A DUCTLESS SPLIT SYSTEM OR A DUCTED CENTRAL AIR SPLIT SYSTEM?
Yes, that is a reason why you want your installing air conditioning contractor to get an electrical permit for your project. A reputable and knowledgeable air conditioning contractor familiar with the State of Hawaii codes will ensure that your installation work is in compliance with the set back rules set in the building code.

DO I NEED A LICENSE TO PURCHASE AN AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM?
For a window air conditioning system, no, but for any other type of air conditioning system, yes. As licensed and certified contractors all of our technicians need to hold an EPA certification to purchase and handle refrigerant chemicals. There are EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) standards that have been set because of the ozone depleting chemicals linked air conditioning and refrigeration refrigerants. Click the following link for more information (http://www.epa.gov/ozone/title6/phaseout/22phaseout.html).

CAN I PURCHASE AN AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM FROM LICENSED CONTRACTOR AND HAVE A FRIEND OR RELATIVE DO A SIDE JOB TO INSTALL THE SYSTEM?
It is your home and you can do whatever you wish to do with it. Whether or not you made the right decision to have a side job person do your installation work will be discovered only when a problem arises.

For instance if you decide to sell your home, an appraiser or inspector may ask that you provide him with a copy of the electrical permit that ensured your air conditioning installation was done to comply with all building and electrical codes, now you scramble to track down that person who you paid cash to do the work and then if you do find that person he will more than likely not bother taking the time to get you the permit because he does not have a license to obtain a permit in the first place.

Another case is when a problem does arise in your installation, majority of the homeowners who chose to save a few bucks will not be able to claim any warranty on the job because there was no contract stating what warranty or guarantees would be applied to your installation work.

More importantly, side job people that get hurt on their side job hurts everyone who pay a premium for insurance. Majority of these people that do get hurt doing side jobs will make a false claim against their employers insurance and whether you know it or not that individual does have the right to sue the homeowner they did the side job for since the accident occurred on your property. Having a reputable, knowledgeable and licensed air conditioning contractor do your work not only guarantees that the work will be done right, but more importantly it protects the homeowner from any legal claims since all contractors are supposed to be fully insured.

I CURRENTLY HAVE A LICENSED GENERAL CONTRACTOR BUILDING MY HOME HE IS PROVIDING AIR CONDITIONING AS PART OF THEIR CONTRACT, SHOULD I BE CONCERNED?
Markup from subcontractors adds more dollars to the General Contractors profit margin. There are several General Contractors on this island that solicit pricing from licensed air conditioning contractors and turn around and use these numbers as a gauge to determine how much more they can profit by subcontracting the air conditioning work to a side job air conditioning person(s). A concerned consumer paying for the work to be done would ask who is doing my air conditioning work and then check to see if the person is licensed and qualified to do the scope of work. It is sad to say bit a common practice in the industry is licensed air conditioning contractors selling their qualifications for a profit by allowing people to use their license number as a means to be able to perform the scope of work that does require the person(s) to be licensed and certified, the individual doing the work turns around and pays off the licensed air conditioning contractor.

SHOULD I PURCHASE A SYSTEM THAT USES THE NEW REFRIGERANT R-410A INSTEAD OF THE CURRENT R-22?
You should inquire what the added cost will be to purchase a new system with the new R-410A refrigerant. Review the following link to determine how your decision will be affected by reviewing the EPA's phase out schedule on systems using R-22 refrigerant. Click this link at (http://www.epa.gov/Ozone/title6/phaseout/22phaseout.html).

DO I NEED TO UPGRADE MY ELECTRICAL SYSTEM TO INSTALL AIR CONDITIONING?
This will be determined during the free on site estimate. Cost for an electrical upgrade will vary. AMV Air Conditioning Inc. electricians will provide this service to our customers. Any home that exceeds 1900 square feet and wants to install air condition you will need to upgrade to a 200 amp service.

DO I NEED TO INSULATE MY HOME?
With the new codes in place, newly built homes are now insulated, having insulation results in lowering your electrical bill. The drawback of installing insulation is your attic temperatures will go up, by simply installing a solar attic fan it will help to remove the buildup of heat in your attic. Attics that constantly maintain high temperatures lowers the life expectancy of your roofing material. As a courtesy we ask that if you decide to install central air conditioning in your existing home, we ask that you insulate the attic once the central air installation work is complete.

DO I NEED TO CHANGE MY WINDOWS?
The answer to this question is pretty obvious, if there is a doubt whether or not you need to change your window then the windows should be changed. Leaking windows will diminish the performance of any air conditioning system.

CAN I OVERSIZE THE UNIT TO MAKE IT COOL QUICKER?
Over sizing a unit can pose a problem when dealing with the science of what an air conditioning system is supposed to do to maintain your indoor comfort. When a unit is sized properly its primary job is to first remove humidity at the same time it is removing humidity it also is lowering the indoor temperature. If you lower the indoor temperature quicker than the unit can remove the humidity the set temperature on your thermostat reaches its set point and shuts the system down leaving your air conditioned environment cold and wet. This type of environment that is in a dark area will cause mold spores to grow.

CAN I SERVICE THE A/C UNIT MYSELF?
Yes, for ductless split systems, you should be washing your filters monthly (use a garden hose, so the dirt does not clog up your sink). You should be keeping dust off your indoor unit to prevent it from clogging your filters. You need to wash down your outdoor compressor unit on a monthly basis to keep it from corroding and to keep the dust and dirt from clinging on to the condenser coil dropping its operating efficiency (make sure the electrical disconnect switch is turned off prior to washing down the condensing unit).

Yes, for central air conditioning system, you should be removing and disposing your filters on a quarterly basis. Always request to purchase high efficiency paper media type filters rather than fiberglass woven filters to ensure all airborne particulates are trapped at the filter. AMV Air Conditioning provides a service to our customers that will allow you to special order a filter to custom fit your system and have it ready for pickup at our office (turn around time for special orders is 3-5 working days). Need to specify the size and filter type (standard or high efficiency filters)

Yes, for window air conditioning systems, you should be washing your filters monthly (use a garden hose, so the dirt does not clog up your sink).

All air conditioning systems listed above have the right environment within itself to form mold, mildew and algae, therefore having your air conditioning unit completely serviced annually or semi annually by a service professional is recommended to ensure it is properly cleaned and serviced to maximize its operating efficiency. AMV Air Conditioning Inc does provide service contracts for its customers and services all types of air conditioning systems. Call our office to set up service for your air conditioning equipment.

REMINDER TO DEVELOPERS, GENERAL CONTRACTORS
& LOCAL CONSUMERS TO HELP SUPPORT LOCAL
BUSINESS THAT SUPPORT OUR LOCAL ECONOMY

The Department of Business and Economic Development (DBEDT) has always encouraged Hawaii consumers to "BUY HAWAII" when making your purchases. Believe or not consumers need to be aware that this is also going on within the construction industry. Mainland air conditioning contractors are coming to Hawaii to do specialty work such as air conditioning obviously because of the our current construction boom. If you are a major Residential Home Developer, General Contractor or Homeowner you need to be aware of these facts before you decide to contract your work to these mainland air conditioning contractors. Don't make an irrational decision based solely on price, open your eyes and look at the whole picture before your commit that large contract for air conditioning. What you need to be aware of is that these mainland air conditioning contractors will save you some money by saying that they are prefabricating a lot of the duct work on the mainland and shipping it directly to your job site via an enclosed sea container and that they will also save you money on the equipment shipping cost and most of all the middle man distributor mark up by bringing the equipment directly to your job site in these containers directly from the mainland. Saving money does sound good but when it affects your ability to be serviced is when you should be concerned.

WARRANTIES: Majority of the standard air conditioning equipment warranties do come with a (5) year or (10) year warranty on the compressor and (1) or (5) year warranty on all other components of the air conditioning system. Reputable and established local air conditioning contractors do honor a (1) year no labor charge in house warranty regardless if the manufacturer offers the labor warranty or not.

THE PROBLEM: These mainland air conditioning contractors that are purchasing their brand name equipment directly from mainland HVAC (Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning) distributors are going to short change you when it comes to processing your warranty. Many brand names mostly used in Hawaii's installations like Rheem, Carrier, York, Lennox and Trane are distributed by reputable local factory authorized distributors. These local air conditioning distributors such as Admor HVAC, Carrier Hawaii, ACS Supply, Trane Pacific, A/C Warehouse and Cosco Supply use the assigned equipment serial numbers attached to the equipment as a method to track and process their warranty claims. If the claimants serial number does not appear in their respective data base it simply means it was not purchased from a local distributor. This poses a problem if you want to process a warranty claim. Selling equipment is only part of the work, the service after the sale is what counts. Local distributors service the local air conditioning contractors in the State of Hawaii by stocking replacement parts for their equipment.

MAKING A WARRANTY CLAIM: You make a warranty claim with this mainland air conditioning contractor either through your Developer's Central Warranty Office or by calling the General Contractor directly. If this mainland air conditioning contractor is not willing to invest money into stock piling a bunch of costly replacement parts then they could legally ask you to pay for the shipping cost to bring the warranty compressor or part from their mainland distributor to Hawaii and furthermore if you are not familiar with the warranty policy of this mainland air conditioning contractor they could also charge you for labor even though it has been less than a year from the time the equipment was turned over to you. Because you are not able get this warranty component here locally the homeowner/claimant is being limited to only processing this claim with this mainland air conditioning contractor and because you now don't have the ability to ask for competitive bids for the repair, you now will be bounded to whatever they feel they want to charge you to repair your equipment that is supposed to still be under warranty. You think this is fair? Aldrin M. Villahermosa, President of AMV Air Conditioning has a good friend living in a major west side residential development that recently went through this exact scenario and till this day he has yet to settle his claim with the developer and mainland air conditioning contractor.

THE SOLUTION: The best thing to do is ask the right questions when talking to the representatives at the Developers Design Center or the General Contractor contracted to do your project. When purchasing, remodeling or building a new home we all get so caught in the complex nature of making such a large purchase that it is sad to say but it is very common in Hawaii that mainland people think the local people of Hawaii are so naive that they can easily be taken advantage of. Statistics shows that a vast majority of these mainland or world wide telephone marketers accomplish their no good missions when targeting Hawaii's consumers, because of this it may be safe to say these mainland air conditioning contractors have the same mutual pre conceived feelings as these telephone marketers.

GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION: Hawaii's law makers needs to know who these developers are working with before they decide to give any tax credits to these developers. Air conditioning equipment and related materials not being purchased locally obviously does not benefit our general excise tax revenue coffers. Keeping the revenues circulated in Hawaii is important to maintaining a sustainable economy.

REMEMBER TO BUY HAWAII: Since 1996, AMV Air Conditioning Inc has been a licensed design/build air conditioning contractor firm that is locally owned and locally operated that currently services some of Oahu's newest residential development built by DR Horton - Schuler Division as well as well as provide professional air conditioning services to many architects and general contractors on Oahu. As a local contractor we treat all of our customers in a way we would want our own family members to be treated in a fair and respectable way with no excuses. We do try to find cost saving methods such as prefabricating our ducting in the shop using our duct cutting machine as shown in the images below as well as shop around for the best pricing for our equipment and materials from our local suppliers. These mainland contractors seem to forget that this is an island and by growing up here we are all somehow in someway connected to each other and majority of us don't plan to leave this piece of paradise we all call home, that is why it is very important that we all take care of each other!!!!!