Valley Breeze Heating & Air Conditioning

On our former home we were converting to a rental property, the upstairs combo HVAC unit had a cracked condensate pan and refrigerant leak. We called out multiple HVAC contractors, all of whom recommended replacing the unit with a new one, even though it was only 12 years old. Their collective rationale seemed to be that (a) the unit was an inferior brand (Heil), and (b) it used an older refrigerant (R22) which is eventually being phased out in favor of more environmentally-friendly refrigerants. Replacement estimates ranged from $3,500 to $4,500 and more. Not wanting to purchase a new unit, we asked Saji at Valley Breeze Heating & Air Conditioning to come out to the rental property and give us an estimate as well. Saji had recently fixed both the upstairs and downstairs air conditioning units in our new home, after two previous HVAC contractors were unable to do the job, each with multiple visits (two visits for the first company, and three visits for the second one). He found the power cabling on the downstairs unit had been disconnected in the attic, no doubt from the second HVAC contractor forgetting to reconnect everything on his third and last visit. And on the upstairs unit, Saji found that the 24v fuse had been blown again (which the prior two contractors had also found and attempted to troubleshoot, with obvious lack of success). Saji suspected that the upstair condensor unit's contactor (sort of like a high-amperage electrical relay) was malfunctioning and causing the blown fuses. He replaced the contactor and the fuse, and we have had no AC problems at our new home since then. With Saji's recent success in mind (where others had failed), we summoned him to the rental property. At the rental property, Saji remarked that the unit looked to be in very good shape, except for the obviously cracked condensate drain pan and the utter lack of refrigerant. He strongly recommended that we fix the existing unit with a new pan, pressure check the unit for leaks and fix any we find, and reconnect a disconnected return air duct, all for less than $1,000. After we gave him the go-ahead, Saji ordered the replacement drain pan with three-day delivery, and during the three-day delay, he pressure-checked the system with nitrogen and discovered that one of the two external Schrader valves had a slow leak, so he repaired/replaced them both as a precaution, and left the system charged with 300 PSI nitrogen until the new drain pan arrived. A few days later, with the new pan in hand, Saji checked the pressure and found no leaks, so he proceeded to remove the coil, reconnect the ducting, replace the pan, recharge the system, and install condensate plumbing, all while staying within his original sub-$1,000 estimate. Saji demonstrated excellent HVAC troubleshooting and repair skills, and took the time to answer all of my questions, during the first repair at our new home as well as at the rental home. We will surely rely on him for all future HVAC needs.