$1,500 floor mat

[Ryan Richmond]

I've been battling an AC condenser freezing up for the past 2 years. I believed the unit was freezing when an STR guest would turn the AC on with cool temperatures outside and locked out the thermostat range... which got me to this Feb when my electric bill tripled. I went to the unit and thawed the condenser and lines and figured it would solve it.. it had in the past with my HVAC technician. Well.. March was another triple electric month so I scheduled my tech to come out again. He never showed up this and after trying to reschedule several times I found a new company. They came out the first day and found the condenser completely iced over and began thawing. The next morning he returned and found nothing wrong with the unit after tracing the lines for a freon leak. No leaks!

Finally he found a floor mat that had migrated over the air return vent on the floor.  He said that was the reason and my system was fine.
Turned out to be true.  Air restriction was causing my system to freeze and over work.

After 3 months the cost of this mat is $400/ month + $300 service charge.  (Williams in Greensboro was only charging me for the trip fee but I elected for preventive service since they were out there anyway.

I'll pay more attention to my unit air returns in the future.  Floor mat is now on the porch.

Williams Plumbing, Heating & Air is my new provider.  (336) 275-1328

[Ryan Richmond]

Quote from @Kyle Mccaw:

@Ryan Richmond that is a crazy one. Glad it didn't go much longer before figuring that out. It could have be the cost of a new system.

 Ha.. ya after an hour on the phone with Duke Energy my electrician shortened my path.  He didn't have time to come out for 2 weeks but said high consumption is almost always the HVAC or water heater.  I went with HVAC and he was definitely right.