It's summer again: Time for tenant AC issues

[Krishna Chava]

I have 2 kinds of tenant complaints for AC: not cooling enough and not cooling at all. Second one is an emergency an I send someone same day, irrespective of what it costs. First one is the grey area that gives rise to tenant dissatisfaction if it takes too long to send AC tech.

What are your typical HVAC system complaints from tenants? How soon do you respond? What are the preventive measures you are taking to make HVAC less of an issues?

Also looks like 40% of my calls  are related to HVAC (on average). Am I doing something wrong? 

[John Pierce]

I reduced my HVAC calls by 95% when I started providing tenants with air filters. Each year, when the lease automatically renews, I send each of my tenants a case containing 12 cheapo air filters from Amazon. I also train each of my tenants to change the air filters when they sign the lease. If you own enough rentals, it is worth learning to solve the easy AC and heat pump issues yourself. The most common issues are dirty air filters, bad capacitors (usually go out in summer and can be ordered for less than $10 on Amazon), bad breakers (usually trip in winter with electric step heat), dirty coils (I clean coils during tenant turnovers), bad thermostats, and low refrigerant. I fix all of my own HVAC issues that do not involve adding refrigerant or swapping out units.