Complete Guide to Choosing the Right HVAC System for Your Home or Business
In conversation with Moshe from Aircall Services
HVAC Answers by Aircall Services
Episode Description
Join Moshe from Aircall Services as he breaks down everything you need to know about choosing the perfect HVAC system for your space. This comprehensive guide covers essential factors like energy efficiency, VRF systems, proper sizing, installation considerations, and maintenance plans. Whether you’re dealing with residential AC repair, commercial HVAC services, or emergency HVAC needs in Los Angeles, this episode provides expert insights to help you make informed decisions about your air conditioning system.
Learn about the latest HVAC technology services, from basic units to premium Mitsubishi systems, and discover how proper installation and maintenance can save you thousands in energy costs. Moshe also explains Aircall’s innovative service plans that combine preventive maintenance with comprehensive repair coverage, making HVAC services more affordable and reliable than ever.
Perfect for homeowners, property managers, and anyone dealing with HVAC repair services or looking for the best HVAC services near them in Los Angeles.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What factors should I consider when choosing an HVAC system for my home?
Several key factors determine the right HVAC system for your space: energy efficiency needs, house size (from 1,000 to 10,000 square feet), window exposure to sunlight, number of occupants, solar panel integration, and whether you want individual room control. You should also consider noise levels, reliability, parts availability, and your budget for both upfront costs and ongoing maintenance.
2. What is a VRF system and how does it work?
VRF (Variable Refrigerant Flow) is a highly efficient HVAC system that uses one outdoor condenser unit to serve multiple indoor units – up to 7-8 separate zones. Each room can be controlled independently for heating or cooling, and the system only uses the energy needed for active zones. While VRF systems are among the most expensive options upfront, they offer significant energy savings and superior comfort control.
3. How do you properly size an HVAC system?
Proper HVAC sizing goes beyond simple square footage calculations. Professional sizing considers the number of occupants, amount of glass/windows, ceiling height, insulation quality, and sun exposure. A 7-foot ceiling requires different capacity than a 15-foot ceiling. Poor sizing leads to inefficient operation, higher energy bills, and comfort issues.
4. What’s the typical timeline for HVAC installation or replacement?
For simple unit replacements, installation typically takes 1-3 days, sometimes same-day service depending on unit availability. New construction or complete system installations can take 2 weeks to several months for large buildings. Emergency HVAC services often have units in stock for immediate replacement, while specialty units may require ordering with longer lead times.
5. How can I minimize disruption during HVAC installation or repairs?
Professional HVAC companies like Aircall Services prioritize same-day service to minimize disruption. Most change-outs are completed within a day unless the unit is in a difficult location. The key is choosing an experienced HVAC services company with adequate manpower and parts inventory to complete work efficiently.
6. What maintenance is required for HVAC systems?
Regular maintenance includes annual filter changes, coil cleaning, and system inspections – similar to car maintenance. Some environments require more frequent service (like pet facilities needing twice-monthly maintenance), while vacation homes may only need yearly service. Preventive maintenance significantly extends unit lifespan and prevents costly emergency repairs.
7. What are the benefits of HVAC service plans?
Service plans combine preventive maintenance with repair coverage, offering fixed pricing and protection against major component failures. Aircall’s platinum plan covers parts like compressors (worth $3,000-4,000) at no additional cost for units under 10 years old. This provides predictable costs, priority service, and peace of mind for both residential and commercial HVAC services.
Full Transcript
Moshe: [00:00:00] So usually when people choose an AC for their house, they need to first see what are the needs. Are they seeking high efficiency? Do they have some solar panels that are going to save them on the power bill? Are they, you know, have big houses, small houses, a thousand square feet, 10,000 square feet?
There are many, many factors that you need to take into consideration. For example, the windows in the house. How many windows do you have? Or what is the amount of glass that’s exposed to the sun that’s warming the house faster? Then we need to invest more energy in order to cool the house. Or how many people are going to be in the house, or how many rooms, or do they want [00:01:00] to have in each room a separate unit?
And there are some, you know, units that are VRF that we can separate – each room can turn it on or turn it off separately, without affecting the other rooms, and one can call for heat, one can call for cooling. So there are so many options in the market in terms of efficiency.
And some people choose the simple units – the old school – and some people go with the top of the line, Mitsubishi and some other brands that can offer you a VRF. Very quiet, very efficient. And they, you know, can enjoy a certain [00:02:00] quality of life with the right units, because some of them are noisy, some of them are less noisy. Some of them are more reliable, some of them are less reliable. Some of them have parts available all the time in the market. Some of them, when you have something broken, you need to wait sometimes up to three months for the parts to arrive.
So all those factors need to be taken into consideration when you are building a house or replacing or changing a unit. You know, so I think that this is a very wide subject. Yeah. And to each his own, as we say. Yeah. So let’s go into a couple of those specific options there.
Also, I did have a question. When you say a VRF, what is a VRF? So it’s a very high [00:03:00] efficiency system that you install – one condenser. And this condenser outside of the house, the outdoor unit, that’s a condenser, serves multiple fan coils inside the house. And for one condenser, you can get up to seven, eight indoor units to serve eight rooms, for example, or eight different spaces in the house – for example, the hallway, the bathroom, bedrooms and the living room. Makes sense.
Okay. So all of those, and it’s very efficient because if you’re using only two of the indoor units, so the condenser is working on just, you know, part of its capacity. It doesn’t use [00:04:00] a large amount of power to operate those two units. So it saves you a lot on the power bill. Makes sense. Okay. Yeah. But that’s generally a higher cost option upfront, of course. Okay. It’s one of the most expensive options.
And then, so let’s go through some of the different options. So that would be the most efficient option energy-wise, but let’s say if somebody has a solar panel system in their house, what might be a different option for them to go with? Since they don’t have to worry about power as much, they can go with a heat pump, you know, conventional unit.
And [00:05:00] then they’re not – again, you don’t worry about the amount of power that you consume. So, you can go with a gas unit. So there are many, many options out there. And then also there are many, many brands that you need to take into consideration. So there’s Carrier, you know, Mitsubishi, there’s Samsung, there’s LG, so many of them out there.
The list is really long. And you need to make sure that whatever you choose, you can find parts later on. And you’re not going to be stuck with – let’s say if you have a problem in the unit, even if it’s under warranty, sometimes it takes a while to get the parts. You’ve got to be careful with what you choose. [00:06:00]
Makes sense? Yeah, exactly. So that would be something that, because you guys have a maintenance plan that’s generally scheduled, you can kind of see what parts may be going out a little bit quicker and then help with that home maintenance process from Aircall, or is that separate?
No, no, no. Preventive maintenance is very important because then you prolong the lifetime of the unit. And so if you are doing the maintenance and servicing the unit in time every year, you most likely prolong the unit’s life considerably, you know, higher than anybody who doesn’t service the units. So change the [00:07:00] filters. You clean the coils and the list is longer of the things that we are, you know, checking in the unit in order for it to, you know, be in good service – like you service a car.
You’re not going to drive a car. You’re not going to buy a car now and drive a hundred thousand miles without doing maintenance on the way. Right. Exactly. It’s the same thing with the units, with the AC units, and people are using the units sometimes more than a car.
So you’ve got to do the maintenance on a yearly basis. Some people need to do it more than others. So, for example, we have a place that’s like a hotel for dogs, okay? So there we are doing service twice a month. Why? Because the dogs have a lot of hair and, [00:08:00] you know, it’s going, flying in the air and it’s going into the systems.
So all those things are factors of why we need to change the filters more often. That makes sense. More often. And there are some places that are, let’s say, a vacation home. Okay. They come in once a year there. So they can do maintenance once a year because they don’t use the AC as often.
Makes sense. Yeah, no, it makes total sense. Okay. Well, I think that pretty much covers that one. Did you have anything else that you kind of wanted to blanket with that question of how to pick one for your space?
No, no, no. That’s pretty much covered for now at least. Okay. The main thing, when you’re choosing a unit, [00:09:00] what I would suggest to people is to bring a company that knows what they’re doing and they can literally save you a lot of money. Because, for example, when you remodel a house, okay? If you’re going to put the right amount or the right insulation in the walls, you’re going to be able to save money on your power bill because your AC will work less to cool the house or to warm the house.
So, other factors are very important. Or if you are going to install a unit and you install it wrong – what I mean by installing it wrong, for example, when you choose the ducts. Okay. If you choose the wrong duct – for example, instead of 18 inch, you put 7 inch.
Okay? And a lot of people don’t pay attention to those details. It’s very important because [00:10:00] then what happens? First of all, you’re not going to be able to get the amount of air you need in that vent at the end of the line because you chose the wrong duct. And second, you’re going to have a noise factor because the air is running faster in the duct and it’s creating a very unpleasant noise when all the ducts are making that airflow noise. And it’s annoying, so it’s very important to choose the right ducts, the right installation, the right unit, the right efficiency.
And the list goes on and on, and obviously the size of the grilles. Okay, so everything is important. Every little detail is important. So you could have [00:11:00] the most expensive unit, you could have the best, you know, layout and setup and plan and everything. But if it’s not installed correctly, you could still basically not be experiencing any of those benefits, like lower noise or better airflow or anything – just because of the installation.
Yes. Not only installation. The size of the ducts, the insulation, the size of the copper lines. Okay. If you size the ducts wrong, you’re going to have a lot of leaks because the units will ice up in the summer.
Okay. Because the unit is not able to transfer the right amount of air to the coil. So it’s freezing and then it’s iced up and then you have leaks. So a lot of the leaks and a lot of the issues are due to wrong installation. Makes sense. Yeah, no, that makes [00:12:00] total sense. And when you, especially when you build those, you know, big homes, those factors are super important – also in the small homes, obviously, but you need to make sure that everything is aligned. The ducts, the insulation, the copper lines, the way – everything about the unit is very important.
Also, you need to mount it in the right way. So everything is important because if you don’t mount it in the right way, you’re going to have a chance of, you know, small vibrations. Okay. That over the years ruin the units.
So everything is important. Got it. Okay. That makes a lot of sense. So obviously we kind of have talked about the types and the different setups and options, [00:13:00] but size. I know there’s a lot of different factors within that, but when you’re choosing the size of an HVAC unit, what are those main factors? Are those things that are already preset in the plans or pre-calculated?
So sometimes the plans doesn’t show what’s really going on in reality. So when you come, a lot of engineers take square footage and then they calculate per square foot. Okay. But there’s other factors you need to take in consideration. The amount of people in the space, the amount of windows or sliding doors, glass, glass in the house, that can let the sun penetrate into your space.
And that’s, you know, sometimes overheated. The overheating the [00:14:00] space. And that’s need to be taken care, you know, as a consideration when you choose the unit and the height of the ceiling. If you are at five foot or six foot ceiling, sorry, no, seven foot ceiling and 15 foot ceiling, that’s totally different space that I need to go.
So all those factors are very important by when we are choosing the unit to cool a space. That makes total sense. So you guys would take all that into account when you’re servicing an area, but are there regulations and things like that that need to be met even in within permitting and building and whatnot?
And is that something that the HVAC company should do or is that something that the homeowners or the builders or anything like that should be doing? So it’s a three-way, [00:15:00] you know, friendship I call it. One is the engineers that put everything on the plan. Second is the contractor in this case is HVAC contractor that need to pay attention that whatever is the plans is really going to fit and work in the space.
And the city is the last factor. But the city is just see, you know, is checking that your install is per code. They don’t really get into the details of, you know, how much air you’re getting in that space. And that’s where you need to really choose the HVAC company to protect your, you know, your interests when you have, let’s say plans or a space that you wanna cool because you wanna take somebody that install [00:16:00] enough of them and did enough of them to make sure you’re gonna get good results in the end of the line.
Okay. That makes sense. So, moving past, I guess the size, ’cause that’s something that, it seems like there’s a lot of factors in, what’s the timeline that if somebody is getting something installed. Let’s say it’s a renovation that they’re working on from calling you guys or anyone really to actually having it installed and working.
What’s the general timeline people should be looking at? Are there long lead times for ordering or for anything like that that people should be aware of? Okay, so good question. Let’s say we need to do a change out, a unit that died a 40 years unit, for example, somebody call us and you need to change it out.
Usually [00:17:00] there is in stock and it’s about a few days, sometimes the day after, and sometimes it’s three weeks depend on the size of the unit and what kind of unit. Sometimes they don’t have it in stock, so, and we need to usually, because those are old units, to be replacing a new unit, we need to modify the existing condition in order to fit the new unit because it’s different, and different, so to say, operation system, right? So it’s usually when it’s a change out, it’s very fast. It’s a couple of days, sometimes a day after, sometimes a week after. But if there is system that somebody is wanna order while [00:18:00] is in remodeling. And we need to take in consideration that it’s not just a change out, it’s a whole new system. And we need to build the ducts and the whole system all over again. That’s something that take time and it change from project to project.
Some projects are a two week project and some projects are, let’s say you have a 60 unit building, which we’re doing, you know, we did a lot of buildings of over 200 units and 160 units that take time. That takes sometimes a year to complete, a year and a half to complete because it’s progress with the contractor, the general contractor.
He is finishing the floor. We coming in, we’re getting in and we are installing for each apartment, uh, their system. Makes sense? Yeah, no, [00:19:00] totally. That makes a lot of sense. And so on the topic of those larger buildings or you know, buildings that are going to have property managers taking care of this aspect of it.
They can call you guys? Or what should they be doing when, let’s say there’s a failure or they need to get something replaced? Should they be calling up a company like Air Call Services or should there be looking at, we have something that’s already on their plans or anything like that. Like, you know, what’s the process like for a property manager with HVAC issues?
Well, property manager, definitely. We have a lot of property managers and apartments that we are servicing on a yearly basis. Some of them are with us for almost 10 years. And we are servicing, we have some companies with more than 450 [00:20:00] units with us. So, and we have some companies with three units with us that they don’t have a lot of units, but they have a lot of, I don’t know, warehouses, et cetera.
It depends on, property managers should call us and we will give them service and repairs all year round in the summer when it’s super hot and in the winter when it’s super cold to the heaters. So we are definitely giving services to management companies all year round and we enjoy working with them because usually they know exactly what’s the problem and they call us with a short time we’re there and we are taking care of the problem, repairing the issues on, some companies call us almost every day due to the fact that they have a lot of units. So one time they can have a problem in [00:21:00] in one building, and then the day after they can have a problem in another building.
And I’m talking about buildings that have units there for 15 years or 20 years. Those units are old. They need repairs and need service all the time. And if the units is really dying, we recommend of changing. So we do all sort of change outs. So we can give them a wide options and services in our, from our shop, to our technicians, to our installers.
We are usually equipped with good crane company. So we are really, we are existing from 2005, so it’s already 20 years that we are dealing with that. That’s, yeah, that’s a long time. We have enough experience to take care of any problem out there. That’s awesome. All right.
So, those timelines that we were talking about from before, [00:22:00] of possibly even having things in stock within a couple of days or a couple of weeks, does that also pertain to commercial HVAC, or is that mostly just residential? Is it a little bit longer for commercial units? Sometimes, depend on the supplier, for example, carrier and day and night and train. Most, most of listen suppliers wanna supply, right? Usually they find solutions. And we are accommodating the needs of the client, unless it’s a very unique unit and you need to order it, and then they manufacture it for you, and then it take a while. But those cases are rare.
Usually it’s in stock, and if it’s not, they find it to you in a couple of days. You figure it out. No, that makes, [00:23:00] that makes a lot of sense.
I think we went over this a little bit, but let’s go more in depth on it. How can you minimize disruption if you’re having an HVAC installation or a major repair going on? So how can I minimize? Yeah. So how do you go about making it so that a space is not completely disrupted while you’re doing like an HVAC unit repair?
Is it something that you can’t really get around or is there ways to minimize the disruption of the AC unit actually working? By disrupting, what do you mean by that? I’m sorry. No, you’re good. You’re good. So basically, [00:24:00] the change out time. So like the time in between, let’s say, you know, that there needs to be a repair done.
It’s working somewhat, but usually it’s the same day. Unless it’s complex and the unit is stuck somewhere, it’s very hard to reach. So, but usually it’s same day work to do a change out. We come one day with the, you know, with the right amount of people and we make it happen because you don’t wanna, you don’t wanna leave the homeowner or the property manager without AC for the day after, because then, you know, it’s hot in California.
We understand that, right? No, that’s really cool. And so is that something that I know [00:25:00] Air call services does that and tries to make so that it’s a same day service. But is that something that people should expect, let’s say if they’re outside of the area that you guys service and they’re looking for another provider, is that something that’s pretty standard that you can expect?
Or is that something that people should be pretty adamantly just looking for? So, okay. I really, I know how we work. It’s very important to me to, that’s why a lot of management companies are working with us because we respond fast. And we fix the problem that you have in the, you know, that same day and that cause them to return to us and call us again and again.
Otherwise, what are we worth? You know, there’s a lot of AC companies out there that can give you [00:26:00] service. The question is how fast. And I know that we know what we’re doing and that’s important. We have the manpower to give you an answer. And give you an answer fast and do it right. Yeah. It’s really cool and after 20 years, that makes a lot of sense for you guys to be able to actually offer that.
So it’s in our benefit to do it fast, by the way, so when you finish it and you can move to the next customer. When you don’t and you prolong it, then you need to charge the customer for more labor and more. So it’s not, I want it to be the benefit for both. To the customer because we’re gonna finish it fast, then we can, we’re gonna be able to charge them [00:27:00] less.
And that’s why we have that program in Aircall, that when we charge a fixed price for all year round and then people can call us, we come, we’re not gonna charge them more than we charged already. Make sense? Exactly. Already fixed. My goal is to fix it and fix it fast because I already set up the price.
I cannot touch the price. Makes sense. Yeah, yeah. No, totally. That’s a really transparent pricing model. It’s benefiting the client and it’s benefiting us. We’re not gonna reinvent the wheel. We know that the what, the issues already. By heart, right? So when we come to fix it, when we give the service plan, we have two [00:28:00] options.
One is just service. The other one is including repairs, you know, major repairs. And so therefore, I can’t touch the price. Then let’s say that somebody is buying from us the highest plan, and he is paying about, I don’t know, around the $30 a month, right? Per unit. And if he is losing the compressor, which is a part that can cost you three, $4,000, we don’t charge ’em for it.
Because it’s a service with kind of a warranty from us. That we’re given. I don’t, I don’t think any other company out there is doing it. Really? Yes. Wow. That’s really cool. Okay, so that’s very important factor. Yeah. So if you losing a, for example, a [00:29:00] capacitor or something on your AC, we are repairing it.
We don’t charge you as long as you in the right plan. There’s two different plans in Air call. One is just service. The other one is called platinum. And the platinum give you service and certain repairs. If your unit is 10 years and younger, obviously. Can’t repair a unit over 40 years because some the parts are so we are, and it’s written, it’s transparent in our agreement.
Yeah, and you can gain out of it because if you losing a major part in your AC, and it’s important today more than ever because a lot of the AC units are in our days, some of the parts are coming from some other countries and they’re not made as well as they’ve been done, you know, back in the days.
It’s more electronic, more sophisticated. A lot of [00:30:00] boards are burning and we are replacing it. With no charge, no extra charge. And that’s, for me, a big benefit for the customer and also for us. Not everybody is, you know, not everybody AC is breaking in the same day. You know, some units, some units break a lot.
So we take those, you know, we took that chance. But if you’re confident in your team’s ability to assess the situation when you guys are doing all the maintenance, then you’re able to see what might be going out quicker and you guys can actually catch those problems and schedule them in a way that’s not gonna be a disruption for your service or for the customer, which makes Yes, a load of sense.
Yes. Yeah, and not only that, the reason that plan is a combination of service. And so to say warranty, [00:31:00] is because we are doing the service in order to do a preventing maintenance by preventing the issues to come up by servicing the unit, we’re making sure the unit will not break down.
Makes sense. Exactly. And then everybody’s happy. Yeah. So that’s a very important factor in the service. And so are you guys doing the same kind of plans available for commercial as well as residential? Yes. What does that look like for a commercial space? Does that break down any differently?
Yes, because in commercial you have a little bit bigger units than in residential. So then we come to the, we come to the property and we give them a quote, [00:32:00] to fit or plan to fit them personally. And so. So one of those plans would make it so that a property manager has one less thing to deal with, basically because you guys are just taking that off the plate and you guys are doing all the maintenance and the repairs and everything.
I couldn’t put it, you know, better than what you said just said. It’s just taking the problem of his back. Or the problem from the homeowner or you know, the property manager. And it’s moving to us and we gotta take care of it. It’s less issues than ice plate. Yeah. And not, and not necessarily more expensive.
No, it doesn’t sound like it. It sounds like these options might even be saving money, truthfully. ’cause if you have to pay for, because major services or major repairs because you didn’t necessarily do proper maintenance, then that looks like it’s [00:33:00] gonna be a lot more expensive than what these service plans would be.
Big time. Because if you have to, I know we talked about replacing some of these units, but what are some of the costs associated with, let’s say if somebody doesn’t do repairs and they have some major failures and they end up actually having to have their whole unit replaced, what kind of costs could people be expecting from that?
It happened some, some of the units cost, 8,000, some of the units cost 15,000, so it happened. You gotta repair, you gotta service the units again, like a car. No services. You are gonna come up. If you’re not, if you’re gonna drive a car a hundred thousand miles and you’re not gonna change the oil, most likely you’re gonna have issues.
Same thing with AC. So I think that combination with [00:34:00] service the units and repairing them if needed. It’s a great combination, win-win situation for the customer. Yeah, I mean, it sounds like at your guys’ pricing, it would take so many years to even amount to some of these repair costs and it, they might not even have to deal with the repair if they’re actually getting maintained anyways.
Yes. Yeah, that makes total sense to me. I even tell people you can do, don’t take the one with the warranty. If you don’t wanna spend the $30 on a unit, just spend, I don’t know, we have another plan that costs 11 or $12 a unit and spend that by doing the service to the units.
Most likely you’re gonna run into less issues and repairs future wise. And you’re gonna save money just by servicing the units, because sometimes your car [00:35:00] warranty is finished in 50,000. It doesn’t mean you stop servicing your car. Right. That’s a good point. Yeah. You know, so you don’t, okay, you don’t have warranty.
I got it. But if you do service. At least you keep the car for another 50,000, another a hundred thousand miles. And that’s exactly what happened with HVAC. The AC unit need service all the time. It’s a factor that people don’t take in consideration. They just come home. It’s so, and when it’s breaking, think about it.
It’s breaking in weekends. In holidays. Why? Because then people are at home, they’re using more, and then everybody’s calling in those days. And if they only did the service in time, most likely it’s not gonna break. Or they would know about it far beforehand if it was going out right, and they could just get it [00:36:00] repaired in a way, way better timeline.
Way better timeline that it’s not happened when they have guests in their house or some, you know, a weekend that they wanted to spend quietly at home and now they don’t have AC and it’s horrible if it’s 110 degrees outside. Oh, I mean, I grew up in Los Angeles and I remember I had older relatives over one summer and it was an especially hot day and our AC went out and we had to.
Send my grandparents to I think the mall just so they weren’t in the immense heat or they had to go to a neighbor’s house just so they could get out of the heat. ’cause it’s dangerous even for some people. Of course, of course. Yeah.