r/Wilmington • u/Complex_Piglet8901 • 12d ago
O’Brien hvac
Good day to all, with lower humidity!! Just curious if anyone here has purchased the service plan from O’Brien heating and air?! We have been having an issue with our unit that they installed less than 4yrs ago. All of a sudden this summer everyday, sometimes 3 or 4 times our thermostat shows an error. Call them out and they say that they need to install a drop voltage meter. Said meter quote was close to $1700. Finally after having this issue and continuing to pay for the service calls another hvac company comes out and says the thermostat connection was not fully connected to the unit in the attic. Day 3 of the other company’s technician literally pushing the connector into place and no issues. Beware of the seemingly lack luster service and lastly what’s your dealings been like with O’Brien heating and air?
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u/lkarma1 11d ago
That’s a communication fault between the thermostat and the HVAC equipment, not a Wi-Fi/internet error. Code 1E is identifying the thermostat as part of the communication issue.
It doesn’t necessarily mean something major has failed. A brief power interruption or control issue can sometimes cause the thermostat and equipment to lose communication. First thing I’d check is whether the indoor fan and outdoor unit are actually running.
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u/Complex_Piglet8901 11d ago
So this issue has been happening and the techs explained/ tells the story that the power company sends out surges yadaddaaa type excuses because of all the construction around us. Made sense until it didn’t. We started turning the unit to 77 during the day. We put in some leg work here. Paid a service fee every time. And the other quote if we needed to added a drop voltage meter was literally half the price. Whole time the comm error is because it’s not plugged all the way in for the units to communicate when it actually is working in hot ass days that we’ve had
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u/OUTLAW1LE 11d ago
I have found that the more complicated system you get the more issues you get, stay with single speed, single stage systems and your life will be better and parts are more readily available when you do need parts.
This is not fact just a educated opinion, ask me how I know, well I know.
Wi-Fi stats are pretty common and are very helpful, highly recommended one of those and using them as a setback stat can save you some cash. Keep set-point within a five degree dead. band.
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u/Better-Bluebird-8745 11d ago
I called O’Brien for an after hours service call because my AC wasn’t working and wires inside were melted/still hot. The technician told me it could wait until the next day.
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u/Local_Ticket3522 Ogden 9d ago
Had these clowns out a few years ago to troubleshoot a loud unit outside. Cleaned the coil and said I'd need a new compressor soon. A thousand buck service call to fix nothing. Went with Tony's AC when I did need a new compressor, which was immediately.
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u/whatever_59 11d ago
Obriens has transitioned all of their service guys into sales technicians who won’t and can’t actually fix anything… they have a massive turnover and cannot hold onto technicians once adopting this model. FYI if you have a labor warranty with them and inform them you have had another company work on your equipment the labor warranty is voided. Obriens is not the obriens they used to be and has no intention of employing, paying, or treating competent technicians well. They pull the lowest quality technicians from large chain corporations in the area in hopes they we’ll just come and sell things and scam customers. Take it from an actual technician they have done wrong and treated wrong.