FAQs

Our service department has live support after hours.

After-hours service calls are handled through our 24 hour live emergency service department. To obtain service either during normal business hours or after hours, call your local Brady Flanary number.

We do not charge by the hour for our service. We charge a flat-rate diagnostic fee (also called a trip fee or service fee) that is the same no matter where you live. (Some other companies add a fuel surcharge if they have to drive further.) This fee covers the expense of sending out the technician and the technician's time to diagnose the problem.

When the technician discovers the problem, he will explain what needs to be done and give you a flat rate cost to repair it. You pay one price no matter how long it takes to make the repair. The technician is not rushed and you feel no need to rush the technician, ensuring that the repair is done properly and at the right price.

Our service vans are actually mobile warehouses. The variety of parts and tools stocked on each van allows us to repair just about any problem on any make of system.

In the unlikely event that a repair should require us to get a part from a supplier or our central warehouse, the customer would not be charged any additional fuel charges or fees.

Our NATE-certified technicians have the training, skill, and experience to service any manufacturer's system. We service heat pumps, air conditioners, gas furnaces, oil furnaces, mini-splits or ductless heat pumps, and hybrid systems.

While reputation and word-of-mouth recommendations are still paramount in instilling trust in potential customers, there is more concrete proof of our ability to provide outstanding, quality service. Our technicians are NATE certified and factory trained. NATE is the nation’s largest non-profit certification organization for heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration technicians, and it is the only technician-certification organization accepted and supported by the HVAC industry.

Since becoming NATE certified is completely voluntary, technicians who achieve this certification show their commitment to excellence in their job performance. NATE certification indicates that your technician has a level of technical excellence above and beyond what is required and can be trusted to install and service HVAC systems properly. (An improperly installed HVAC system can reduce its efficiency by as much as 30% (according to energystar.gov), which translates into higher utility bills and a reduced lifespan of the system.)

The certification program of the Environmental Protection Agency is mandatory for those working with highly-polluting equipment and was put into place to protect the ozone layer. It only certifies that a technician has an understanding of refrigerants such as Freon® and can properly recover or capture them instead of letting them escape into the air.

EPA certification is not the same as the rigorous NATE certification which covers all technical skills and includes customer service as well.

All of our service calls are COD. We accept cash, check, Mastercard, Visa, Discover and American Express. For major repairs, we offer financing, if desired, which must be approved before work begins. For financing, we offer the Wells Fargo Home Projects Program which allows us to offer financing programs ranging from no-interest, same-as-cash to traditional financing programs with low interest rates.

When faced with the decision to repair or replace, there are three things you should consider:

You can determine its current condition by considering how often it is breaking down as well as whether it has had regular maintenance over the years. Most air conditioning/ heating systems have a lifespan of between 12-20 years after which the breakdowns and cost of repairing comes with increasing frequency. If your air conditioner is 12+ years old and your heat pump is 8+ years old, they are nearing the end of their lifespans. Repairing an older unit may restore it to the energy efficiency that it had, but that does not compare favorably to the efficiency of newer units.

If your unit is nearing the end of its life expectancy and is breaking down frequently, you should definitely consider replacing the unit.

Just as you provide oil changes and other regular maintenance to your automobiles while they are still in warranty, you need to provide proper maintenance to your new heating/air conditioning system to keep it running smoothly. Most manufacturers' warranties are voided if an equipment failure occurs and a lack of routine maintenance has contributed to the failure.

In addition to other problems, a lack of maintenance will lead to the build-up of dirt and dust in your system. According to Energy Star, a program developed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to identify products that are energy-efficient, dirt and neglect (lack of maintenance) are the number one causes of failure in a heating/cooling system. It lowers the efficiency of your unit, causing it to work harder and resulting in higher utility bills as well as a system that wears out sooner.

SEER is an acronym for Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio. This measure of efficiency is a method of rating cooling equipment. The most common rating of 13 SEER, the EPA current minimum standard, means that this system is 40% more efficient than a system manufactured 8 years ago. The higher the SEER rating, the better, and the lower your cost of operating the system will be.

Unless a greatly undersized unit was installed originally, the answer is no. Do not purchase an oversized unit. Not only will oversized equipment be more expensive at installation, but the expense of operating it will be greater and it will "short cycle," not run as frequently or as long when it does run. This will cause wear and tear on your equipment and shorten its lifespan.

There are many factors (such as the size and age of your home, the type of ductwork and insulation in your home, the climate in your area, etc.) which affect your heating and cooling needs. That is why you need to have a professional technician perform a home "load calculation" to determine the proper size heating and cooling system to fit your home. Just using the size of the current system is also not wise because it may not have been calculated properly, and changes to your home since original installation may have affected energy needs as well.

Most system warranties are given by the manufacturer and not by the installation company. Regardless of the company that installed your system or the manufacturer, we can repair your equipment under the manufacturer's warranty.

Since heating and cooling a home is the largest energy expense for most households, the AFUE (Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency) rating is important because it lets you know how efficient your furnace or gas heating system will be.

The AFUE number, always expressed as a percentage, gives the amount of energy that is converted to usable heat inside a building. An AFUE rating of 80% means that 80% of the fuel consumed warms the space while the rest (20%) is lost in exhaust or "up the chimney." The government has set a minimum AFUE rating of 78%, and any new furnaces installed today have to meet this minimum standard, and some new furnaces can achieve up to 96.7% AFUE.

No, many of our customers leave a key or just leave a door unlocked for our service technicians. All of our employees go through a rigorous background check and drug screening before they can work for us.

Brady Flanary is well known in the industry and in the communities we serve for our quality and integrity. Service from Brady Flanary is service from the best.