Derek Cole answers why HVAC companies charge diagnostic fees (they cover a technician, fully stocked vehicle, training, insurance, and travel) and whether you should turn off your unit at the breaker. Use your thermostat instead. Only hit the breaker in emergencies.
Questions this episode answers
June 27, 2019.
To cover the cost of sending a qualified technician in a fully stocked vehicle (inventory/parts ~$6,000 mentioned), their training, insurance, and travel; common across HVAC, electrical, and plumbing trades. Maintenance-club members may be exempt.
No — use the thermostat to turn heating/cooling off. Only use the breaker to kill power in an emergency or if there's a safety hazard; homeowners should avoid working in the electrical panel.
Chapters
All right, good. Am I on? Sorry. On this episode, we talk about diagnostic fees and should I turn my unit off at the breaker? You ask your comfort and energy questions and they get answered. This is the Ask Derrick Cole Show. Hey, this is Derrick Cole. Welcome to episode 75 of the The Ask Derrick Cole Show. Answering your home and energy questions.
Why do I have to pay a diagnostic fee?
So a diagnostic fee, something that is charged in the industry, is very standard, and it gets a qualified technician to your house in a fully stocked vehicle with all the training, all the insurance around him on the vehicle, all the parts on the vehicle, all that has a cost to it. So to show up at your house for a, you know, it's this price, so that cost has to be offset somehow. I mean, they're in vans to get like eight miles to the gallon. So depending on where you live, it gets very costly as to where they are and where they're going. So I've gotten the question quite a few times. Why do you charge it? Because I don't want to pay it. And this was actually from a doctor. I said, well, the difference between us and you is that I'm coming to your office. Coming to you. You charge me 125, 200 bucks for a consultation, right? I'm coming to you. But we're actually putting a technician in a truck with $6,000 worth of inventory and insurance and all that training and bringing them to your house for that small, small fee. So it's something you have to charge to be in business. I mean, I think it's, if you want to call it service fee or diagnostic fee, whatever you charge it. Most companies in this industry, H vac, electrical, plumbing, charge some type of diagnostic fee because you have that cost that you, obviously you can't just eat it the whole time. Now if you're opposed to paying that fee, our club members never pay that fee because we guarantee when we come to your house twice a year and do the service on your system, we do such a good job, your system will not break down. If it does break down, we come to your house at no additional charge and find the problem and fix the problem at a discount. So that's a two for one there. So I kind of like the analogy with the doctor because he was giving me a hard time about why we're charging this. I'm like, look, I'm coming to you and you charging me this, at least going to your house.
I like to cut off my unit at the breaker when I'm not using it. Is that okay?
Your thermostat should be all you need to do to turn off your heating and air. There is no situation unless it's a safety hazard and you have to go into your panel to turn off the breaker. There's no reason you should be in that panel. That panel is for electricians and trained professionals because it's dangerous. So if you're not using your heating or ac, just go to the thermostat, turn it off. You don't have to turn off here and then go to the panel and then turn off there. If you turn off at the thermostat, that should take care of it. If you're having a problem and it won't turn off at the thermostat and you have to go to the breaker, that is a problem that needs to be checked out because you shouldn't be in that panel. Again, it's for professionals and it's for your safety not to be in that panel. Now the panel is in your house. So if something were to happen and you had to kill power at the breaker for an emergency, it's there, you can do it. But it's not made for just an on off switch, if you will, for an appliance or your heating air. Makes sense. So stay away from the panel unless you have to be in there, do not be in there.
