R22

[Deltarat]

I just had my house air condition serviced and it needed some gas. They charged $30 a pound for the R22. The labor was on top of that it was just for the gas.
I looked on Ebay and you can buy it for less than $10 a pound and a contractor may can buy it cheaper than that.
A 400% mark up seems a bit much.

Is $30 a pound an average price or did I get ripped?

 

[Full Throttle]

30 a lb is cheap, I charge 85 for the first and 65 each addl. labor included, plus diag fee, my cost is about 12-15$ a lb or 375 for 30#'s, it's going up and up. my mark up is my mark up, no gouging.

don't know that it would be a 400% mark up, but were not in the business to give stuff away, wait till its about 800-900 for 30#'s

Thank the EPA, don't ***** to me is what I say

 

[danski0224]

I just had my house air condition serviced and it needed some gas. They charged $30 a pound for the R22. The labor was on top of that it was just for the gas.
I looked on Ebay and you can buy it for less than $10 a pound and a contractor may can buy it cheaper than that.
A 400% mark up seems a bit much.

Is $30 a pound an average price or did I get ripped?

Then buy it on eBay and do it yourself...

If you are lucky, that cheap eBay R22 won't be from China and full of moisture... but heck, it's cheaper. Go for it.

All businesses are ripping people off, trying to sell stuff or do stuff for a profit. Criminals, I tell ya. They should all do it for free.

 

[Orangestang]

The good ole Government is really pushing for R22 to be phased out quick. I paid $381. for a 30# jug last month it will be $600.00 by the end of summer, a friend bought a whole skid about 5 yrs ago cheap I'm sure it will be like gold soon. R134 for cars is next to be phased out so stock up now.

 

[HVAC Phil]

In my area r22 is 275 a jug. I purchased 2 skids 6 years ago, i knew it was gonna go up. Doubled in price from last year. Most likely it will double again next year. I charge $40/LB.

 

[HVAC Phil]

I just had my house air condition serviced and it needed some gas. They charged $30 a pound for the R22. The labor was on top of that it was just for the gas.
I looked on Ebay and you can buy it for less than $10 a pound and a contractor may can buy it cheaper than that.
A 400% mark up seems a bit much.

Is $30 a pound an average price or did I get ripped?

Did they repair the leak? I haven't touched the 2 units i installed in my Dad's house since they were put in 1999. Install it right, no issues or replace old units with leaky rotted coils, service ports.

 

[brewchief]

30 a lb is cheap, I charge 85 for the first and 65 each addl. labor included, plus diag fee, my cost is about 12-15$ a lb or 375 for 30#'s, it's going up and up. my mark up is my mark up, no gouging.

don't know that it would be a 400% mark up, but were not in the business to give stuff away, wait till its about 800-900 for 30#'s

Thank the EPA, don't ***** to me is what I say

This is very close to what we charge, last I knew a 30# jug was 385$ here, we were lucky and stocked up just before the price nearly doubled.

 

[Full Throttle]

This is very close to what we charge, last I knew a 30# jug was 385$ here, we were lucky and stocked up just before the price nearly doubled.

I have a residential side bussiness, I bought 10 jugs back when it was just at $100 per, and I try to use wisely.

 

[Deltarat]

I was not bitching about the price. I was just asking any heat and air guys if it was a FAIR price or not. 4-500% just seemed like a pretty high mark up, but I am not in that business. When I farmed, I wish I could have made a 4-500% mark up on my crops. I would be a multi-millionaire now.

I understand how the EPA has screwed us all and getting worse.

I was not trying to put down the H/A contractors.just asking if I was getting a fair price. I had no reference to go from, other than the price on Ebay.

I have gages, and do auto air, but I can not buy the R22 without permits.

 

[brewchief]

I was not bitching about the price. I was just asking any heat and air guys if it was a FAIR price or not. 4-500% just seemed like a pretty high mark up, but I am not in that business. When I farmed, I wish I could have made a 4-500% mark up on my crops. I would be a multi-millionaire now.

I understand how the EPA has screwed us all and getting worse.

I was not trying to put down the H/A contractors.just asking if I was getting a fair price. I had no reference to go from, other than the price on Ebay.

I have gages, and do auto air, but I can not buy the R22 without permits.

It's a very fair price, it may seem like a lot of mark up but the overhead running an HVAC business is higher then a lot of people would expect, if we did a much smaller mark up on parts then we would have to increase the labor rate and would get called out over that instead.

 

[Full Throttle]

I was not bitching about the price. I was just asking any heat and air guys if it was a FAIR price or not. 4-500% just seemed like a pretty high mark up, but I am not in that business. When I farmed, I wish I could have made a 4-500% mark up on my crops. I would be a multi-millionaire now.

I understand how the EPA has screwed us all and getting worse.

I was not trying to put down the H/A contractors.just asking if I was getting a fair price. I had no reference to go from, other than the price on Ebay.

I have gages, and do auto air, but I can not buy the R22 without permits.

calculate this 4-500%mark up for me, and don't forget the labor rate involved is not a mark up item, you don't mark up labor.

for example my 1st lb of r-22 is 85$ this includes 1/2 hour for system to run and stabalize, take acurate reading's, getting out scales,gas,manifold and set up. each additional pound is 65$ this includes 1/4 hour of labor, per lb of gas. It takes time to charge a system correctly and allow the system to stabalize so it does not end up overcharged. I charge $115 an hour, and I don't know my exact mark up and really don't care to figure it right now but I know it's not 4-500%


and be carefull what you type, you say you do auto air, but can't get r-22 without permits, if you were legal to do automotive and transport you would know you have to have a CFC certification and there is no such thing as needing permits to buy refrigerant, if caught you face a $25,000 fine and up to 5 years in the slammer.

Which brings about another view of our mark up, and I understand your ''farming'' comparison, my father in law farms 3K acres, but we have to keep certified, we have to be licensed in the state which cost me $600 a year, a respectable vehicle and the over head in stock for repairs. I get $200 from this guy, $400 from this man, $75 from the little old lady, I might score a few grand changeout once or twice a month. Gas prices are $4 a gallon and I just drove 50 miles or better to your house. Now the reason I mentioned understanding a farming operation is cause I know the 1/4 million dollar combine and $70K tractors and repairs, then you pray the weather is on your side. Then you hope you get your crops to the market while the price is high, small farms can't make it in today's world.

 

[Steves32]

HVAC contractor here.
You got a very fair price. My price is much higher.
Prices are up 300% on a jug of R22 from same time last year. R410a is lower than I ever remember. Copper is waaaay up, 15% silver solder prices are insane right now.
It's not getting better & it's not the contractor's fault. My labor prices are the same as last year- materials prices are insane.

 

[Deltarat]

I got the 400% from the price on Ebay at about $7.50 a pound and figured a contractor could do better than that, and he charged $30. This did not include labor. It was charged in addition to the gas. I did not have a problem with the labor he charged. He was only here about 30 minutes. He cleaned the outside coils and added gas, but did not use a scale to measure. He just watched the gages, so I don't know how he figured how much he put in.

I didn't mean to piss off any H/A contractors here. I was just asking if I got a fair price or not. If not I would try another guy next time. I don't mind paying a fair price for service, but do not like to get screwed. I seems that I got the going rate or a little less. That is all I wanted to know.

Thanks for the help.

 

[hobie1dog]

What you have to ask first is, where is the leak and how are you going to fix it. A large percentage of techs always add freon and charge you year after year. They never fix the source of the leak ( it's not very profitable compared to getting money year after year for recharging ). I always related to the customer a comparison of a car tire, do you keep putting air in the tire each week, or do you find the leak and fix it. Absolutely no difference in a refrigeration circuit.

 

[pop pop]

I thought new regulations required investigation/repair of leaks before addition of any refrigerant?? No???

 

[Falcon67]

I thought new regulations required investigation/repair of leaks before addition of any refrigerant?? No???

When I took the test years ago, it was cars - yes, everything else - not so much. Had the same issue with yearly charging on our old house, eventually we spent the $300 to replace the line set. And it was only $300 because the guy was local and I played step-n-fetch worker and did the attic work.

 

[Full Throttle]

I got the 400% from the price on Ebay at about $7.50 a pound and figured a contractor could do better than that, and he charged $30. This did not include labor. It was charged in addition to the gas. I did not have a problem with the labor he charged. He was only here about 30 minutes. He cleaned the outside coils and added gas, but did not use a scale to measure. He just watched the gages, so I don't know how he figured how much he put in.

I didn't mean to piss off any H/A contractors here. I was just asking if I got a fair price or not. If not I would try another guy next time. I don't mind paying a fair price for service, but do not like to get screwed. I seems that I got the going rate or a little less. That is all I wanted to know.

Thanks for the help.

If he only charged you for a lb, thats ok. His scales shoulda been out.
You didnt make me mad, just trying to help

I cant get gas that cheap as you found on fleabay.

 

[mikec35]

Guess it all depends on how much you pay for the freon and how much your overhead is as a vendor. I purchased 800 lbs of R22 and got it for $10 a pound a couple of weeks ago - plus $400 shipping. I just purchased the gas and paid a vendor to do repairs. I got 3 proposals to repair leaks in a commercial DX system. Prices for the job ranged from $10,000 - $6000 labor. Pays to shop around. You could always test the waters but for small jobs by the time you pay the additional diagnostic fee it may not be worth it.

 

[Deltarat]

How much R22 does an average 4 ton unit hold. The reason is I need to get the leak fixed and wondering how much it would take to re-fill the system once the leak is fixed. I have a outside unit with lines going up into the attic, probably 30' of line to the unit in the attic.

I know there are a lot of variables in systems, but I am just looking for a ball park guess.

 

[brewchief]

How much R22 does an average 4 ton unit hold. The reason is I need to get the leak fixed and wondering how much it would take to re-fill the system once the leak is fixed. I have a outside unit with lines going up into the attic, probably 30' of line to the unit in the attic.

I know there are a lot of variables in systems, but I am just looking for a ball park guess.

There should be a data plate somewhere on the unit with all the model#s, one of the items on the plate should be a factory charge amount, add maybe a pound or so for lineset length and indoor coil and you will be very close.

 

[Deltarat]

Thanks, I will check for the plate.

 

[chevelle67]

Lots of variables but 8-11 lbs r-22 for 4 ton split is typical.

 

[Deltarat]

The plate says 6 pound charge, but they put 6#s in it or that is what they charged me for.