$1,600 A/C repair cost us $190

One home failure that is as noticeable as the air you breathe is when it's over 90 degrees outside and your air conditioning (A/C) is broken. Enter our A/C a few months ago. We called our home warranty (HSA) and a technician came out to find the culprit. (Read about this job that should have cost us $500.)

This week, a technician came back out to check on the dye test only to discover we had two separate leaks and would need our evaporator coil unit replaced. (That's sounds all official... what does it mean??) When you take the cover off the A/C unit in your basement, you see something that looks like this (see picture at right). These coils are responsible for conditioning your air. (I'm not trained in the specifics of the science, but you can learn more here.)

Since there's not exactly a way to just patch the individual coils, our A/C needs to have its evaporator coil unit replaced. The size of the part needed is quite large, so as you can imagine replacing it comes with an equally-sized price: $1,600. Ouch.

But wait, we have a home warranty! HSA evaluated the repair and called me to say it was approved, but there would be a few out-of-pocket expenses that their policy does not cover, namely disposal of a couple of parts ($50 + $60) and modifying the casing that goes over the A/C unit ($80). We are very happy to be paying $190 (12%) for a repair that should cost us $1,600. HSA does it again!