Do I REALLY need to replace the expansion valve?

[bestone6703]

We have a Lennox Elite series, just under three years old. A few days ago we noticed that it was blowing constantly and wasn't cooling the house down to 75, where the thermostat is set. (It's summer in South Texas.) It wouldn't get lower than 77.

This lasted just a few hours, then it started behaving normally again. It's been running fine for four or five days now.

We called the installer to check it out just in case, and they told us that we need to replace the expansion valve and quoted $550. This seems like a lot to me for a problem that may have gone away on its own.

Is it possible that this was a temporary issue that self-corrected, or should we expect it to come back later? Is doing nothing an option, or will that just make it worse? Is $550 a reasonable estimate?

Thanks!

 

[oldognewtrick]

Id suggest getting a second opinion. Don't share the findings of the first tech.

 

[BridgeMan]

A very quick search brought up a retail price of just under 140 bucks for the valve. Your repair outfit won't be paying anything close to that, probably less than $100.

If you pay the $550, you're a far richer man than most of us. Not a bad profit ($450) for less than an hour's worth of work, eh?

 

[bestone6703]

Good advice. Thanks, guys.

After nearly a week, the AC is still running just fine. I spoke again with a technician at the place that installed and diagnosed it, and that was supposed to come today for the $550 repair, and he let me know that this really can be delayed until/unless the system goes wrong again. In the meantime, the house is cool and no money spent.

Thanks again.