The agreement that gets a 1972 house's air conditioner to its next birthday
Putnam County systems are older than most and work harder than most. A maintenance agreement is the scheduled attention that keeps a tired unit out of the emergency queue in July.
What a maintenance agreement is, and what it is not
An agreement is a standing arrangement: Cook’s comes out twice a year, inspects and cleans the system, and you get a place at the front of the line when things go wrong. It is not an extended warranty and it is not a promise that a twenty-year-old compressor will live forever. What it does is catch the small, cheap failures (a weak capacitor, a clogged drain, a dirty coil) before they become the expensive kind, and it gives us a history on your equipment so the repair-versus-replace advice is grounded in something.
Tiers, pricing and exactly what is included are set by the office and are not published on this page. [[CONFIRM WITH JERRY]]
The two visits, mapped to the Palatka calendar
Spring, roughly the Azalea Festival window. Oak and pine pollen have been coating outdoor coils since February, and by late March the first 85-degree afternoons arrive. The spring visit cleans the condenser coil, checks refrigerant charge against the manufacturer’s chart, tests the capacitor and contactor, clears and treats the condensate line, and checks the blower and filter. On well-water houses we pay special attention to scale in the drain trap.
Fall, before the first light freeze. Cooling season in Putnam County runs about eight months, so the fall visit is partly a post-season inspection and partly a heating check. Heat pumps get their reversing valve, defrost board and auxiliary heat verified. Furnaces, including the gas units on Palatka Gas Authority lines in the older neighborhoods, get a combustion and venting check.
Priority on the days that matter here
When the dew point sits in the mid-70s and a line of storms knocks the power around, the call volume from Putnam County spikes. Agreement members go to the front of that queue. For a market that is 35 miles from our shop, that priority is the difference between a same-day visit and a next-day one.
Member pricing on repairs
Agreement members pay a reduced rate on repairs performed during the term. The specific discount is set by the office. [[CONFIRM WITH JERRY]] Combined with the two visits, it tends to pay for itself on the first real repair, which on an older Palatka system is rarely far off.
Who benefits most
Owners of 1950s-to-70s block houses in Newtown and Palatka Heights with original ducts, manufactured-home owners anywhere in the county, landlords, and second-home owners with a fish camp near Welaka or a cottage on Crescent Lake that sits empty for weeks.
Agreement questions from the route
Does an agreement cover the package unit on a manufactured home?
Yes, with the same two visits. On a package unit we spend more of the visit on the crossover duct, the belly board and the condensate path, because that is where manufactured homes in East Palatka and Interlachen usually fail.
I own a rental in Newtown and a lake place in Interlachen. Can one agreement cover both?
We can put multiple systems and addresses on one account and schedule them on the same route day. How the pricing is structured for additional systems is a detail to confirm. [[CONFIRM WITH JERRY]]
Can the fall visit double as a heat check before the first freeze?
That is exactly what it is for. Inland Putnam sees a dozen or so light freezes most winters, and the fall visit tests the reversing valve, defrost cycle and auxiliary heat strips so the first cold night is not the first test.
Do you remind me, or do I have to remember to call?
We schedule agreement visits by route, so you hear from us when the Putnam County days come up each season. If a date does not work, we move it; you are never dropped for missing a call.
Want your system on the spring route?
Call {{phone}} and ask about a maintenance agreement for your address.