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3 On Your Side: Best Air Conditioning Repair Companies

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - As this latest heat wave begins, the last thing you need is for your central air conditioning to break down. Getting it fixed quickly is often easier said than done. First you have to find a repairman. But how do you know which one to choose? 3-On Your Side's Jim Donovan has information to help you out.

Trying to get your central air conditioning repaired can often leave you hot under the collar. Robert Krughoff, the president of the non-profit Delaware Valley Consumers Checkbook says, "It can be terrible in weather like this when the air conditioning system goes down and you really want a company that will come out promptly and do the job right."

When Checkbook surveyed its readers on air conditioning repair firms, they rated 148 companies on everything from price to performance. Krughoff says, "We found big differences in the quality of work they do, just doing the work properly, getting it done right on the first try." But Checkbook didn't find a relationship between price and quality.

Krughoff says, "It is certainly true that you can find a high quality firm that will give you very good prices for repairs or the installation of a new system."

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Several companies received Checkbook's highest ratings for both quality and price.

In Pennsylvania they are:

Bi-County Fuels (Chalfont)

EJ Harrold (Newtown Square)

Good Plumbing Heating A/C (Souderton)

Mourar's Heating & Cooling (Phoenixville)

Oehlert Brothers (Royersford)

Rinaldi Heating and A/C (Ardmore)

In New Jersey, high marks were given to:

Austermuhl & Ward Heating A/C (Riverton)

Friedrich Heating & A/C (Pittman)

Jim's Heating & A/C (Hainesport)

RPM Heating & Air Conditioning (Marlton)

TJ Eckardt Associates (Berlin)

Until August 8, 2011, CBS 3 viewers have exclusive free access to the full list of all 161 air conditioning and heating companies that were rated by Checkbook readers.

For more information, visit http://www.checkbook.org/cbs3/heatac/

Reported by Jim Donovan, CBS 3

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