The air here takes equipment apart from the outside in
Crestmont works on heating, cooling and ventilation across Savannah and the coast. A condenser three blocks from tidal water lives a different life from one in Pooler, and almost nobody prices that difference honestly — in either direction.
Salt air, priced honestly
How far you are from open water changes what is worth specifying, what is worth doing, and what is simply being sold to you.
What the page gives you
Four distance bands crossed with two situations — specifying new equipment, or living with what is already there. Each answer says what salt actually does at that distance and what is worth paying for.
Two of the four answers are “do not pay extra for this”, which is not a thing coastal contractors usually write down.
And what it will not do
It will not put a number of years on any piece of equipment, because nobody can. It will not tell you a coating makes a unit last twice as long. And where a claim is marketing rather than engineering, it says so.
Six frames
Cooling
The long season here. Central air, heat pumps and ductless, with the charge measured against the conditions and the plate rather than topped up on sight, and sizing from a calculation rather than from what came out.
Heating
Short winters, but a heat pump on auxiliary heat all season is a bill nobody can explain. Gas furnaces combustion tested with an analyser and the readings recorded.
Ducts
Static pressure, register-by-register airflow, and leakage — which in an attic on this coast means humid outside air pulled into the system every hour it runs.
Moisture
The thing that actually distinguishes this climate. Condensate, drain pans, secondary pans, and systems short-cycling so fast they cool without ever drying.
Ventilation
Extract for kitchens, salons and workshops, make-up air to replace it, and outside air in premises where the complaint is stuffiness rather than temperature.
Maintenance
Annual on houses, twice a year on premises, with readings recorded per unit. On the coast a rinse and a coil inspection earn their place every single visit.
Houses and premises
Homes
Houses across the city and out towards the islands, from raised cottages with the plant underneath to newer builds with the air handler in the attic. Cooling, moisture, ducts and the room that never keeps up.
Businesses
Shops, restaurants, clinics, offices and light industrial. Surveyed before anything is scheduled, maintained against the survey, with a record kept per unit and the ventilation treated as part of the job.
What this website will not tell you
Five things, and why
| Not stated | Why |
|---|---|
| A price | A capacitor and a full duct rework are not the same visit. You get a fixed figure on the phone once we know what is installed. |
| A response time | We will not promise two hours on a July afternoon when half the county has lost cooling. |
| A saving | “Cut your bill by a third” depends on your building, your habits and your tariff. Nobody can know it from a web page. |
| How long it will last on the coast | The question everybody asks here, and the one nobody can answer. Two identical units a street apart last very differently. We will tell you what shortens the life; we will not put a number on it. |
Asked often enough to answer here
Do I need a coastal package on a new air conditioner?
It depends entirely on how far you are from open water, and the honest answer is not the same across the county. On or near tidal water, coil protection and siting genuinely matter. A few miles inland, salt is no longer what decides how long your equipment lasts, and a coastal premium there is usually worth spending on the load calculation, the ductwork and commissioning instead. There is a page on this site that sets it out by distance.
How much longer will a coated coil last here?
Nobody can tell you, and anybody quoting a number of years has made it up. Coil protection slows a process down; how much depends on your exact site, the wind direction and how the unit is maintained. What we will tell you is which protection is being quoted, whether it is factory-applied or sprayed on site, and what the manufacturer’s warranty says about coastal installations — because some are shortened near salt water and that is the detail that actually matters.
The house is cool but it feels damp. What is wrong?
Usually the system is too big for the house. Cooling and dehumidifying are two different jobs and the second only happens while the machine is actually running — a system that satisfies the thermostat in four minutes never runs long enough to take moisture out of the air. The other common source is return-side duct leakage in the attic, which pulls hot humid attic air straight into the system every hour it runs.
Can I rinse my own outdoor unit?
Yes, and near the water it is the highest-value thing available to you. Clean water, gently, with the power off at the disconnect, in the cooling season. Never a pressure washer — it folds the fins flat and does more damage than the salt ever would. If the fins are already thinning or crumbling, rinsing will not bring them back and you should have the coil looked at.
My air conditioning needs refrigerant every year. Is that normal?
No. Refrigerant is not consumed — a system losing it has a leak, and an annual top-up is paying for the same fault repeatedly while the compressor is slowly damaged. Finding the leak is the job.
Which areas do you cover?
Savannah, Garden City, Port Wentworth, Pooler, Thunderbolt, Wilmington Island, Tybee Island and Richmond Hill.
Where we are
1904 W Bay St, Savannah, GA 31415. Monday to Friday, 7.30am to 4.30pm.
We cover Savannah, Garden City, Port Wentworth, Pooler, Thunderbolt, Wilmington Island, Tybee Island and Richmond Hill.