Air conditioner advice sought
 

Well, the technician just told me that my unit's compressor is dead and that it's probably best if I replace the whole unit. Does anyone have a ballpark idea on how much is reasonable on a 3.5 ton unit installed? Any help on brand selection would also be appreciated as I know nothing about this stuff. :banghead:

Sorry, I can't help you ...

May I piggy back on your thread? Is it wise to have your airconditioning units serviced each year? In the Philippines we discovered it was best to leave "good enough" alone until something happened.

I work in the industry doing some minor service and maintenance as well as installation. I have worked on several different brands of units. There are few differences. Mainly in cabinet design and where things are located within the cabinets.
In my opinion you should call and get several bids and ask them about thier warranty's. Meaning what is covered by the warranty and what is not and for how long. It is important to feel comfortable with the company that you choose to do this work because they will pretty much have to do the warranty work on the unit that they sold you. And you need to be confident in what they tell you.

As an average you can figure roughly $1000 a ton. So you should be looking at roughly 3500 to 4000.

Depending on how old your system is they may have to replace the indoor unit as well or at least the indoor coil. After January 1 they could no longer manufacture 10 seer or less units anymore.

Sounds like the techs in the philippines were taking advantage of you and others and a lot of companies will do that kind of stuff where you get out there to do a "tune up" on thier units and they will sell them contactors or relays or something that was not really burned out on your system. That is why you have to be comfortable with who you choose as you HVACR representative.

It's hard to stop a Trane.

http://www.trane.com/Residential/Dea...ealerInfo.aspx

fuck you, air conditioner industry!

Got that off your chest?

That, and the Cleveland steamer.

Hope you took a shower.

Yeah, a golden one.

I work for A.B May, you might want to consider a Heat Pump so that you can get a better electrical rate for 8 months out of the year, the money you save on your electric bill will help pay for the system.

Nice. You must have a very loving partner.

GGG.

Great Grandma Gessler? :Lin:

Good, giving and game.

Holy Highjacked threads Butman.

Don't know if Nasium needs any advise on Clevland Steamer removal by way of Golden Shower? :hmmm:

Shut up before SK gives you a dirty sanchez.

Cleveland Steamers and Hot Carls before a DS from SK.

if your just doing the outside unit and coil roughly 2500 should do it, or a touch less. i sell heil. icp product (carrier ,bryant, heil).

Be sure to let WaZ know about Cleveland Steamer http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=162716

Bumping this thread as I just got the same news yesterday (compressor shot and prolly should replace the whole system). The good news is that was the last day we were going to need A/C for the year, so we have some time to let the various companies compete, and I've heard that this is the best time of year to get "deals". We'll see...

The question for any A/C GURUs would be what I'd want for a ~3,300 sq. ft. house, and about how much should I expect the bids to be?

I know R22 is out and EER and SEER numbers are going to be what the sales guys throw out like lube at an orgy, but what's really important and what's not?

I like what I'm reading about 2-stage, but that seems like it should be pretty standard in a energy-saving unit if it really works. Does it really work?

And last, what questions should I ask?

PS. The water heater isn't young either, should I have them do them both since the air handler and water heater are right next to each other inside the house, and expect some sort of discount?

My AC crapped out this summer so I recently went through what you're getting ready to go through. My old unit was a 5-ton and I have about 3,100 square feet. I wanted to go with a high efficiency system but learned to do so I would need to replace my furnace with a more efficient system (two stage blower) to realize the full efficiency of a higher efficiency AC. My existing furnace runs fine and is only 10 years old. I didn't want to spend the more money upgrading my furnace so I opted for the best efficiency I could get pairing with my existing furnace.

I got three bids: 1) York - $3,100; 2) Rheem - $5,200; and 3) Ruud - $3,200. I decidied to go with the Ruud for $3,200 largely because they said they could perform the install the following day. This was during a hot spell in July so I was happy about that. The model I purchased is a RA1648 which I recall is either a 13 or 14 SEER which could be bumped up to a higher SEER if I replace my old furnace (single stage blower) with a more efficient model (two stage blower).

The outside unit is huge but it looks nice. I should note this price included a new expansion coil located inside the house near the furnace and cleaning out the line going from the outside unit to the coil.

Good luck!

Going by what I paid 5 years ago I'd say you got a really good deal.

We replaced our furnace/AC unit about 3 years ago. We went HeatPump with backup NG furnace. The furnace part is a 95.5 York and saved me about $75/mo during the heating season and more during the AC season (Southern Missouri). The most important thing we did was have the installer look at our air returns because we had hot/cold spots in the best of times. Now the temp in the house is much more comfortable and consistant. As for parts/serviceability, ours died within a week, but the installer had a new one installed the same day (about 4 hours). Been fine since. Refrigerant for autos has just changed, I wonder if that is in store for home AC....?

I'd quiz them on the water heater, see if they'll deal. If you dont ask you dont get. Talk to you utility, maybe rebates available?

When those things get older, a maintenance plan may be a good idea. Used to have one on water heater/washer/dryer/sewer backup on the old house.

In my case the furnace is the same age (16 years old), so I won't be too upset if all this results in lower bills.

Good advice, and I'm open to a heat pump is it's going to save $75 a month. What all went into the going over to doing the heat pump?

Agree, but, like changing the oil in a car every 3500 miles, we were really good about having our A/C unit looked at every year, and I used to clean it out myself a couple of times a year too. I think an ounce of prevention goes a long way.

Welp, the new unit was installed today. The guy is a friend of a friend, and I think it's going to work well for me this time. He found two things that are head-scratchers...

1) Whoever install the unit had the return line pretty-much kinked closed at the point where it left the house. Nobody saw it until he pulled back the foam padding. Whoever installed is a ****er, and I hope he catches the clap! Asshole!

2) A baffle was installed in the ducting just above the A-coil, he had no idea what the hell it was for, and no matter what, at best, it was in backwards. It was either totally ****ing-up the airflow, or semi-****ing-up the airflow - not what the AC business was invented to do. We made a command decision that if a guy who has been in the business for 22 years can't figure out what it's for, well....it's out. Now the airflow is lots-and-lots. I like that!

And, since the guy is a professional, having the right size unit and the right settings seems to have made casa-de-GloryDayz a whole lot better, and will be as cold as GloryDayz likes it this summer. And Glorydayz likes cold, hates, hot (unless in a sauna), and is grinning..

I'm a lot poorer than I was when I woke up, but it's nice to know he was cool enough to talk me out of a furnace (too), and that saved about $4K..

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