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Calling all home A/C professionals

L

lobadobadingdong

Lifer
I've got a 3 1/2 ton coil upstairs w/furnace, and a 3 ton A/C unit outside. I have no Idea what the efficiency of it is, but I'm pretty sure it's the lowest end model Heil you could buy 5 years ago. I wanted to know if I where to upgrade to a 3 1/2 ton high efficancy unit outside if the cost would be worth it. (or can you use a 4 ton unit with a 3 1/2 ton coil?) I know how to work on auto a/c but home a/c is different in too many ways for me

I have a 1645sq.ft. home with 11 1/2ft high ceilings (home built in 1900 w/ lots of large single pane windows). R-30 insulation in the attic, but no sub floor under 3/4"Oak floor throughout the house.

I've been told by the guy's that come add 1/4lb of coolant every year (I have a very slow leak in the system somewhere) that a higher efficiance model would likely be worth it, but they want me to have some other guy come in for the quote. Also without that 1/4lb of coolant every spring, my poor system doesn't keep up and in the hottest part of the year, it runs almost continually throughout the day.

my current electric bills are below $50 during Nov/Dec/Jan/Feb and climb to ~$75 in Mar, ~$100 in April, ~$145 in May, ~$200 in June, ~$295 in July, ~$265 in august, ~$200 in Sept. ~$130 in oct

my gas furnace never runs me more than $160 in the coldest months. (and other than those 3-4months my gas bill is usually less than $30)

any recomendations?
 
I am NOT being sarcastic when I say that AC is not a necessity. People lived for thousands of years in all climes without it. Have you considered buying a bunch of fans and saving a ton of money?

Yes, I live in a hot climate in the summer and I have lived in even hotter without AC and I still seem to be just fine.
 
Originally posted by: TriStar
I am NOT being sarcastic when I say that AC is not a necessity. People lived for thousands of years in all climes without it. Have you considered buying a bunch of fans and saving a ton of money?

Yes, I live in a hot climate in the summer and I have lived in even hotter without AC and I still seem to be just fine.
Click to expand...

Uhh, maybe in northern states you can live w/o it but Florida would be unlivable with out AC. Why do you think south florida was uninhabited until reciently?
 
I have 54" ceiling fans in every room (+2 on my front porch for that matter) and only have my thermistat set to 77F during the day and 76F at night. It stays confortable enough except I really want to lower my summer electric bills and not stress my compressor as much. I just don't want to spend so much on replacement/upgraded cooling that it's not worth it. (i.e. spend $4000 on a new system only to save $100 a year) If I can upgrade my system for say <$2000 and save >$250 a year on electricity, I think that would be fine as I plan to live live in this house at least another 6-7 years.

and for you guys who don't think AC is a necissity, move to texas, or any of the gulf states for that matter, and you'll quickly change your mind, today's high was a mere 97F with 95% relitive humidity (heat index was 118F) without AC it's just plain sticky no matter how many fans you have.
 
Originally posted by: TriStar
I am NOT being sarcastic when I say that AC is not a necessity. People lived for thousands of years in all climes without it. Have you considered buying a bunch of fans and saving a ton of money?

Yes, I live in a hot climate in the summer and I have lived in even hotter without AC and I still seem to be just fine.
Click to expand...

Ever made a post where you weren't being a complete fvckwad?
 
Do you have an attic fan? If not install one regardless of what else you decide to do...it will keep your attic space from getting too terribly hot.

My old house's attic space (sunny southern cal) used to get over 140 F in the summer...after the attice fan never over about 115 or so.
 
I have a 22" high velocity thermostat controlled attic fan (during the summer it pretty much runs 24/7, I've never put a thermometer up there to find out but I don't think it ever gets over 110-120F in my attic now. (it was sweltering up there before I installed it in 2003).

I'm guessing no one knows what current costs are here, I suppose I'll just have to shop around for quotes, I'm concerned I'll get bad information and spend money on a new system that won't end up saving me any money.

edit: I also spent $100 on heat controll window film, it makes a noticable difference in the feel of the room, but didn't seem to make any appreciable dent in my electric bills.
 
excellent thread OP

I got my electric bill in for last month and it was $307 bucks!! :| I have a 2 1/2 ton unit and the past couple of days i have been throwing around the idea of i can bring down my electric bill by upgrading to a larger unit that is more efficient.

Right now i have a Amana A/C cooling a 1500 sq house. I guess ill call some HAVAC guys out and have them evaluate it.

I know putting in new windows and replace the pieces of crap that i have would help a bunch but I dont have 5K in change laying around to do that kind of investment in the house.
 
Originally posted by: miniMUNCH
Do you have an attic fan? If not install one regardless of what else you decide to do...it will keep your attic space from getting too terribly hot.

My old house's attic space (sunny southern cal) used to get over 140 F in the summer...after the attice fan never over about 115 or so.
Click to expand...
Good call. Use the electricity spent on ceiling fans , to power attic ventilation instead. You say you have "a 22" high velocity thermostat controlled attic fan", so that's a good start, but what kind of vents are in the soffits, letting air in? What about ridge vents?

Just fix the leak(s) in your current system, and be done with it. Get quotes for the work during the off season. You can even buy the components yourself at your local Home Depot, if you still want to replace it. If you do most of the grunt work, you may be able to get somebody to braze the connections and charge the system for a very fair price.
 
I can't find the leak. I went over the whole system in 2003 with soapy water. The local A/C guy said it would cost me around $600 to have them come out with some special tester to find the leak, and since it's only costing me $30 a year for them to add 1/4lb of coolant, it really wouldn't be worth the trouble.
 
The local A/C guy...

There must be more than one! I got eleven quotes when I did our A/C, and the difference from high to low was insane! You just have to get the right guy, at the right time of year.
 
Originally posted by: Ornery
The local A/C guy...

There must be more than one! I got eleven quotes when I did our A/C, and the difference from high to low was insane! You just have to get the right guy, at the right time of year.
Click to expand...
guy's, but it was only 2 different guys from two different places (they both said the same thing) We have about 20 heating/air carriers here. It appears the whole point of this thread has been missed from the get go appearantly, I just wanted to know if I should bother looking into upgrading my system. I'll just have to call it quits on this thread at get a bunch of quotes.:moon:
 
It's only $30.00 per year for refrigerant, but the compressor running so much extra time is going to add up. Kind of doubt a whole new system would ever pay for itself, unless you did the installation, which is not out of the question. Depends how hard the "A" coil is to get at I guess. The leak is probably at that point anyway.
 
From looking at your bills I would say it is a tough call. To really enhance the efficiency of your system you would more than likely need to change the coil and condeser/compressor unit and that is going to cost you big time. Just replacing the outside unit is probably going to cost you in the neighborhood of $1500-2000 depending on size. Considering the price of the new equipment how long do you think it would take to pay for itself? Considering your bills I would say no more than $200 a year if that so it takes 10 years to pay for itself. Maybe you should simply wait until the sytem gets bad enough that it needs to be replaced.
 
Originally posted by: lobadobadingdong
I've got a 3 1/2 ton coil upstairs w/furnace, and a 3 ton A/C unit outside. I have no Idea what the efficiency of it is, but I'm pretty sure it's the lowest end model Heil you could buy 5 years ago. I wanted to know if I where to upgrade to a 3 1/2 ton high efficancy unit outside if the cost would be worth it. (or can you use a 4 ton unit with a 3 1/2 ton coil?) I know how to work on auto a/c but home a/c is different in too many ways for me

I have a 1645sq.ft. home with 11 1/2ft high ceilings (home built in 1900 w/ lots of large single pane windows). R-30 insulation in the attic, but no sub floor under 3/4"Oak floor throughout the house.

I've been told by the guy's that come add 1/4lb of coolant every year (I have a very slow leak in the system somewhere) that a higher efficiance model would likely be worth it, but they want me to have some other guy come in for the quote. Also without that 1/4lb of coolant every spring, my poor system doesn't keep up and in the hottest part of the year, it runs almost continually throughout the day.

my current electric bills are below $50 during Nov/Dec/Jan/Feb and climb to ~$75 in Mar, ~$100 in April, ~$145 in May, ~$200 in June, ~$295 in July, ~$265 in august, ~$200 in Sept. ~$130 in oct

my gas furnace never runs me more than $160 in the coldest months. (and other than those 3-4months my gas bill is usually less than $30)

any recomendations?
Click to expand...
#1 Find that leak. There are sniffers that do that job ( and it shouldn 't cost $600.00 to find and fix,BTW) and if you don't , that RAW freon just adds to ozone layer depletion.
#2 Replace the single pane windows with double paned Hi-R value windows.
#3. Add ceiling fans to push the hot air on the ceiling around.
#4 Add a second Hot air return Intake near the kitchen or other area of high activity.
#5. Make sure you have attic vent fans to push the hot air out of the attic every night.
The heat load of a hot attic can practically double the time an AC unit runs to maintain a constant comfortable temp., espcially with over height ceilings.
 
Originally posted by: Ronstang
From looking at your bills I would say it is a tough call. To really enhance the efficiency of your system you would more than likely need to change the coil and condeser/compressor unit and that is going to cost you big time. Just replacing the outside unit is probably going to cost you in the neighborhood of $1500-2000 depending on size. Considering the price of the new equipment how long do you think it would take to pay for itself? Considering your bills I would say no more than $200 a year if that so it takes 10 years to pay for itself. Maybe you should simply wait until the sytem gets bad enough that it needs to be replaced.
Click to expand...
Thank you, that's exactly what I was wanting to know. 🙂
 
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