- Sep 14, 2002
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I'm reaching out to any experienced HVAC folks to make sure I'm not getting swindled one way or another. I currently live in a 2 floor condo in a 5 story building in NJ. We have the original single-stage, single-zone HVAC setup that the unit was built with (about 11 years ago). Furnace is in a separate small room behind my wife's closet on the 2nd floor and the AC unit is on the roof. It has the typical issues associated with a single zone/stage system. In the summer, when we're trying to cool downstairs, the upstairs gets freezing. In winter, when trying to warm up downstairs, the upstairs gets uncomfortably hot. We use an Ecobee thermostat with sensors across all the rooms to try and regulate the temps and it helps when switching from day to nighttime but the same issues still exist. Plus our electric bills are really high (> $200 a month).
Following the advice of a neighbor who converted their unit to dual zone, I called in a few contractors to provide a quote on conversion. All of them suggested converting to a dual-stage AC for better efficiency and temperature regulation. Two of them seem confident that my unit could be converted to dual zone with the installation of electronic dampers in my ducts slaved to a second thermostat upstairs; these are both Carrier authorized dealers. Another contractor, who uses American Standard (but fairly sure they're not "authorized dealers") said that our unit CAN'T be converted to dual zone even with dampers. Unsurprisingly the Carrier authorized dealers are charging significantly more ($25k-$30k all in) than the other guy (~$13k all in). Keep in mind this is NJ and these prices are fairly typical for my area. I've included pics of the furnace and duct setup below. The air intake is on the back wall of this room in our upstairs hallway. The questions I have:
1) It is feasible/practical to convert this system to a dual-zone setup using dampers and a second thermostat?
2) If the dual-zone conversion won't work, are there any benefits to converting to a 2-stage/1-zone system with respect to temperature regulation and electricity usage?
3) Are there any other ways to better regulate my upstairs/downstairs temps with the existing setup?
4) Are there any other concerns I should have addressed if replacing my HVAC system?
Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
Following the advice of a neighbor who converted their unit to dual zone, I called in a few contractors to provide a quote on conversion. All of them suggested converting to a dual-stage AC for better efficiency and temperature regulation. Two of them seem confident that my unit could be converted to dual zone with the installation of electronic dampers in my ducts slaved to a second thermostat upstairs; these are both Carrier authorized dealers. Another contractor, who uses American Standard (but fairly sure they're not "authorized dealers") said that our unit CAN'T be converted to dual zone even with dampers. Unsurprisingly the Carrier authorized dealers are charging significantly more ($25k-$30k all in) than the other guy (~$13k all in). Keep in mind this is NJ and these prices are fairly typical for my area. I've included pics of the furnace and duct setup below. The air intake is on the back wall of this room in our upstairs hallway. The questions I have:
1) It is feasible/practical to convert this system to a dual-zone setup using dampers and a second thermostat?
2) If the dual-zone conversion won't work, are there any benefits to converting to a 2-stage/1-zone system with respect to temperature regulation and electricity usage?
3) Are there any other ways to better regulate my upstairs/downstairs temps with the existing setup?
4) Are there any other concerns I should have addressed if replacing my HVAC system?
Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
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