Rough cost of Central A/C

[Red Squirrel]

I know this probably varies a lot but I'm just wondering if anyone knows what would be a rough cost estimate for a central AC unit installation in my 1100 sqft home in Northern Ontario. I figure I probably need 3.5 to 4 ton of cooling. Furnace is a high efficiency Bryant unit from about 2002 (gas leak test label says 2002 so I'm going to guess it was done when furnace was installed). Basement is open so running lines will be easy. I'll probably make a cement pad outside for the unit, might even run the electrical myself, I'll ask the contractor how much I save if I do that.

I'm going to guess in the figures of 3k, hoping it's not much more than that. I'm waiting for a phone call from a company to schedule an estimate but just thought I'd ask here anyway. They sound really busy, as it's been super hot so probably a lot of people having the same idea as me.

As a side note how do these typically operate at the thermostat, yellow wire goes to the outside unit, and the blower is activated the same way as you normally would if you just want the blower? I have a custom thermostat system so I'll want to make sure the wiring and programming is right before they come to actually install it. I'll also want to ensure I don't get a unit that uses a proprietary thermostat or something.

 

[shabby]

Northern ontario, 4 ton unit for a 1100sqft home? Shirley you jest.
1.5 is enough, maybe 2 ton if you have an old house with poor insulation.
You will find 13 seer units for under 2k installed.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Bad insulation is part of the issue due to it being an older house, the vapour barrier leaks pretty badly. Basement is also not insulated, but that's something I want to do eventually. Probably get it spray foamed. Though that might be overkill considering the main upstairs walls are badly insulated. If I had not repainted the whole house when I bought it, I'd make it a project to tear out the drywall on all the outside walls so I can redo the insulation and vapour barrier.

I finally got a call back, and they'll be coming tomorrow to do an estimate.

 

[master_shake_]

my guess about 3500.

we live in canada.

high prices are the norm for everything

oh yeah plus hst.

 

[drnickriviera]

Bad insulation is part of the issue due to it being an older house, the vapour barrier leaks pretty badly. Basement is also not insulated, but that's something I want to do eventually. Probably get it spray foamed. Though that might be overkill considering the main upstairs walls are badly insulated. If I had not repainted the whole house when I bought it, I'd make it a project to tear out the drywall on all the outside walls so I can redo the insulation and vapour barrier.

I finally got a call back, and they'll be coming tomorrow to do an estimate.

I seriously doubt you'll need anywhere close to 4 tons even in that situation. My wife works in a house museum, 5500 sq ft victorian era, 0 insulation, cooled to 68F in Texas with 14 tons

As far as thermostat, not much to check. Make sure the stat can do cooling and that you have enough wires in the wall. 5 wires for a basic system, more if you have 2 stage equipment

 

[Subyman]

A lot of AC units sit on composite platforms now instead of concrete. Installer just throws it down and installs on top. Saves a lot of time. You may want to ask your installer if you can do a heat pump setup to augment your gas furnace. The heat pump would heat the house until around 25F then the gas furnace would take over. Depending on your gas costs this could save you a lot of money in the future. A heat pump unit costs less than a thousand more than a normal unit in most cases.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Problem with those smaller pads is you go through a few winters and unit is sitting all crooked and stuff, not a HUGE deal, but I want to make it so it won't move as much. They came today, so I'll find out cost and potential install date within a few days. If I have time I'll pour a slab. Forgot to ask about that.

Asked about thermostat, so yellow wire goes to outside unit, and blower one to furnace, which is already setup so I'm good there. I have a custom thermostat system so that's why I wanted to be sure. Right now the yellow just terminates in the furnace (well it's loose) so he can just run one from there to outside unit.

 

[DrPizza]

I'm not familiar with your climate in the summertime. But I thought just a month ago, you still had snow on the ground. Just glancing at your average daily high temperatures, https://weatherspark.com/averages/28383/Timmins-Ontario-Canada do you really need an air conditioner? Do many other people have central air in your area? It seems a window unit would more than likely meet your needs.

 

[Red Squirrel]

More and more people are getting central units here as well. My windows are all crank and can't take window units without some serious modification - I've toyed with through the wall though, just make a hole in the wall and install one permanently, but then it's a potential air leak in winter. I have a 1 ton portable but it's super loud and takes up lot of room. This is my setup right now:



It works well for that general area of the house but central is nice as it will just bring the whole house down in temp, and humidity as well.

While it's short lived we do get heat waves, and it nice to have even just for those time periods so you can sleep better. This was the weekend:



That's fairly abnormal though. But even a straight week of +25's the house starts to get pretty hot.

It took me a while to decide to get cental AC though, as our summers are getting shorter so it feels almost not worth it, but this last heat wave it would have been nice to have.

Also that's a pretty neat site, lot of interesting stats.

 

[drnickriviera]

Stop it! You're killing me. 34% humidity? I dream of weather like that. Do they use any type of evaporative cooling there

 

[Scarpozzi]

Don't you have longer spring/fall seasons in that climate? I've got family in Maine and for years they typically didn't bother with AC up there. They only have a furnace and fans for the 2 days of the year it gets above freezing.

In the Mid-South US for a 1700 square foot, 1 story home, I got a dual-fuel 3ton 15 SEER American Standard heat pump/80k BTU, 95% efficient natural gas furnace with a variable speed air handler. I paid $7500 for the unit and installation, including some new duct work for the system. That was about $3500 less than Carrier and Trane quotes I got from other companies in the area. You can definitely go cheaper than that if you buy a more cost-effective system without as many bells and whistles.

Sounds like you have gas lines, so you're good on the furnace....just consider a dual-fuel installation for those nights in the 40-60 degree range where you may want a little heat, but it's more cost-effective to use electric. My electric bill dropped from $150-320/month to $70-120/month after making the switch to this system and replacing my electric water heater with an 8gpm tankless gas Rinnai.

1100 square feet, you can get away with probably a 1.5-2ton unit if you have good attic insulation and windows. As for heat, you can probably do 50-60k BTU furnace if it saves money. Just consider you need to properly balance the size of your system with the size of your house. If you just buy a bigger unit, you're going to lose efficiency (and money on the front end and back end)....plus, you could introduce problems that may cause the thermostat to be less effective.

 

[mizzou]

I'm with DrPizza on this, I don't really see why you want AC

 

[master_shake_]

I'm with DrPizza on this, I don't really see why you want AC

resale value.

even if you don't need it you'll have it.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

3.5 ton american standard unit installed with coil for around $3500.- in NJ.

 

[Aikouka]

I don't imagine that it would be too bad in a temperament climate like yours. I talk about mine a bit below, but it gets to around 90-100F here during the summers, so central AC is far, far more common. Anyway, the best thing is to call in some HVAC companies and see if they'll give you quotes. Since things don't get excessively warm, it might be worthwhile to avoid the fancier units as you may never make up the cost of higher efficiency.

3.5 ton american standard unit installed with coil for around $3500.- in NJ.

Sheesh... I got a 4-ton Amana 16 seer gas package unit installed, and it cost around 8.5k. That's not even a high amount as the costs from various HVAC companies were about 8.5 to 10.5k. Brand didn't seem to matter as the only 8.5k one was Carrier and so was the 10.5k one. (To note, I had the Amana people match the 8.5k quote.) Although, that did include adding a new register, moving an existing register, and reopening an improperly sealed register.

 

[Red Squirrel]

It still gets hot here, just not for long, so even if it's for a short while it's still nice to be able to keep the house at 20-22 at least. Got the quote, I'm assuming I have to pick one, probably go with the Bryant model, I think they are higher end than Payne but have to do more research. And existing furnace is Bryant so everything is going to be same company, probably easier for warranty purposes.

1-Bryant 2 Ton Model 113 Air conditioning unit complete with cased coil, all necessary copper pipe, wip, disconnect, insulation, and drainage material all for a sum of $ 3,486.00 plus Hst.

1-Payne 2 Ton Model PA13 Air conditioning unit complete with cased coil, all necessary copper pipe, wip, disconnect, insulation, and drainage material all for a sum of $ 3,259.00 plus Hst.

So I'm probably looking at about 4k when all is done. Way more than I was hoping, I'll have to think about it, but might just bite the bullet. I have 1k in savings so at least that will give me a bit of a kick start. It's on the hot days where I always wish I had it, and the 1 ton portable just does not cut it. Now we're back to single digits so it seems silly to even think about but I'll be happy when we're back in the high 20's or even 30's. I hope 2 ton will be able to keep up with 30's though...

 

[SparkyJJO]

I have a 1400 square foot house and I installed a 2 ton unit. It keeps up perfectly fine even on hot days well into the 90s F.

I did an entire 16 SEER dual stage heat pump, dual stage propane furnace, gas line, etc, for about $5500. I did most of the work myself though and only paid someone for the refrigeration line hookups/vac/fill. If I was doing the condenser, coil, and line set only I could do that for about $2k or less. Again because of a lot of DIY work though.

 

[Aikouka]

It still gets hot here, just not for long, so even if it's for a short while it's still nice to be able to keep the house at 20-22 at least. Got the quote, I'm assuming I have to pick one, probably go with the Bryant model, I think they are higher end than Payne but have to do more research. And existing furnace is Bryant so everything is going to be same company, probably easier for warranty purposes.

If you're writing this in reference to my talk on efficiency, the reason why I brought it up is that more efficient units are usually just cheaper to run. In some cases, they may have other features that make them even cheaper than similarly spec'd units. For example, if you have multiple stages for heating/cooling, which can be more effective for quick heating/cooling cycles. (I saw that Carrier has this inverter drive system on their high-end split system. My assumption is that it's effectively many stages.)

Ultimately, the idea is... you can pay more for efficiency (it was about $1500 for me to go from 14 SEER to 16 SEER), but it's important to keep in mind how long it takes to make up the difference. It gets pretty hot here, so it won't be much of an issue for me.

 

[WilliamM2]

I just got an estimate for a Trane XR95 60,000BTU 95% HE furnace and XR13 2 Ton A/C. $5100, and that includes electrical work on my panel, as there is no room for another circuit. 1400 sq. feet.

I was going go with the cheaper 80% furnace, as I don't really care for the exhaust through the wall, but it's only about $200 less, and my exhaust vent through the roof needs a new liner (6" oil heat converted to 4" gas 22 years ago), cap, and insulation guard that was never installed by the insulation company. Total for that was about $500. Plus the leaking liner has been allowing water to drip down the vent, and depending on what corrosion they find, it may need a whole new stack $$$. That condensation, and rust around the exhaust vent fittings is what prompted the call for an estimate of repairs.

Did the installer do a manual J calculation? Most companies will oversize your system, and it will be less efficient.

 

[shabby]

But even a straight week of +25's the house starts to get pretty hot.

Do you open the windows overnight?

Got the quote, I'm assuming I have to pick one, probably go with the Bryant model

Payne is made by carrier, but both are still on the low end(loud), get more quotes.
I got quoted $2200 cdn for a 3ton payne pa13.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Well I bit the bullet, went with the Bryant one and they're coming on the 8th, going to pour a small cement pad soon and get the area ready. We finally got to see our new union agreement at work and will be signing soon, we actually get a raise this time so we will get it retro for over a year, and we have a signing bonus, so that money will help pay for this.

Read up on the Bryant one and it is considered one of their lower end models but it still had decent reviews, and the Payne one seemed like it was... a pain. Did not know they were made by Carrier though, that's normally considered a good brand. The sound it makes does not really matter to me, since the unit is outside, I will only hear the furnace blower inside. Most residential outside units I've seen are fairly loud.

I can't help but think that this money could be going towards the server room though, I need to switch my UPS system to dual conversion, and this would probably cover the cost of the rectifiers and inverters. Oh well AC will be nice for this time of year so no regrets either way.

 

[Red Squirrel]

It's installed!





And while I was on nights figured I'd improve my mobile interface, it's not really pretty but it's functional: