Upgrading a central air unit

[arcas]

My house has a pair of 2-ton central air units that have trouble keeping the house cool anytime the temp exceeds 90F. So I'm toying with the idea of upgrading at least one of them to something larger.

I assume a proper upgrade would involve replacing both the outside unit and the evaporator inside the furnace inside the house. I assume installing a larger evaporator in an existing furnace might be difficult and cost a lot for labor. Has anybody upgraded their outdoor compressor/coil without upgrading their evaporator? If so, how well did it work?

 

[eplebnista]

You should be able to go up to a maximum of a 3 ton outdoor unit with your existing indoor evaporator.

 

[BUTCH1]

I upgraded from a 2.5 ton to a three without changing my evap. coil but for best
efficiency you should change both. Have you had the freon charge checked just to
be sure it's OK??

 

[iamwiz82]

Have you cleaned the coil recently?

 

[brandonbull]

Originally posted by: arcas
My house has a pair of 2-ton central air units that have trouble keeping the house cool anytime the temp exceeds 90F. So I'm toying with the idea of upgrading at least one of them to something larger.

I assume a proper upgrade would involve replacing both the outside unit and the evaporator inside the furnace inside the house. I assume installing a larger evaporator in an existing furnace might be difficult and cost a lot for labor. Has anybody upgraded their outdoor compressor/coil without upgrading their evaporator? If so, how well did it work?

1. Make sure the units are functioning correctly
2. Review the insulation in the home.
3. Check the air flow to each room to ensure that it is correct. If certain rooms are cooler than others, you may want to redirect the airflow.

 

[Kelemvor]

I'd definitely explore having someone come out and check the ones you currently have. Might find a simple fix (cleaning, minor repair, etc) that could resolve the whole problem for you. Otherwise, every HVAC company I know of gives free estimates. Call up a bunch and have them come out to see your current setup and let you know what they recommend you do. Then go from there.

Good luck.

 

[dullard]

You can upgrade the indoor/outdoor parts separately, but you'll pay a price in inefficiency. Like others have said, try just checking to see if your current ones need minor tweaking and that might solve your problem (maybe you have dirty coils, small freon leak, etc). If your current ones don't have a problem, and if you only need extra cooling on the hottest of all days, what about a window air conditioner? Pop it in on those hot days to give your existing system a boost. Then remove it so you don't have an eyesore the rest of the year. That would be far cheaper than messing with your current system.