A/C HELP!!!! No, not for the car... The HOME!

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NickLS

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Hey everyone, NickLS here.

Ok, without going into a long drawn out story about my Home A/C giving me the middle finger.. Here's the short of it.

Bought my FIRST HOUSE :) and moved into it on March 5. Got a home warranty, the works. I have a gas furnace, evaporative coil, etc.. House built in '93 and everything is still original on it.

Well about two weeks ago, the evap. coil started freezing up and it would be running, but no air coming out. Anyways, had a tech come out and have a look at it..
1) It hasn't been serviced/maintained in a long, long, LONG time.
2) Tech said, from the look of the mold on the outside and the rust on the evap. This is NOT the first time it's done this.
3) While looking at it, it started spouting water from the over flow, then we heard a GLACIER of ice fall inside.
4) Oh yeah, did I mention the MOLD and RUST on the outside of the unit?? Yeah, How the hell the home inspector didn't catch that I don't know.

Home warranty deems that it's a maintenance issue and won't cover it. The freakin thing is 14 years old. And it's gonna cost $600 just to pull the dirty coil and clean it. We could just keep nickel and dime'in this thing till it dies on us. But it's like feeding a dead horse.

So we said "F' THIS!" and now we're in the market for a new home HVAC system in our house around ~$7000.

What are you guys using? have installed? Any recommendations? Trane? Carrier? Help an extremely hot and sweaty (Get you mind out the gutter) fellow out.
 
We have a Trane unit that was installed in 96 and have had NO PROBLEMS what so ever. I'll gladly say Trane unit - with the condenser OUT SIDE. Not one of thoes all-in-one-unit things. Keeps everything cold here in MI when temps get up to 100 degrees or so! :) (Even with high humidity!)
 
Funny you should ask, because I just had A/C installed at my house yesterday. I went with Carrier. 2 ton, 13 seer compressor outside the house and the coils inside on the furnace. It cost me $2340 installed. I also went with the interruptable power service from DTE that everyoen recommended. Basically, the way it works is you get a seperate electrical meter for your AC unit. The electricity for the A/C is cheaper than normal. In return you give them permission to interrupt your A/C power during maximum load (hottest days when everyone is running A/C). They can't turn it off for more than 15 minutes at a time. Sounds kind of weird that they can turn it off when you need it most, but all my friends have this and say that it almost never gets shut off, and when it does it is hardly noticable.

Also, there is a $50 mail in rebate from Carrier at this time.
 
shogun said:
Funny you should ask, because I just had A/C installed at my house yesterday. I went with Carrier. 2 ton, 13 seer compressor outside the house and the coils inside on the furnace. It cost me $2340 installed. I also went with the interruptable power service from DTE that everyoen recommended. Basically, the way it works is you get a seperate electrical meter for your AC unit. The electricity for the A/C is cheaper than normal. In return you give them permission to interrupt your A/C power during maximum load (hottest days when everyone is running A/C). They can't turn it off for more than 15 minutes at a time. Sounds kind of weird that they can turn it off when you need it most, but all my friends have this and say that it almost never gets shut off, and when it does it is hardly noticable.

Also, there is a $50 mail in rebate from Carrier at this time.
Click to expand...
That $2300 sounds about right. The $7000 is definitely bend over territory. You should shop the crap out of this thing. Sears, Depot and couple local guys to get the best deal. Don't just take one quote and bend over, unless you really like that position.:cool:

In the 'for what it's worth department', my AC took a crap last year, fan would run, no cold air. Guy gave a $500 estimate to fix it. Wife said go for it. I said bend-over baby. Anyway, a night on the internet and a visit to a local electrical contractor place, $25.00 for the part and about 30 minutes of my time and I was golden.
 
price does sound high how many sq feet is the house? also he must be replacing the heating system as well and not just the evaporator and cond. unit ?or is it a heat pump that you have?
 
I just had a brand new 3 ton 13 seer Lennox package unit installed 2 weeks ago. It cost $6K, and the best part of all is that it didn't cost a penny! I had researched local programs for households who make under a certain dollar amount and I just made it! I am very very happy!

As for your A/C unit, what would cause the coils to freeze? Lack of air flow over the evap coils due to a weak fan? Slightly undercharged? The coils being dirty? Not really sure? What about the home inspector, is there any recourse there? after all there was mold present. I'm not sure about your area but here in Vegas there are really good rebates through the power company. You might wanna check into it. If you do buy a new unit then I would buy a good one! If you try to save a little it always seems to bite you in the ass later. Have it serviced regulary as well.
 
Thanks for the info guys.. KEEP IT COMING!!

As for my house, I have a 2000 sq. ft. 3/2/2. Yesterday i have 4 different companies come over and give me some quotes. Right now, I have a 10 SEER 4-ton. A gas furnace, w/ evap. coil on top, and an outside unit. The Evap. Coil AND the outside unit have some leaks so they'll have to be replaced.

Down here in houston where the companies can name their own price, it's around $3K-$4K to replace the two for 13/14 SEER and do alittle bit of duct work. The $6500-$7000 is for a COMPLETE 18 SEER. I was looking at Bryant's Evolution system, or Carrier's Infinity.

Thank God, he's be generous w/ me. He's brought rain and cooler days since my A/C went out. Hopefully, he'll keep it up till monday when I/we make our decision.

Anyone here of Ruud/Reem???
 
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