House Heating and A/C

Hi,

My house (in avatar) is needing a new heating and a/c unit. The condenser is currently on the roof, which I want to move to the side of the house when it comes time for that.

I don't know that much or what I really want in heating/ac. The house is a 2 story, 5 bdrm (but fairly small). Any recommendations?

Also, not sure if I should go with a large company or a small mom n pop type company. My neighbor has his own small heating/ac company, and he offered to give me a good deal, but I don't know what a good deal is. Would you guys recommend going with a large well known company, or would you go with a small company like my neighbor.

Also, how much should I plan on spending for all this. I know I need a new heater and ac condenser, but not sure about the ducts.

Thanks in advance.

 

This is one of those mileage may vary situations, every contractor generally sets his on markup deepening on his profit margin. The company that I work for here in the panhandle of Florida we generally say for somthing about what you have based upon the little info to go on would be about 5-8000.00 deepening on unit sizing, system layout, how hard to access everything ect. As for duct work most of the time it is reusable depending on the age and condition. If its a 2 story house some of will most likely be bettween the floors so if it needs replacement it can be a big issue. But it just all depends.

As to small mom n pop vs big name company, It really depends. Smaller sometimes = one on one contact and not getting lost in paperwork.

Suggest getting several quotes from local company's so you can compare apples to apples.
Also unit brand names / quality have a big factor in the overall price of the system, so take that into consideration.

 

Just be sure to shop around on pricing. In my first house (10 years ago) I got 3 quotes - two small companies and one very large company. The two small companies were $2,500 and $2,800. The large company was $7,100! I guess they have to pay for all those vans, billboards, TV commercials etc.

In my last house I replaced a 5 ton unit and it was around $4,600. Also, if your current unit is older you won't believe the difference in the efficiency of a new unit. I went from a 12 to a 14 seer unit and my electric bill went down $90 a month!

 

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X2


A higher efficient unit will cost more on the front side of an install but save you money every month that it runs.

Just as a base line..
The mininum seer that they can make is 13 seer so if your unit is older this could be a major step up.

Most of my customers generally get 14-16 seer as this is where the extra cost ofsets how long it will run to make my money back.

 

Carrier or American Standard heat pump with at least a 14-15 SEER rating.

Have the HVAC contractor size up your home for tonnage. Most will even do an energy audit (some cities/counties will also do the audit, as will many electric companies)

generally speaking...one to 1.5 tons of cooling for each 1000 sq ft of living space.

you can oversize a unit and it can be counter productive.

 

Thanks guys, definately gives me something to think about.

 

Get a couple quotes from the big companies and then compare it to what your neighbor says.

Like Larry said, getting more than you need can be counter productive. It's better for the unit to run longer than for it to cycle on and off, start up is the big energy draw. In the dead of summer my unit may run for eight hours straight, it's still cheaper than it cycling on and off a dozen times.