Got a Residential HVAC Estimate - Not Bad

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Old system:

2004 model year Rheem 3.5 ton A/C unk SEER (likely 12 or 13) & gas furnace 80% AFUE

Proposed new system:

Amana 3.5 ton single stage A/C 16 SEER & gas furnace 96% AFUE. Lifetime warranty heat exchanger, compressor (Copeland scroll), and condensor coil, 10 yrs on evap coil and all else. $5890 after utility company rebate and $500 federal 1040 income credit. Includes running new refrigerant lines and two new thermostats one for upstairs zone one for downstairs. Also includes running new flue since the high efficiency gas furnaces apparently use a PVC flue on account of condensate build-up (flue temp does not exceed 120 F). He offered two different dual stage (A/C) systems for more money but since selling the house soon I'm not inclined to install a bells and whistles system.

I have requested an estimate from local Trane contractor but no one is calling me back since Tuesday (It's now Saturday).
 
I have our furnace(98%)replaced and added AC in 2011 and paid similar to your price, $5200 after all rebates. We went with RUDD(off brand of Rheem) along with AprilAire. We had never has AC so, it had to be installed from scratch.
 
Rheem seems to be pretty good other than eating capacitors at a rate of about 1 per year. I think that's probably an issue with the installer using cheap capacitors.
 
Interesting, I was worried about our system, its an old York I believe from 1995, it was 92 yesterday and the house held at 74, but that was about it. We are looking to move in a year or so, so Im a little undecided on whether to try a recharge and clean the evaporator or maybe its time for a replacement. $6k is really not bad, I was expecting worse, plus we are in a small ranch so Im expecting that unit would be a little overkill.
 
Yeah it's not bad. Technically it's $6390 up front but next year when filing Federal 1040 you qualify for a $500 tax credit from IRS. Sort of like an extra rebate that takes a year to get.
 
That sounds like a very good deal.

I think 10 SEER was the standard in 2004 so you should see a nice savings in energy usage too....Good Luck.
 
Don’t buy a 3-1/2 ton. Get a 4. A 3-1/2 is not available in 2-stage cooking and it’s just a [censored] 3 ton system. All brands.
 
Sounds about right, I paid $5300 for a 4 ton single stage 3 piece system a little over 3 years ago. I think it's a 14 SEER 80% system.

I'm surprised you're replacing a 14 year old system.
 
Is the furnace multi-stage or modulating?

How does he propose to do the zoning with a single stage AC (and maybe single stage heat)?

Disagree on remark above to go with 4 ton - if anything too big is worse than too small.

jeff
 
Originally Posted By: greenjp

How does he propose to do the zoning with a single stage AC (and maybe single stage heat)?



My house has a zoned system with a single stage AC/heat pump.

The air handler has an ECM motor that delivers constant CFM no matter if one zone is calling or both are calling.

This does mean that if only one zone is calling, the airflow from the registers is higher than if both are calling.

That doesn't bother me. I think it works fine.
 
The zone system that was installed with the original hvac when the house was built in 2005 is just an electric actuated damper thing that has three positions or something-- when both zones are on at once there's low air flow from all registers, upstairs only gets high flow upstairs, downstairs only gets high flow downstairs.

Like I just mentioned, if both thermostats are calling for heat or cooling and the damper is letting flow go to both levels of the house the registers don't blow very hard. What's remarkable is the home was built by one of the area's supposedly "premium" home builders with this rep of building quality stuff. But he put in a budget-asss system as far as I can tell.

I would note also that the crawl space has no foundation vents installed. Instead it has two registers on a supply plenum that runs in the crawl space. Builder said this is the way they do it now (then, in 2005) it's called "a conditioned crawl space." But there are no returns in the crawl space that I could find. Again, this is a so called premium builder who constantly thumps their chest about building to the highest standards. When going through the home on the "30 day punch list" after purchase in 2006, I noted to the builder that the copper tubing for the hot water heater blow off valve just stops above the untreated plywood floor of the cove in garage where hvac and water heater sit, and that any blow off water would flood out onto the untreated wood. His response? "County building code says all we have to do install a blow off pipe to bottom of the water heater." I'd suggested drilling a hole through the plywood and routing it into main drain pipe in crawl space or just letting it blow off in crawl space instead of all over the untreated plywood floor. Strange response from a builder that proclaims to build to the highest standards... sounds like they build to the minimum standard, which is what local building codes are-- the minimum standard.
 
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