AC Unit Pricing

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I will live here another 3-4 years or possible a little longer.

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I seriously doubt you will save $7200 in electricity bills in 3 - 4 years with a new unit. Just my opinion.

I’ll just say that’s a very good price for an entire unit with gas furnace but I doubt you’ll see much savings in utilities going from Seer 13 to Seer 14. You currently have a 5-ton? How much area you trying cool? Supposedly average life of a HVAC in the Deep South is 13-15 years, so you’ve gotten your $ out of the old one, it might last another several years or die tomorrow.

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I’ll just say that’s a very good price for an entire unit with gas furnace but I doubt you’ll see much savings in utilities going from Seer 13 to Seer 14. You currently have a 5-ton? How much area you trying cool? Supposedly average life of a HVAC in the Deep South is 13-15 years, so you’ve gotten your $ out of the old one, it might last another several years or die tomorrow.

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Originally this unit covered all but the master down stairs (2500sf?) and the upstairs (700 sf). We have since put a mini split upstairs so the vents up there are closed.

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heard there are some havoc tax credits in that last big spending bill. of course with coming higher prices may be a wash

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Great info

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Originally this unit covered all but the master down stairs (2500sf?) and the upstairs (700 sf). We have since put a mini split upstairs so the vents up there are closed.

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Then it’s possible 5 tons is oversized for 2500 sq ft, b/c you can now discount the upstairs with a separate HVAC unit - depends on how tight and well insulated your house is. I have a 4 ton unit cooling 2500 sq ft, 1993 construction, but my house is reasonably tight, based on blower door test I had conducted last year. Many HVAC contractors still cling to a 1 ton/500 sq ft rule that has been antiquated since the 70s.

You can use this website to conduct your own manual J and manual S for your downstairs area to estimate what size unit you need for cooling/heating your 2500 sq ft downstairs area Load Calc . Using this same program on my house it shows a 4 ton unit it the proper size HVAC for cooling the house, but it also shows my gas furnace is a bit oversized and should be 14K BTUs smaller.

A smaller unit, say 4 tons if appropriate, should be a bit cheaper, and certainly cost less to operate.

I’m in the same boat as you with a change out planned before year’s end as my unit is also a 16 year old R-22 unit.

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heard there are some havoc tax credits in that last big spending bill. of course with coming higher prices may be a wash

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I’ll also be interested to see what those changes in tax credits are - there are federal and state tax credits already in existence for more energy efficient HVAC units, but they don’t apply unless you install 16 SEER units or higher, which of course are more expensive, and often substantially more expensive.

Terrible comment. A 20 year old unit will need to be replaced almost immediately. 5 year old is good. Any buyer/realtor with a pulse knows that.

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I’ll just say that’s a very good price

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frick yea it is.

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consensus is prices will go up 20-30% by Jan 1 when new "green" regs kick in...

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Niceeeèeeee

I'm changing mine out this spring. Guess I'll order a unit now just to avoid this bs.

First DIY central air swap for me. Yall wish me luck.

If it’s working I’d continue getting it serviced twice a year - I wouldn’t change it until it fails