Centex Home And Mortgage, Home Insurance (2010, houses, heat pump)

[SilverCreek78250]

Originally Posted by rd2007

Goodman is the manufacturer of my a/c unit and it is pure junk. We've had the inside coil replaced four times, the outside once, and also had the fan replaced. It got so bad that Airtron offered me over $1000 off a new unit so they could buy out my extended warranty. The new unit was going to be close to $15K, so I stuck with my extended warranty and I'm sure they'll be out again this year. After this year I'm screwed though, because the extended warranty is up.

$15K? Are you in a 7,000 SF house? You need another estimate!

[banker]

Originally Posted by SilverCreek78250

$15K? Are you in a 7,000 SF house? You need another estimate!

It all depends on the complexity and the cubic feet of the house...not just the square feet.

My parents have a 2,600 square foot custom home with two units and they had new Carrier units put in last fall to the tune of $13K. That included new inside and outside units on both as well as a high tech filter for each unit.

My Aunt and Uncle in Plano (north of Dallas) have a 4,000 square foot house and last year they had two Trane units put in at a cost of $20K.

In October 2005 I had a 14 SEER Rheem put in my home for about $7,000....and that was a small 1,732 square foot home.

[Rebelsbabe]

yikes! expensive!

[rd2007]

The warranty was something like $700 and well worth it. As far as the a/c unit, that was replacing everything and getting the most efficient model available. and my house is 2700 sq. ft., which is just below the magic number where they put two units in. I wish they woud've put two units in though

[charlessims22]

We were sold a 3 ton AC unit to go in our home. I know there are a lot of factors that go into finding the right size unit for your house. Bottom line is Centex installed a 3 ton unit to cool a 1900 square foot home. This piece of junk runs 22 hours a day and usually cant cool below 78 until late at night. AC bills are running $400+ a month. Centex wont budge and help us out in any way. Please let me know if anyone has had this problem or any suggestions. Thanks.

[CreekKnoll]

Originally Posted by banker

An A/C unit in South Texas should last between 12-15 years even with heavy use. It may not be the most efficient - but it should last. Six years is just half way. I would say the issue must be with Centex supplier if there is one because as we all know Centex doesn't manufacture A/C units. What is the brand of the A/C unit?

I don't know the name of the brand, but that's just it. I keep thinking this thing will give me issues soon, but it hasn't. Oh well, maybe this AC will last forever.

[Rebelsbabe]

Originally Posted by charlessims22

We were sold a 3 ton AC unit to go in our home. I know there are a lot of factors that go into finding the right size unit for your house. Bottom line is Centex installed a 3 ton unit to cool a 1900 square foot home. This piece of junk runs 22 hours a day and usually cant cool below 78 until late at night. AC bills are running $400+ a month. Centex wont budge and help us out in any way. Please let me know if anyone has had this problem or any suggestions. Thanks.

yikes, that electric bill is scary!!!!

[smitty12]

Originally Posted by charlessims22

We were sold a 3 ton AC unit to go in our home. I know there are a lot of factors that go into finding the right size unit for your house. Bottom line is Centex installed a 3 ton unit to cool a 1900 square foot home. This piece of junk runs 22 hours a day and usually cant cool below 78 until late at night. AC bills are running $400+ a month. Centex wont budge and help us out in any way. Please let me know if anyone has had this problem or any suggestions. Thanks.

I would think 3 ton on a modern insulated house that size would be plenty.... I would suspect low freon, or other problems with the unit.

I recently remodeled my 1950's 1500 square foot house, and down sized the AC from a 4 ton to a 2.5 ton. I was able to do this by insulating the exterior walls, and installing expanding foam insulation between the roof rafters, bringing my attic inside the insulation envelope. Which also brought all the AC duct work inside the insulation envelope.

The 4 ton was also able to keep up, which was quite a feat considering there was 0 insulation in the exterior walls, and 6 inches of blown fiberglass that didn't even cover the entire attic floor. The house was originally built without central AC....

Obviously my bills are significantly lower, but the upfront cost was in the $18k range for the AC and insulation upgrades. It was only possible as part of a significant remodel though....

[scuba steve]

I can understand the cost... one of the houses I looked at had a 22 year old A/C. I was told that it'd be expensive to replace as both the a/c and exchanger would probably need to go at the same time and there would be framing involved with the new exchanger as well.

[banker]

Originally Posted by charlessims22

We were sold a 3 ton AC unit to go in our home. I know there are a lot of factors that go into finding the right size unit for your house. Bottom line is Centex installed a 3 ton unit to cool a 1900 square foot home. This piece of junk runs 22 hours a day and usually cant cool below 78 until late at night. AC bills are running $400+ a month. Centex wont budge and help us out in any way. Please let me know if anyone has had this problem or any suggestions. Thanks.

There is something wrong there. How old is your house? How old is your unit? I am assuming you don't have a radiant barrier. But I am wondering if Centex is cutting other corners. A coworker has a Centex home built about 8 years ago...a large 3,000 square foot single story home and her electric bill for last month was $375.00!!! Another co-worker has a 3,800 square foot KB home in the Quarry (where I am building) with two story ceilings and two units...and his bill last month was $160.00. The KB house has Radiant barrier and his KB home is not even a year old yet.

For comparison, I had a 25 year old 1,732 square foot house with a 4 ton unit and little to no insuallation and never had a bill that high. I replaced the unit back in 2005 (I have since sold the house), put in new ducts and added about 12 inches of blown fiberglass insulation in the attic and was able to practically freeze the family out. For fun I tried after getting my new unit in 2005 I ran the A/C to see how cold I could get it and got the house down to 70 degrees with no problem in July 2006. In normal use we kept the house at 78 degrees and had summer electric bills of about $200. The unit probably ran 50% of the time during the day. It was a 14 SEER unit by Rheem.

If your bill is that high I would wonder if you are losing cooled air through your ducts in the attic, or possibly you have single pane windows with drafts somewhere. But that bill sounds abosolutely ridiculous.