Centex Home And Mortgage, Home Insurance (new house, to buy, contractor)

[banker]

Originally Posted by 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.

I replaced both the inside and outside unit in my 20 year old home for about $5,000. In addition I replaced the ducts in the attic and had an additional 12 inches of insulation blown in the attic. The entire update on my single story home was less than $7,000 - including the A/C unit.

[goodmanm]

If you have a reliable A/C company it really is worth the $60-$65 to have them come out twice a year to inspect the system.

[banker]

Originally Posted by goodmanm

If you have a reliable A/C company it really is worth the $60-$65 to have them come out twice a year to inspect the system.

True. If they are good they will not try to sell you a new unit early...they will help you keep the unit you have working in good condition as long as possible.

[tekka-maki]

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! I think mine is bad too, just not that bad. $400 is extreme. I paid CPS at most $170 in Sept. of last year and $17 of which was trash, but my bills when the A/C is off (cooler months) averages about $100 a month.

My problem started last year around August. My home wouldn't go below 78/77 on a hot day so a tech had to come out and do a discharge/recharge. I am afraid the problem may persist to this day. I have a 13 Seer Goodman unit (I think the law is minimum 14 seer now, or higher). I'm sure they are the lowest common denominator in terms of being the cheapest in the line; my whole subdiv has this puppy! So one unit for 2525 sq. feet. and I think it does an somewhat adequate job but slightly underpowered for my square footage.

But lately, case in point yesterday with 94 degree temp (today is 100!), I had it set at 76 and it would stay on for 90 minutes and shut off for 5 minutes, then right back on. Seems to work too hard... 77 seems to be the sweet spot so that the unit is not constantly running but I'm going to call Airtron on Monday to have them come out again and check it since my 1 year builder's warranty expires soon. I'm not the type of fellow to see value in most service plans but I am seriously considering this particular one now. Airtron offers a 5 year plan for $1350 and are the ones that initially installed this unit... but I am inclined to believe there are good companies here that will offer a better value. Any recommendations? I definitely don't what to pay for someone cheaper that decides to nickel and dime me and tell me this or that isn't covered in the warranty or lie about the severity of a problem. Sufficed to say that I better act quick; I could not imagine doing w/o in these hot sultry TX summers.

BTW, how do you tell what your tonnage is? I have a model GSH130481AC and I found zilch searching online. Here's a photo.

[Steel Man]

Originally Posted by tekka-maki

Yikes! I think mine is bad too, just not that bad. $400 is extreme. I paid CPS at most $170 in Sept. of last year and $17 of which was trash, but my bills when the A/C is off (cooler months) averages about $100 a month.

My problem started last year around August. My home wouldn't go below 78/77 on a hot day so a tech had to come out and do a discharge/recharge. I am afraid the problem may persist to this day. I have a 13 Seer Goodman unit (I think the law is minimum 14 seer now, or higher). I'm sure they are the lowest common denominator in terms of being the cheapest in the line; my whole subdiv has this puppy! So one unit for 2525 sq. feet. and I think it does an somewhat adequate job but slightly underpowered for my square footage.

But lately, case in point yesterday with 94 degree temp (today is 100!), I had it set at 76 and it would stay on for 90 minutes and shut off for 5 minutes, then right back on. Seems to work too hard... 77 seems to be the sweet spot so that the unit is not constantly running but I'm going to call Airtron on Monday to have them come out again and check it since my 1 year builder's warranty expires soon. I'm not the type of fellow to see value in most service plans but I am seriously considering this particular one now. Airtron offers a 5 year plan for $1350 and are the ones that initially installed this unit... but I am inclined to believe there are good companies here that will offer a better value. Any recommendations? I definitely don't what to pay for someone cheaper that decides to nickel and dime me and tell me this or that isn't covered in the warranty or lie about the severity of a problem. Sufficed to say that I better act quick; I could not imagine doing w/o in these hot sultry TX summers.

BTW, how do you tell what your tonnage is? I have a model GSH130481AC and I found zilch searching online. Here's a photo.

I would guess that your unit is 3 1/2 to 4 ton unit. Here is a web site where people review A/C units (this page is on Goodman...not too good on reviews though). Also interesting, your model is the only heat pump system that uses the old (soon to be obsolete in 2010) R-22 refrigerant while all their other models use the R-410A replacement.

Consumer Reviews of GOODMAN Air Conditioners

[tekka-maki]

Steel man, you are a saint. Always there when I need you

[charlessims22]

We just had our AC replaced that Centex put in. I would suggest a strong warning against anyone buying a Centex home. They put in undersized units and will not help out. The builder is a joke.

[rd2007]

Pretty much every builder is going to put in undersized units, or units that barely get the job done. They do it to keep costs as low as possible, otherwise known as the walmart approach to doing business.

[Rebelsbabe]

Originally Posted by charlessims22

We just had our AC replaced that Centex put in. I would suggest a strong warning against anyone buying a Centex home. They put in undersized units and will not help out. The builder is a joke.

how long have you had the house?

[charlessims22]

We have had the house 3 years. A 3 ton unit, 1900 sq ft, vaulted ceilings, faceing west. House would not cool below 80 degrees if it was over 90 out. Was running 22-23 hrs a day. Just had a 4 ton put in, ran for 30 minutes and had our house cooling at 72 degrees today (its 97 out). Centex refused to admit the problem and we were out $5000. They are careless frauds.