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This is an older house (built 1960). The main, top, floor is 2x4 construction, minimal wall insulation. The bottom floor is a concrete block daylight basement, again minimal insulation. The house is heated by a high efficiency gas furnace, located in the daylight basement. The daylight basement is cool year-round (nice in the summer, less nice in the winter). The main upper floor has a heat-pump based system with vents only in the upstairs rooms. This system is used primarily for A/C, as the gas furnace is much more efficient and heats the entire house. We recently had the attic brought up to R-30 (from about 1" of insulation).
The heat pump and air handler are probably 10 years old - not efficient by modern standards, but they work. The air handler is in the attic, in an extremely difficult access area. To get the old unit out and a new one in will likely mean taking a section of the metal roof off and going out that way (just to do the new insulation in the attic took taking off one of the gables, which needed residing anyway).
Here is the advice part: the unit presently uses the older refrigerant. The spouse wants the system to be recharged and tuned. One contractor says that, in his opinion, since we only use the system part year (June through August) for A/C, just leave it alone. Old systems don't always take new parts well, and if it ain't broke, don't fix it or even touch it. The other contractor says it will "probably" be okay if serviced but should really be replaced.
We aren't leaning toward replacing it at this point, but were considering at least tuning and recharging. There is a certain compelling logic to the "don't touch it" point of view. Anyone out there with a similar situation is repairing or tuning up and older system?
Don't touch. Sounds like you have an honest contractor. With that type of minimal use, you aren't going to have a payback period for just about anything done for the unit. Run it until it has a problem and then replace. It could last another five or ten years without a problem.
If the unit TRULY is about 10 years old it almost certainly uses R-134a which is readily available and generally works well.
it is older than 1990s than maybe you have R-22 which is problematic.
If its less than five years old you'd have R-410A
Each has different kinds of seals and ccmpressor technology and some would argue that in terms of actual thermal performance you get better results with the older compounds BUT I have never heard anyone say "it ain't worth checking /refilling the refrigerant" -- that is sure fire way to get LOUSY performanc AND terrible economy!!!
That is just GOOFY.
Heck, even if the thing FAILS I really doubt you'd need to rip the roof off -- though they can look impossing the thing is generally a series of mostly EMPTY big metal boxes that are not all that heavy and often can be stripped down to more manueverable subassemblies....
If the unit TRULY is about 10 years old it almost certainly uses R-134a which is readily available and generally works well.
it is older than 1990s than maybe you have R-22 which is problematic.
If its less than five years old you'd have R-410A
As far as I know, there are no residential HVAC systems that use R-134A; R-134A is for automotive HVAC. And R-22 condensers are still being installed in mass quantities today; many homeowners don't want to spend the money replacing their furnace or air handler, and only want a new condenser outside. That is where dry charged R-22 units come in, which are shipped dry and then charged with R-22 after being installed.
However, such installations of dry R-22 units are primarily marketing to the gullible, and will backfire once R-22 is phased out.
"Each has different kinds of seals and ccmpressor technology and some would argue that in terms of actual thermal performance you get better results with the older compounds BUT I have never heard anyone say "it ain't worth checking /refilling the refrigerant" -- that is sure fire way to get LOUSY performanc AND terrible economy!!!
That is just GOOFY."
Nope. Consider a simple window AC. The system is sealed, the cost is low, and the cost of a tech coming out and checking levels on a 5,000 BTU unit would be goofy. Those units basically work or don't. On large rooftop commercial units, the temperature drop over the coil is a fairly good indicator of the state of things. What is common in those situations is to have a tech who is replacing a compressor or fan also do some basic tests on the other units at the location at the same time to limit travel costs and to set baselines.
A lot of maintenance is a balancing act. Example: With an older flat roof, unless there are catwalks, every time an AC tech plods across it he stands a chance of opening up seams or piercing the membrane, creating leaks. The rule in many companies is NOBODY goes on the roof unless absolutely needed. Even having a roof patched is an expensive PITA, because visible leaks are often yards from where the intrusion is. There are times the job has to be done three or four times or the entire roof replaced - MUCH more expensive than any money saved on the AC.
In the case of the OP, the unit is nearing the end of expected life. It is used three months out of the year. The average life span of a central AC is considered to be 12 to 15 years. Given that information, expect to be replacing it anyway within five years. That means the cost of any repair or maintenance on it has to be amortized over only a two or three year period, whereas the cost of maintenance on a unit less than 5 years old could easily extend the life by at least 5 years, and likely more. When you take the cost of equipment over a long period of time there comes a point when you have to cut off ongoing expenses and wait for failure.
Controller boards, fan motors, copper or aluminum subject to corrosion or vibration all are the possible and even probable causes of a catastrophic failure. Checking refrigerant levels won't change that. You could spend a couple hundred IF it needed refrigerant, only to have a controller board fail the following day. If no refrigerant was needed (more often the case than not) then it is a wasted $100+ anyway. The money is better kept squirreled away to be used towards the cost of the replacement unit.
The air handler is in the attic, in an extremely difficult access area. To get the old unit out and a new one in will likely mean taking a section of the metal roof off and going out that way (just to do the new insulation in the attic took taking off one of the gables, which needed residing anyway).
Here is the advice part: the unit presently uses the older refrigerant. The spouse wants the system to be recharged and tuned. One contractor says that, in his opinion, since we only use the system part year (June through August) for A/C, just leave it alone. Old systems don't always take new parts well, and if it ain't broke, don't fix it or even touch it. The other contractor says it will "probably" be okay if serviced but should really be replaced.
Just about anything can be repaired. Even a 15 year unit can be repaired. The question you must ask yourself is:
Is it worth it?
The warranty you get on a repair on an older unit will be just on the part replaced, nothing else and at most 1 year on the part. Obviously a Freon recharge will not be warrantied no matter what the case.
I've rebuilt units from the equipment base up (taken completely apart and rebuilt). If people can live without the protection that a new equipment warranty provides then go for it, just realize it could wind up costing you much more than had you just replaced the unit and moved on because you will still have an old unit.
The unit is in a difficult place to access. Probably the reason the contractor is saying "don't touch it."
Face it folks we don't like going into hard access type places either. I swear I would like to bring the architects /builders with me strapped to my back if necessary on some of these gems I get to visit on occasion.
Think long and hard about access to the HVAC unit when building or buying a home. They don't last forever, even though some architects like to think so.
R-22 condensers are still being installed in mass quantities today; many homeowners don't want to spend the money replacing their furnace or air handler, and only want a new condenser outside. That is where dry charged R-22 units come in, which are shipped dry and then charged with R-22 after being installed.
However, such installations of dry R-22 units are primarily marketing to the gullible, and will backfire once R-22 is phased out.
My husband is an HVAC contractor and in our area (Georgia) no one is installing R-22 systems, and haven't for a couple years now. It's already been phased out, and R-22 has become very hard to find and extremely expensive to recharge older systems.
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