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Yup! another company came out and said I have strip heaters. And that there was no need for a heat pump unless my winter bills are high.
COP...Coefficient of Performance. Resistance heaters consume on average 3 times more power than a heatpump for the same quantity of heat. Your heating bills will triple.
I am unsure if those get replaced along with new evap unit.
They need to be.
They said this other company should not be putting in a two ton. That condos and apartments, there is a calculation set for how many sq feet, windows, vents and so forth and that for mine that = 1.5 ton.
If that is the case, where do they get that information?
You want a "ACCA Manual J" heat load calculation for proper sizing. It's a tedious process done with $1,200 software and you'll need to account for all perimeter surfaces/material components so you need to know what you have. A "qualified" outfit can provide one (not for free) or you can do your own for $49 if you know what you're doing.
I am really in over my head. Trying to decide who is telling me the right thing and learning about all these variables.
I tend to think this company is correct - the two ton downstairs is not cooling as well as their old unit (the original like I have now)
They said two ton is cooling but not getting all the moisture, so it doesn't FEEL as cool, and kicks on and off too much trying to process.
Yes, longer run times...continuous at peak conditions when the equipment is rightsized, will wring out the most moisture. BUT keep in mindthat capacity is situational. For A/C, 1.5 ton provides 1.5 tons of cooling capacity when the indoor temp is 80 and the outdoor is 95. If you want to operate below 80 indoors or the outdoor temps exceeds 95, you have less that 1.5 tons. For example- 72 indoors and 105 outside = 1.1 tons of cooling capacity is provided from the same equipment consuming the same power. "ACCA Manual S" adjusts equipment capacity for conditions.
If a proposal doesn't include operating conditions, it's incomplete and the conversation with the customer wasn't thorough. A very sloppy way to do business that can lead to avoidable misunderstandings.
Makes sense to me, but that doesn't mean anything. The other company telling me why a two ton was good made sense too!
I guess they are both good talkers :-)
I don't have an estimate from them - misunderstanding. They gave quote for full system and I can't afford to replace the compressor. It's not the original. I just need indoor to 'match' it.
They did not do a better job than the other people explaining why I can't just coil clean like I did before and keep trucking with my old unit, although I do see how rust in the pan is a problem.
Tin pans are obsolete for 30 Y/O equipment. If it's leaking, it's leaking.
And to the peeps that said NO WAY was the other company's quote for a variable speed, you were right of course.
This company said NO WAY also. That is something fancy and very expensive. They said they really just have a dipswitch with low, medium, high.
So wth? I wonder why original company calls that a variable speed. And if this new place is right, how on earth can they not know correct tonage for these units? They work on and replace them all the time.
*confused in TX*
3900 for full system. so one guy guessed it would be 2500-3000 for inside but it's the other guy that does that part and he had left by the time I realized the quote was for the wrong thing.
You mean the electrical strips cost three times as much in energy as a heat pump? Yup, resistance heaters are energy hogs.
He said I didn't need a heat pump if my heating bills are not high (they are like $65 for 800 sq feet).
On the tonage, he said the calculations were made and stored somewhere by builder and would not change over the years............is that not right? Accurate calculation methods were not available 30 years ago when your place was built so no, there is no record of load calcs at the city. Also cities and builders don't hang on to records for 30 years.
Finally, if SEER rating guidelines change in 2015, maybe I should wait........except then I'd HAVE to do full system replacement. Regulations will only become more strict, don't wait. In my area, duct leakage testing and remediation became code this last July. a furnace that cost 2,500 last year will be more like 3500-4k this fall.
I can only replace indoor to match 13 SEER outside this year..........
The condensate leak may only be due to a plugged drain or dirty filter. If cleaning the pan and coil fixed the problem, this whole thread may be unneeded.
And YES, this is way more confusing than even buying my first computer. I had to learn 'x' amount of things to settle on what I wanted, and then it was a matter of price comparison.
This is a whole different world!
Every company says something different, so one can't even compare apples to apples.
My electric bills are only about $65 in the winter. And much of that would be there heat or no heat, so I'm pretty sure a heat pump would take a REALLY long time to pay off.
Regarding cleaning, 2 companies have basically turned me down for that.
My regular maintenance company originally said they'd clean it for around $200.
Then they came back and said 'you've cleaned it well - the drain water is clean - it won't do any good for us to do any more, you need a new unit'
The other company said it would cost like 1K and they can't guarantee the work, don't want to do it for that reason, and also said I need a new unit.
I think I should do it now too. Next year, you're saying it will cost more, this year I have this line of credit available that I may not next year, but I have to find something in between this low-ball quote that I don't trust the final outcome of, and this one that seems high to me ($3100 just for air handler).
And I can't borrow that much anyway.........
Every company says something different, so one can't even compare apples to apples.
There are many aspects to getting a proper job. If you learn what matters, you can sniff out the bush league outfits. Even quality minded customers throw their hands up and hedge their bets by choosing by low price sometimes, but they learn that low price projects always cost more in the end. You now know more than when you started. Be persistent.
There are many aspects to getting a proper job. If you learn what matters, you can sniff out the bush league outfits. Even quality minded customers throw their hands up and hedge their bets by choosing by low price sometimes, but they learn that low price projects always cost more in the end. You now know more than when you started. Be persistent.
Alright. SIGH. lol. I wish I could communicate more with my regular company and discuss different units and so forth, but that isn't happening. It's like there is only one of anything every time something needs replacing
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