Author Topic: Any Home Air Conditioning Experts? (Read 421 times)

Dago · « **on:** July 22, 2004, 02:52:13 PM »

Just found out my home A/C unit is toast.

Gotta get a new one. Wondered if anyone has any recommendations to buy or avoid?

thanks
dago

Skuzzy · « **Reply #1 on:** July 22, 2004, 02:53:09 PM »

Central A/C? What tonnage?

Dago · « **Reply #2 on:** July 22, 2004, 03:04:18 PM »

Not sure, about 3-4 ton I think.

dago

Lizking · « **Reply #3 on:** July 22, 2004, 03:27:18 PM »

Heat pump?, and what is your climate zone.

Dago · « **Reply #4 on:** July 22, 2004, 03:31:33 PM »

Looking at replacing the old broken unit. Was a Trane.

Live in Minnesota. It was 95 yesterday, and very humid. Luckily the unit crapped out overnight. Cooler today, around 80.
Heat Pumps not too common around here.

Thinking about a Carrier.

dago

Lizking · « **Reply #5 on:** July 22, 2004, 03:40:39 PM »

Nah, you don't want a HP up there. Trane is good. For where you are it isn't critical, just pay the little bit extra for a high effecieny unit-you will make the money back quickly.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #6 on:** July 22, 2004, 03:41:57 PM »

Lennox, Trane, and Carrier are the three brands mentioned around our area quite a bit. My 4 ton Lennox is 12 years old and is still running strong.
Although I am looking at replacing it, maybe next year, with a more efficient model. The dual stage compressor units look interesting.

Ripper29 · « **Reply #7 on:** July 22, 2004, 04:20:01 PM »

I just installed a Bryant, low end model as I only need it a couple days of the year when it gets above freezing and the igloo starts to leak..

But a buddy of mine has been a Bryant Dealer for as long as I have known him and its a pretty good product. He like them because Bryant alway invites him down to tour thier shop at the same time the Indy 500 is happening..he always comes back hung over...

http://www.bryant.com/products/html/ac_idx.asp

NUTTZ · « **Reply #8 on:** July 22, 2004, 05:44:54 PM »

Since when have you been home, I heard since your employment at HTC you haven't left the office.

NUTTZ
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Quote

Originally posted by Skuzzy
Lennox, Trane, and Carrier are the three brands mentioned around our area quite a bit. My 4 ton Lennox is 12 years old and is still running strong.
Although I am looking at replacing it, maybe next year, with a more efficient model. The dual stage compressor units look interesting.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #9 on:** July 22, 2004, 06:02:22 PM »

The wife calls me once in a while to let me know the address, in case I forget.

NUTTZ · « **Reply #10 on:** July 22, 2004, 06:19:08 PM »

How do sheep dial the phone??? J/K

Really, I need a new compresser also, the outside unit is toast. The inside part is working fine. How do you know what tonnage you need? I have about 1,900 SF but I want to bring it into the florida room also so about another 360 SF.

NUTTZ

Quote

Originally posted by Skuzzy
The wife calls me once in a while to let me know the address, in case I forget.

capt. apathy · « **Reply #11 on:** July 22, 2004, 06:31:31 PM »

I was talking to a friend of mine a few months back and he told me of the set up he made for his parents house. one of the coolest ideas I've seen for those in the right situation to use it.

the cooling-fan motor on the high-pressure (outside) part of the unit went out. the compressor worked fine but without the cooling fan it over-heated in short order.

what he ended up doing was gutting all of the fan and casing off of the radiator part, just leaving it and the lines going back to the evaporator. he then built a water tight shell for it and plumbed it into the lines for their in-ground pool (which was un-heated previously, but they had been wanting to add heat but were very short on cash).

the end result was the pool was heated for free (and kept very warm), and the electric bills dropped (he couldn't tell me how much), since on the hot days you where cooling the A/C with 80-90 deg water, instead of 100+ degree air, taking a good sized load off the A/C unit.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #12 on:** July 22, 2004, 08:04:05 PM »

As a general rule, you need 1 ton of A/C per 250 sq ft of living area. That is a general rule.

If you have a higher than normal percentage of glass area in the outside walls and/or have very high ceilings, it could go up from there.

Estes · « **Reply #13 on:** July 22, 2004, 08:55:00 PM »

Thats the problem with my house.

It's around about 2400 square feet, with 9 foot ceilings in the living room. AND lots of windows.

We built this house about 7 years ago, haven't replaced the A/C unit yet. It's a Carrier. Works great so far. Since it's an older model, its not extremely energy efficient.

One thing we did to cut down on the heat, was get tinting installed in the windows. That has worked really well.

Lizking · « **Reply #14 on:** July 22, 2004, 10:21:02 PM »

Estes, tin-foil in the windows works even better, plus it keeps out those pesky spy rays from the Evil Bush and the snooping eye of preverts like funked.