Oy...air conditioning woes

[minkydog]

I got back in town Friday night to find the A/C not working. Of course, it's over 90 degrees in Georgia. We have been without A/C going on 4 days. The heating & air guy came over and delivered the bad news--we need a new unit. I was afraid of that. The unit is over 20 years old and he has been out to patch it twice already this summer. This time it burned a hole through something and ejected all the freon. So I guess we're guilty of contributing to global warming, as well.

Argh. Now we have to decide whether to replace the whole thing, heating AND air, for $4800 OR just the A/C for $2500 and take a chance that the heater will hold. If we have to replace the heater separately it will be about $3300 (for a total of $5800.) I am inclined to just do the whole thing, but DH just wants to do the A/C.

This is on top of replacing the carpets--Minky recently had a serious "accident" in Eleni's room and it has been all but unusable for the past 3 weeks. The boys ripped Eleni's carpet out yesterday and they're going to rip out the rest of the upstairs.Hopefully, that will cut our costs some. Thank goodness we only have to carpet three bedrooms and the hall!

Two projects i'd rather not do right now. We *could* just do without A/C, but we're still in the throes of hot summer. It can be in the 90's well into September. Our fans are performing valiantly, but they are no match for this heat. I'm melting. Not a good time to go through menopause.

 

[LuvOrlando]

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[minkydog]

Sorry to hear that. For what its worth, my gut reaction agrees with you, to do it all at once, but I'd ask around if heaters last longer than AC. My HVAC co sent me something in the mail about a stimulus tax credit of over a thousand dollars to replace old systems with more efficient models. So even though my 15 year old one is OK we're tempted to replace stuff because we are the only folks in the neighborhood who didn't replace it yet (yeah that shoe will drop soon), and a tax credit is a good motivator.

We had to replace our carpets last year because of my cat and found that Lowes deal for under $200 to do the whole house was a huge savings. The steps cost a bit more but I think removal may have been included. I think we used their credit card and were able to defer payments until AFTER tax returns/bonus came in so we paid it off without ANY finance fees.

Oh wow! Thanks for the tips. I didn't know you could get a tax credit for the new HVAC, but it makes sense. I'm sure the newer ones are MUCH more energy efficient.

I've never put carpet in, just hardwood, and I thought it was going to cost a mint! I'll look into that. Thanks!

 

[pl71]

I think you're probably better off replacing the entire system. I had to replace my heat pump this spring (and yes, it was an unpleasant surprise so I feel your pain). When I did it, I was told that I could have just replaced the outside unit and not the entire thing, but all the research I did on it showed that it would have been less efficient, and it would have worn out faster. Typically the systems work best when they are all around the same age. I'm not an HVAC person, that's just what I read!

And yes, there is a tax credit for 2009 and 2010 that is 30% of your cost up to $1500 for an energy efficient HVAC replacement. There are strict requirements as to which systems qualify. Make sure you ask your contractor about it, and if they don't know what you're talking about, find someone else who does know. You'll need to get a certain number from there to verify that your system qualifies that will be used on your tax form.

Info on the tax credit can be found here:

http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=tax_credits.tx_index

 

[minkydog]

And yes, there is a tax credit for 2009 and 2010 that is 30% of your cost up to $1500 for an energy efficient HVAC replacement. There are strict requirements as to which systems qualify. Make sure you ask your contractor about it, and if they don't know what you're talking about, find someone else who does know. You'll need to get a certain number from there to verify that your system qualifies that will be used on your tax form.

Info on the tax credit can be found here:

http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=tax_credits.tx_index

What HO! the Mother Lode! thank you! thank you!

 

[minniecarousel]

What HO! the Mother Lode! thank you! thank you!

Isn't the DIS a wealth of information?!

 

[Bildmouse]

And don't forget to check your utility company - many have rebates on high efficiency units right now. The ac has to be at least 16 seer to qualify for the federal tax credit and the furnace has to be +90% efficiency.