Replacing HVAC

[barkley]

If you're a member of Costco, I would suggest getting a quote from them. You could get money back in the form of a Costco gift card:

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We had to have both our furnace and A/C replaced. We went through Costco, had the work done, and got a VERY large return on a Costco gift card. We also upgraded our membership to the Executive level, so we'll be getting an additional 2% Costco "reward".

We are VERY happy with our new HVAC system and the contractor did an outstanding job.

Even if you're not currently a Costco member, it might be worth getting an Executive membership (for at least a year) and a quote on your HVAC needs.

Costco / Lennox HVAC Offer

when we did a whole house generator we used costco to buy the unit but not install. i've heard too many nightmare stories from friends/neighbors about using stores to do installations wherein the stores are using subcontractors. a problem arises and the store says 'deal with the installer', the installer says 'we contract with the store-not with you, deal with the store' we had our contractor (fully researched and vetted) see what price he could get a generac for but when he heard the price we could get it for at costco he couldn't get near the deal. ended up buying through costco/arranging for contractor to pickup-saved a nice chunk of change/got nice reward dollars the next year/ended up with a longer warranty on the unit by virtue of using costco credit card

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

when we did a whole house generator we used costco to buy the unit but not install. i've heard too many nightmare stories from friends/neighbors about using stores to do installations wherein the stores are using subcontractors. a problem arises and the store says 'deal with the installer', the installer says 'we contract with the store-not with you, deal with the store' we had our contractor (fully researched and vetted) see what price he could get a generac for but when he heard the price we could get it for at costco he couldn't get near the deal. ended up buying through costco/arranging for contractor to pickup-saved a nice chunk of change/got nice reward dollars the next year/ended up with a longer warranty on the unit by virtue of using costco credit card

Not to hijack the thread, but a whole house generator is on our long-term to-do list. Do you love it? Our power goes out so frequently that our mayor announced she would contact our local electric company to find out why it happens so easily/frequently. It happens almost every t-storm. We moved here from only a few towns away and didn't have so many outages and I grew up in this town and don't remember as a child losing power.

 

[MillauFr]

Our house was built in 1995. Moved in 2016 and had only the one owner (original) before us. We have 2 furnaces and 3 AC units that were all original to the house.

I didn't think you needed A/C if you lived in Monterey.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

I didn't think you needed A/C if you lived in Monterey.

I don't live in Monterey anymore. Moved 6 years ago. But, you're right, no AC in Monterey.

 

[tvguy]

I don't live in Monterey anymore. Moved 6 years ago. But, you're right, no AC in Monterey.

LOL. My daughter lived in Monterey for a year, she had ac and she used it.

I am of the school of thought that HVAC systems......Heat Pump in my case......should be replaced when it dies. Been in my house 39 years and replaced the heat pump for the second time last December. $12,800. Replaced it in 1991, that time it cost $3,000 but that was a 3 ton unit, my new one is a 3.5 ton.

 

[barkley]

Not to hijack the thread, but a whole house generator is on our long-term to-do list. Do you love it? Our power goes out so frequently that our mayor announced she would contact our local electric company to find out why it happens so easily/frequently. It happens almost every t-storm. We moved here from only a few towns away and didn't have so many outages and I grew up in this town and don't remember as a child losing power.

LOVE IT-best home improvement ever! we can get outages that last several days to a week or more. since we are on a well the generator ensures we can continue to get water as well as power. i'm not stressing over setting up a portable to my freezers or fridge (or worrying about gas fumes accumulating), i'm not running to deal with lines at the gas station to keep feeding a portable (if their pumps are even running during a major area outage-don't want to think about the cost of running one of those now). we no longer have to try to make hotel arrangements (with cats in tow) for extended outages.

one thing i will suggest, minor but if you are getting sporadic multiple outages it can save your sanity if you watch much satellite t.v.-whole house generators sense when the power goes out but take maybe 20 or 30 seconds to kick on which is just enough time for a satellite dvr to turn off and then have to go back through the entire reset process. we solved this by spending about $100 on a battery backup similar to what people will have for their computers. we have the main dvr plugged into it so when the power goes down it stays on so i don't have to wait for the dvr to rebuild all more stored shows and rebuild by schedual (i know-first world problems but to be honest-after warmth, water and cooking-when it came to picking and choosing what would/would not run on the generator we had kids at the time and opted for tv's and computers just so we could entertain everyone).

 

[NotUrsula]

Whatever you do decide, if you have a choice of materials on the A/C unit pad between concrete and composite, get the composite! It absorbs sound from the fan vibration, and you would not believe how much quieter the system is outdoors.

 

[LoveSpringsteen]

Whatever you do decide, if you have a choice of materials on the A/C unit pad between concrete and composite, get the composite! It absorbs sound from the fan vibration, and you would not believe how much quieter the system is outdoors.

Thank you! I was considering moving the AC a little bit farther to the corner of the house, but I had not heard about a composite pad. I have another HVAC coming out for a quote next week and I’ll ask.