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recommendations for AC unit?

recommendations for AC unit?

Old May 9th 2006, 3:49 pm
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Default recommendations for AC unit?

I may need to replace mine with a more energy-efficient model....

anyone done this lately? Floridians and other southerners/southwesterners especially welcome to opine.

Thanks.
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Old May 9th 2006, 4:03 pm
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Default Re: recommendations for AC unit?

Originally Posted by snowbunny
I may need to replace mine with a more energy-efficient model....

anyone done this lately? Floridians and other southerners/southwesterners especially welcome to opine.

Thanks.
everyone seems to like a Trane around here.
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Old May 9th 2006, 5:06 pm
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Default Re: recommendations for AC unit?

Originally Posted by Thydney
everyone seems to like a Trane around here.
we've seen adverts for those around here too...though anything that cleans the air that much, can't be that great for kids, they need some shite in the air or they'll end up allergic to everything *lol*
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Old May 9th 2006, 5:26 pm
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Default Re: recommendations for AC unit?

Originally Posted by Bob
we've seen adverts for those around here too...though anything that cleans the air that much, can't be that great for kids, they need some shite in the air or they'll end up allergic to everything *lol*
open the damn door and let it some fresh air

Has anyone heard of Bryant? High-end, but supposed to be good.
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Old May 9th 2006, 7:04 pm
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Default Re: recommendations for AC unit?

Originally Posted by snowbunny
open the damn door and let it some fresh air

Has anyone heard of Bryant? High-end, but supposed to be good.

Ours took a crap last night too!! Not sure whether it needs replaced (it's 10 years old) or just another charge of freon or what. Might try a heat pump...lot of those around here- said to be much more efficient.?
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Old May 9th 2006, 7:19 pm
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Default Re: recommendations for AC unit?

Originally Posted by ironporer
Ours took a crap last night too!! Not sure whether it needs replaced (it's 10 years old) or just another charge of freon or what. Might try a heat pump...lot of those around here- said to be much more efficient.?
speaking of freon, just had that done to the car just before end of summer too...that thing, if it weren't so expensive to replace, i'd fire bomb it *lol*...well I wouldn't, but it could roll off a cliff
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Old May 9th 2006, 9:12 pm
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Default Re: recommendations for AC unit?

Trane is very expensive

I use goodman on my own home and also on my rental properties

since they bought amana reliabilty and warranty are much improved
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Old May 9th 2006, 9:34 pm
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Default Re: recommendations for AC unit?

Originally Posted by snowbunny
open the damn door and let it some fresh air

Has anyone heard of Bryant? High-end, but supposed to be good.
yes I've had recommenadtions for that brand, apparantly it is the best..mine is at least 16 years old and the whole house vibrates when its on so I need to get mine done some time soon so thats the brand I would go with. I need a big system as I have a 3000 sq.ft. house and I was quoted $6500. I would love two, one for the ground floor and one for the top as I hate paying to cool upstairs when we don't go up til bedtime and vice versa at night but it would be too expensive, we have a friend who bought a house with two units and her electricity bills are tiny in comparison to mine because she only cools the bit of the house she needs too. I have heard of a new system that allows you to individuallly heat/cool each room to whatever temp. you desire but not sure how much it is.
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Old May 9th 2006, 9:57 pm
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Default Re: recommendations for AC unit?

Originally Posted by woodsey
yes I've had recommenadtions for that brand, apparantly it is the best..mine is at least 16 years old and the whole house vibrates when its on so I need to get mine done some time soon so thats the brand I would go with. I need a big system as I have a 3000 sq.ft. house and I was quoted $6500. I would love two, one for the ground floor and one for the top as I hate paying to cool upstairs when we don't go up til bedtime and vice versa at night but it would be too expensive, we have a friend who bought a house with two units and her electricity bills are tiny in comparison to mine because she only cools the bit of the house she needs too. I have heard of a new system that allows you to individuallly heat/cool each room to whatever temp. you desire but not sure how much it is.
there's also that water piped cooling, where the heat is dissipated through pipes under your house, works very well as basically a heat exchanger, but not much help for you because it's aimed at new places, it being pipes funnelled around under your home *l*
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Old May 9th 2006, 10:02 pm
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Default Re: recommendations for AC unit?

Originally Posted by woodsey
yes I've had recommenadtions for that brand, apparantly it is the best..mine is at least 16 years old and the whole house vibrates when its on so I need to get mine done some time soon so thats the brand I would go with. I need a big system as I have a 3000 sq.ft. house and I was quoted $6500. I would love two, one for the ground floor and one for the top as I hate paying to cool upstairs when we don't go up til bedtime and vice versa at night but it would be too expensive, we have a friend who bought a house with two units and her electricity bills are tiny in comparison to mine because she only cools the bit of the house she needs too. I have heard of a new system that allows you to individuallly heat/cool each room to whatever temp. you desire but not sure how much it is.

We have an a/c unit and furnace for each floor. We were told this depends on the size of the house. The warm/cool air is blown around the house, this is not efficient over a large area thus the need for more than 1 unit.

Makes sense not to be heating/cooling parts of your house you are not using. A lot of new houses have thermostats in each room so you can control them individually.
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Old May 10th 2006, 12:05 am
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Default Re: recommendations for AC unit?

Originally Posted by Jerseygirl
Makes sense not to be heating/cooling parts of your house you are not using. A lot of new houses have thermostats in each room so you can control them individually.
Actually, that could be a retrofit.... a temperature sensor (themostat) that controls the vent being open. Similar technology's already available for greenhouses; I bet it's also there for house-houses. Thanks for the tip, I'll have a look!
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Old May 10th 2006, 12:09 am
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Default Re: recommendations for AC unit?

There is also Carrier.


Woodsey you can buy covers for the ducts made out of the same stuff as fridge magnets, they seal of the ones not in use.
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Old May 10th 2006, 12:10 am
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Default Re: recommendations for AC unit?

Originally Posted by snowbunny
Actually, that could be a retrofit.... a temperature sensor (themostat) that controls the vent being open. Similar technology's already available for greenhouses; I bet it's also there for house-houses. Thanks for the tip, I'll have a look!
In our house in England we had the upstairs and downstairs heated separately, although the heating there was water heated radiators.
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Old May 10th 2006, 12:20 am
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Lightbulb Re: recommendations for AC unit?

We replaced our house's original "gas pack" which is a combined heat and air unit. We didn't have to replace the whole thing because the air part needed replacement parts but based on the unit's age (over 10 years old), we went ahead and replaced the whole thing.

Our next door neighbor, whose house is the exact same age as ours, replaced his "gas pack" in 2004 and he was most happy with his Carrier unit.

We had two local companies come out to give us quotes. One gave us a Trane quote and the other, a Carrier quote. Only the latter company was an authorized dealer for Carrier.

We decided to take the Carrier quote because the unit quoted was more efficient (and quiet) than the Trane quote and cost less (can't remember the amount. Perhaps $400?).

That was in September 2005. Since then, we've been extremely happy with our Carrier unit. It's so quiet, so much so, we can't hear when the aircon kicks in (unllike the original Trane that was frankly noisy). I think the aircon part is a little too efficient because we still set the air con temperatures the same as for the Trane but with the Carrier, it feels colder

As long as you find a good company to do the work and you buy an AC unit to suit your house size, you'll be fine.


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Old May 10th 2006, 1:30 am
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Default Re: recommendations for AC unit?

Originally Posted by snowbunny
I may need to replace mine with a more energy-efficient model....

anyone done this lately? Floridians and other southerners/southwesterners especially welcome to opine.

Thanks.
Effective March 1st, 2006 ALL new AC units are significantly more efficient (per new federal efficiency codes), and of course more expensive. A unit that I bought new 12 months ago, installed and all, for $4,300 would cost about $6,000 to buy today!
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