Dr. Hardcrab wrote:

"tiny dancer" wrote in message
.. .

"komobu" wrote in message
groups.com...

Hi;

I am in the US Army stationed in Korea. I have a House in Virginia that
I am renting out. The AC compressor went out. And I am being quoted
1600 dollars to replace the compressor. I purchased the house in 1993,
and replaced the compressor in 94 or 95. The AC Unit is probably 20 or
more years old. I am trying to decide whether to repair the unit at
1600 or to install a brand new model with better efficiency. In another
year and a half, I will be moving back into the home and will live
there indefinitely. I would like to replace the unit in the off season
and is there a month that would be best for me to replace it? Please
provide me with some recommendations, specific name brand and model
numbers with pricing if known. Also, should I get a manual J done?

Thanks for any help
Pat


Hi, we are in N.C., and replaced our whole unit a couple years ago. Can't
recall if it's been two summers now or three, but we noticed a huge
savings
on our electric bill the first summer. The new unit saved us at the very
least 1/3 off our summer cooling bills per month, most times closer to
1/2.
My husband said this new unit will have paid for itself in less than 5
years
time, in the savings off our cooling bills. With the old unit, some of
electric bills in the summer time were approaching $400, after the new
unit,
we never had a bill that even neared the $300 mark, and I'm talking hot
and
humid summer. If you'd like, I can ask my husband the name of the unit we
had installed? I know it was an off-brand model of a name brand. The guy
we had install it said 'it was made by the same company, same unit, etc.
but
less expensive than the name brand.

Hope this helps.


You have some good points, but i want to clarify a few things:

Brand name does not really matter. 90% of the job is who and how they
install it. You can get a top-of-the-line unit and have it installed by some
fly-by-night "hack" and then you end up with nothing but trouble. A/Cs and
heatpumps have improved (efficiency-wise) quite a bit in the past 20 years.
What was considered "high efficiency" back in 1988 is now considered the
least efficient and will soon not be available due to new government
standards. You have to remember though: Just changing the outdoor unit can
help, but you are not going to get very good efficiency using the old
evaporator coil. You may even DEcrease the SEER rating. In other words, if
you install a 13 SEER outdoor unit (which will be the minimum requirement at
the end of this year. You don't HAVE to have one, it's just that
manufacturers will not make them any longer) and you keep the old evaporator
coil, you may get an actual 11 SEER rating or possibly lower.

In any case, get a least 3 quotes (not estimates) from companies that your
friends and neighbors know. See who they have used and who they are happy
with and you can't go wrong.....
Do yourself a favor: Replace the entire system. Outdoor unit, lineset,
eveaporator coil, the works. You'll save money in the long run and have less
problems down the road..


I'm not convinced that replacing everything is necessarily the best
way to go. Of course you want it installed right. But the rest is
economics. It might be MUCH cheaper to simply replace the compressor
unit -- so much so that the additional electricity saving from going
all the way won't justify the additional cost.

In my experience, the greatest savings (assuming a working unit of
reasonable efficiency) come from making sure the ductwork is in good
condition so you don't leak half of your cooled air.

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