I remember looking through Sears catalogs and others showing whole house air conditioning
units and prices. All I see now is estimates. I was thinking about whole air conditioning,
but what a rip off when you can buy a 25K BTU window for $500, Where a similar whole house
unit costs in the thousands. I really think I am going to buy a window unit and connect it to my
new furnace when I buy that. Seriously. And the new laws make it even more expensive, trying to get
better efficiencies mandatory, yet you can still buy those window units.

greg

On Fri, 23 Jun 2006 20:52:29 GMT, GregS wrote:


I remember looking through Sears catalogs and others showing whole house air conditioning
units and prices. All I see now is estimates. I was thinking about whole air conditioning,
but what a rip off when you can buy a 25K BTU window for $500, Where a similar whole house
unit costs in the thousands. I really think I am going to buy a window unit and connect it to my
new furnace when I buy that. Seriously. And the new laws make it even more expensive, trying to get
and you'll be lucky if it drops the house's temperature a whole degree.

window units work because they only have to cool a single small room.

(GregS) wrote in
:

I remember looking through Sears catalogs and others showing whole
house air conditioning units and prices. All I see now is estimates. I
was thinking about whole air conditioning, but what a rip off when you
can buy a 25K BTU window for $500, Where a similar whole house unit
costs in the thousands. I really think I am going to buy a window unit
and connect it to my new furnace when I buy that. Seriously. And the
new laws make it even more expensive, trying to get better
efficiencies mandatory, yet you can still buy those window units.

greg

At one time you could buy the central system and install it yourself,
because the lines were pre-charged.

A window unit works best using gravity by putting it in a window in a room
upstairs and of course leaving the door open!

In my present house that is a long ranch, I run an air conditioner in a
room at one end of the house and leave the doors open, room to room. It's
surprising how well the air travels from one end to the other. Sometimes I
run an air conditioner at both ends of the house. The main idea is to dry
the air anyway. You should be carefull not to put an air conditioner BTU
rated for more than the room square feet calls for, because when the door
is closed, it will be drafty.

GregS wrote:
I remember looking through Sears catalogs and others showing whole house air conditioning
units and prices. All I see now is estimates. I was thinking about whole air conditioning,
but what a rip off when you can buy a 25K BTU window for $500, Where a similar whole house
unit costs in the thousands. I really think I am going to buy a window unit and connect it to my
new furnace when I buy that. Seriously. And the new laws make it even more expensive, trying to get
better efficiencies mandatory, yet you can still buy those window units.

greg


Those window units are rather low efficiency, usually around 8 EER. If
you're a serious DIY, have a look at www.usamfg.net and keep an eye out
on ebay. I installed a 3 ton (36K BTU) 14 SEER heat pump along with a
new furnace for about $1600 including a few special tools I had to buy.
Even if you buy all new equipment, you should be able to manage central
AC for under $1500 assuming your furnace is ok.

It really is a rip to have a contractor install it, sure they've gotta
put food on the table but they normally buy the equipment wholesale,
double the price, then charge $100+/hr for labor on top of that.

You do have to make *really* good soldered joints on the pipes though.
Most pros braze them but that requires a source of dry nitrogen and it
can harden the copper. I use good silver solder and a special water
based flux. For a vacuum pump I got a surplus window AC compressor from
usamfg for about 8 bucks and soldered a fitting to it. Most systems come
pre-charged with enough refrigerant for 15-25' of line but you can
easily get certified online to purchase more. It is not trivial to put
one in but I had a lot of fun, learned a lot and saved a bundle in the
process. I've put in two systems now and was very satisfied with the
results.

Look for something that's at least 12 BTU/W efficiency, with the price
of energy going up, any money you save with a lower efficiency unit
you'll spend later on power.

In article HD1ng.2207$Xn.1341@trnddc05, wrote:
GregS wrote:
I remember looking through Sears catalogs and others showing whole house air
conditioning
units and prices. All I see now is estimates. I was thinking about whole air
conditioning,
but what a rip off when you can buy a 25K BTU window for $500, Where a
similar whole house
unit costs in the thousands. I really think I am going to buy a window unit
and connect it to my
new furnace when I buy that. Seriously. And the new laws make it even more
expensive, trying to get
better efficiencies mandatory, yet you can still buy those window units.

greg


Those window units are rather low efficiency, usually around 8 EER. If
you're a serious DIY, have a look at www.usamfg.net and keep an eye out
on ebay. I installed a 3 ton (36K BTU) 14 SEER heat pump along with a
new furnace for about $1600 including a few special tools I had to buy.
Even if you buy all new equipment, you should be able to manage central
AC for under $1500 assuming your furnace is ok.

It really is a rip to have a contractor install it, sure they've gotta
put food on the table but they normally buy the equipment wholesale,
double the price, then charge $100+/hr for labor on top of that.

You do have to make *really* good soldered joints on the pipes though.
Most pros braze them but that requires a source of dry nitrogen and it
can harden the copper. I use good silver solder and a special water
based flux. For a vacuum pump I got a surplus window AC compressor from
usamfg for about 8 bucks and soldered a fitting to it. Most systems come
pre-charged with enough refrigerant for 15-25' of line but you can
easily get certified online to purchase more. It is not trivial to put
one in but I had a lot of fun, learned a lot and saved a bundle in the
process. I've put in two systems now and was very satisfied with the
results.

Look for something that's at least 12 BTU/W efficiency, with the price
of energy going up, any money you save with a lower efficiency unit
you'll spend later on power.

Thanks.
I see window units up over 10 now.

greg