Advice on Central Air Conditioner
 

I have a one-story 1,900 sq. ft. house in North Texas. I'm thinking of
replacing my 20-year-old, 3-ton, SEER= 9 Lennox air conditioner.

I've been told to replace it with a 4-ton Bryant unit. Any comments or
recommendations?

Thanks.

Advice on Central Air Conditioner
 

Michael White wrote:
I have a one-story 1,900 sq. ft. house in North Texas. I'm thinking of
replacing my 20-year-old, 3-ton, SEER= 9 Lennox air conditioner.

I've been told to replace it with a 4-ton Bryant unit. Any comments or
recommendations?

Thanks.

By whom? A Bryant salesperson??

Shop around. Learn about SEER, brands, reliability, what you need for
your house, factors based on where you live, etc. How expensive is
your electricty? Where do you set your thermostat? Is your house well
insulated or can you improve that for less money? Or should you do
both?

Advice on Central Air Conditioner
 

Advice on Central Air Conditioner
 

Mike;
I just went through what you are going through in April. My home is in
Va. I replaced my unit with an 18seer york heatpump. The most important
thing is to get a Manual J AND a Manual D done. The Manual J is
going to check for heat /cooling loss through your windows and walls.
The Manual D will check your current ducts out.

Normally, a new higher seer 3 ton unit will put out better more
efficient cooling than a 20 year old unit. It is very IMPORTANT not to
oversize your unit. If you oversize your unit, it will run half as much
and it will cool the house but do nothing for the humidity. All the
cycling on and off is harder on the motors and compressors. Your indoor
air quality will also suffer.

The newer models now have variable spped fans and 2 speed compressors.
The units will run continously but at a lower speed. This will provide
for better humidity control, and better indoor air quality because the
air is constantly being filtered. As a result, it is much better for
indoor air poluttants and allergies. With some of the higher seer
units, you need larger ducts to handle the airflow. A manual D will
insure your current ducts are ok.

For my 18 Seer York unit, I paid 11000 installed with a 10 year waranty
on everything. The new units are not cheap. Part of it is Katrina, and
the other part is that you are going to save so much on utilities, that
they are not gonna give the units away. Here is a pretty good site that
can tell you how much you can expect to save with a new unit.
http://www.hvacopcost.com/

Also reccommend that you post at www.hvac-talk.com in the residential
section. Their are a lot of techs over there that can guide you towards
making a good decision.

Take Care
Pat

Advice on Central Air Conditioner
 

Michael White wrote:
I have a one-story 1,900 sq. ft. house in North Texas. I'm thinking of
replacing my 20-year-old, 3-ton, SEER= 9 Lennox air conditioner.

I've been told to replace it with a 4-ton Bryant unit. Any comments or
recommendations?

Thanks.



Get at least three estimates; more - 4 0r 5 - is better. You'd be
surprised at the variation of recommendations in terms of price, size,
and system configuration.

We just got a 30 year old air conditioner/furnace replaced (GE which
apparently went out of the business in the 80s). I called five places -
based on personal recommendations, whether or not I knew they did the
Manual J calculations, and a local consumer guide. One company did not
show up. Of the remaining four, two did thorough Manual J calculations
(they measured, went away and a few days came back with figures to show
us along with a recommendation on size), and other two did quick
calculations of some sort (went to their truck and came back 15 minutes
later).

First, the A/C size recommendations ranged from 2 ton to 3 ton. Looking
at the Manual J figures, we knew we sat just at 2 tons (24,000 lb?).
One company said to go higher at 2 1/2 tons and one recommended to go 2
ton. One quick calculation company recommended 3 ton to give us "space"
(they were immediately eliminated). The second quick calculations guy
came up with 2 1/2 tons - he didn't really justify his recommendations
except by saying he had about 20 years of experience (and to be honest,
he was the only one who was NOT just a salesman - he also did the
installation and service of these units).

Then, there was the price. There was a good $2000 range in the pricing.
It was difficult to compare apples to apples because the warranties
differed as well as the scope of work and maintenance contracts (if any)
as well as any accessories and extras.

Jeanne

Advice on Central Air Conditioner
 

Thanks much for all the good advice.

"Jeanne" wrote in message
. ..
Michael White wrote:
I have a one-story 1,900 sq. ft. house in North Texas. I'm thinking of
replacing my 20-year-old, 3-ton, SEER= 9 Lennox air conditioner.

I've been told to replace it with a 4-ton Bryant unit. Any comments or
recommendations?

Thanks.

Get at least three estimates; more - 4 0r 5 - is better. You'd be
surprised at the variation of recommendations in terms of price, size, and
system configuration.

We just got a 30 year old air conditioner/furnace replaced (GE which
apparently went out of the business in the 80s). I called five places -
based on personal recommendations, whether or not I knew they did the
Manual J calculations, and a local consumer guide. One company did not
show up. Of the remaining four, two did thorough Manual J calculations
(they measured, went away and a few days came back with figures to show us
along with a recommendation on size), and other two did quick calculations
of some sort (went to their truck and came back 15 minutes later).

First, the A/C size recommendations ranged from 2 ton to 3 ton. Looking
at the Manual J figures, we knew we sat just at 2 tons (24,000 lb?). One
company said to go higher at 2 1/2 tons and one recommended to go 2 ton.
One quick calculation company recommended 3 ton to give us "space" (they
were immediately eliminated). The second quick calculations guy came up
with 2 1/2 tons - he didn't really justify his recommendations except by
saying he had about 20 years of experience (and to be honest, he was the
only one who was NOT just a salesman - he also did the installation and
service of these units).

Then, there was the price. There was a good $2000 range in the pricing.
It was difficult to compare apples to apples because the warranties
differed as well as the scope of work and maintenance contracts (if any)
as well as any accessories and extras.

Jeanne

Advice on Central Air Conditioner
 

Why does anyone need a manual J calculation done when they already have
actual data and experience from their existing unit? Certainly you
need to do it for new construction, but if you have an existing 3 ton
unit, the experience with how that has performed IMO is going to be a
lot more accurate than a theoretical calculation.

If you know how the existing system has performed, length of duty cycle
on hot days, and it's specs, then you already have the best guide to
what size unit to replace it with.

Advice on Central Air Conditioner
 

Advice on Central Air Conditioner
 

On 3 Sep 2006 10:23:44 -0700, wrote:

Why does anyone need a manual J calculation done when they already have
actual data and experience from their existing unit? Certainly you
need to do it for new construction, but if you have an existing 3 ton
unit, the experience with how that has performed IMO is going to be a
lot more accurate than a theoretical calculation.

Your points are entirely valid, but some of us are dealing with
indestructable and persevering units like the Williamson forced air
gas furnace from 1963 that we acquired with this 1930 house in 2003,
when we moved in. That baby, lovely and unstoppable as it was, was
significantly oversized for the 3-floor (excluding full basement)
3,000 sf house it was heating, so we decided to remove it and put in a
smaller, but much more efficient furnace. I'm so happy we changed it
out for the 92% efficient 2-stage York gas furnace we're using now
because I really think in just one more year or two we will have
recovered our investment what with the natural gas prices skyrocketing
as they have over the past three years. So, often, a manual J is
needed.