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Heating & Air Conditioning

Nashville floods - need to replace air conditioner, have ???

14 years ago

Hi everyone,

I am very active in the kitchen and cooking forums so it was an obvious choice to come looking here for advice.

My mom and sisters house was flooded with almost 4 feet of water in the recent floods. Fortunately no-one was home at the time so everyone is OK. We do not know exactly how long there was standing water but estimate between 24 and 36 hours.

The air conditioner needs to be replaced. I am leery of scam and con artists and hope you can help.

The condo is about 2000 feet with 1500 square feet on the first floor and 500 square feet in a loft room. All the living space is downstairs - the loft is a recreational room not used very frequently.

The HVAC guy who was there today was pushing a high efficiency system that has a $1500 tax credit. He was on about that tax credit like you couldn't believe.

His quote is for a RHEEM 3.5 ton unit, split gas, installation included, 10 yr parts/labor warranty. Also includes return "something" downstairs treated for mold and bacteria and removal of all old equipment. This unit is $6800. He also has a 13 SEER system available for $5400.

Do these quotes sound reasonable? Is the unit proposed overkill, adequate or inadequate?

Any help and advice would be appreciated as rush decisions need to be made without much time for researching each major decision involved in the cleanup.

Keep in mind all the walls are open in the entire unit up to 4 feet from the floor

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Comments (3)

weedmeister
14 years ago
Do you know the size of the old unit? 3.5 tons sounds a bit large for the space, but it would depend on insulation, windows and build quality of the condo.

And is the condo association responsible for the AC?
tigerdunes
14 years ago
loves2cook

what size are you replacing? how do you heat?

is this AC or HP?

if you heat with furnace, what is brand, model, age?

post back.

IMO
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Hi April, In your past posts you stated the house has 2400 sq. ft. It is difficult for anyone on this forum to state what is the correct size for your air conditioner. The load calculation is the only way to do this properly. I would have much more faith in the contractor who took detailed measurements. It is likely the cooling load somewhere between 3 and 4 tons. One contractor may be rounding up, and the other down. The 2-stage Infinity AC would be a good choice. On the low stage it would be operating around 2.8 tons. You would be comfortable and do a great job of removing humidity. How many days a year does the temperature go above 90 degrees in the summer? I personally think a 21 SEER system is overkill for your part of the country. It is unlikely you will ever see a pay back of the additional cost over the 16 SEER unit.
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To be clear I did NOT say that they INSTALLLED the $30 thermostat for $200. I said they sold me a $30 thermostat for $200! The INSTALLATION and the SERVICE CALL were TOTALLY different charges so the whole thing was about $600 (and it conked out 3 days later so changing the thermostat didn't fix the problem,and so much for thier "diagnosis") so I DO think that the people I dealt with were thieves. I find it interesting that you would jump to such an erroneous conclusion as to me being difficult being the problem. That was REAL helpful. What I had hoped for was somewhere to start educating myself about what to look for in a good central air conditioner and what factors make one better than another, and if there ARE any REAL hazards about one kind of system over another (although I find that unlikely in refridgeration but I don't know which is why I'm asking). Otherwise the NEXT few people I deal with may try to convince me that System X will explode,and that is why Sytem Y which THEY install is better. Thanks
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Tigerdunes, I am having a 2.5 tom replaced. The home is 3400 sq. ft. but this AC is for the upstairs only, I'm guessing 12-1400 sq. ft. The thermostat is icomfort Wi-FiÃÂ® Touchscreen Thermostat Include Merv 11 air filtration system I have discussed the humidity with the HVAC company. I have no idea of the typical run tines, but it is NOT cyclling on and off. The reason for the replacement is multiple leaks in the condenser. They added 5 lbs. of freon to tide us over, to be recovered and credited back to up with new installation. Is there any other information I can provide. Thank you and this forum for any assistance. I am very grateful there is a place to go for people that are HVAC challanged (idiots like me). Christine
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loves2cook4six
Original Author
14 years ago
Sorry, I really did not mean to post and run but other things required dealing with first.

I know bsolutely nothing about air conditioners so took this picture of the Bryant unit that is there now:

Answering some other questions...the place is almost gutted, insulation will need to be replaced in every single wall, from about 4 feet down, some windows that were blown out by flood water will also need to be replaced. As to build quality, it's still standing LOL.

tigerdunes, not sure what AC or HP mean hence the picture. The furnace is a Bryant gas, coil is from Bryant as well. installed around 1996 and appears to be fine.

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