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Heating & Air Conditioning

Question about return duct work $ and efficiency

16 years ago

Hi all, hope you can help me here--this may be a bit long for background, etc.

I have a 32 yr old 2 story house in MA with forced hot air heat and central air. I've been here for 3 years. We did some remodeling a year ago and had a company add some duct work for a/c for a seperately heated (hot water) sunroom/office addition by the PO.

We also had this company clean our ducts after construction and they found that the upstairs cold air return duct had never been hooked up (32 yrs ago). The duct ran down to the living room where it was just hanging open as it hit a return in the wall of the living room.

I just got a price for closing off the return in the living room (there are 2 others within 4 and 8 feet) and creating the duct work to hook it up. It seems high, but what do I know about it?? :-)

Also will this increase the efficiency of my systems (heat and a/c??) I'm running on natural gas (the house is approx 2400 sq ft--I think the upstairs is about 750 sq ft)

I like this compnay and thought they were a *bit* high for other work, but was willing to pay a bit extra for peace of mind and professionalism, but I wonder if I'm being zip-coded.

here's the quote:

Removal of a section of return duct work for access to the return riser and removal of the duct going to the low side wall grille in the living room to make room for the new duct connection

Shop fabrication of duct work as follows - special offset adapter, straight duct section, flexible connector and access panel

Installation of the ductwork to complete the retie in of the 2nd floor return

Total Investment: $1,353.00

They also quoted me for nat gas water heater replacement (it is 12 yrs old). I had a 40 gal replaced 6 years ago across townn at my old hosue for about $800 IIRC

40 gal--$1300

50 gal--$1500

any advce appreciated -- and I apologize if I don't get back immediately as we are ahving serious cable issues and they are working on the street today..

Nancy

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Comments (4)

bob_brown
16 years ago
The duct work sounds expensive for N. Texas, but in your area it could be good. Also depending on the time needed to do the boot and register, it could be vwery fair.

Water heaters have doubled in price in the last year. I did a 40 gallon electric and a 40 gallon gas a few weeks ago. The gas cost about $140 to the customer. (It was 11 years old) Kinda dumb, but the customer is cheap. The electric cost about $250 from Home Depot including connectors. It took about 1 hour to install. He was billed $75. He griped about the install price. I used a SS 15 inch braided connector from Home Depot. The gasket in the connector was too thin and failed twice with that install. Another repair I made, the gasket failed. The gasket is soft rubber as thick as a hose washer. For hot water it is not good enough. Home Depot was not interested in heatring my complaints. I would say that for a Homeowner, they would probably be right, but for an exparienced plumber, it is not acceptable materials.
namabafo
Original Author
16 years ago
thanks for your reply, bob...hard to compare N TX with MA, but more than 3x more expensive?? hmmm

back to the efficiency question...I've been heating/cooling *without* any air return duct from upstairs--will hooking it up make that much of a difference in my bills to make the $1300 outlay worthwhile?
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Call another contractor. That one clearly isn't interested in anything but a quick sell and run, as you surmised. Yes, a manual J should be done. That will reveal how big the unit should be. Once that is know, the HVAC person can determine if the existing ducts are adequate or not. He should also evaluate their condition. Your plan to replace the undoubtedly leaky jalousie windows in the future should be considered carefully. That and some other possible upgrades should tighten the house considerably, which means the heat load in a few years will be less than it is today. That will impact the sizing equation. Because of this you may be a candidate for a 2 stage system. Unfortunately, they cost more than a plain vanilla single stage system, but you really don't want to be oversized in a humid climate like Florida. In any event, get another contractor or two in there.
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daddo
16 years ago
I just couldn't say if that return is going to make a big difference, because I don't know if it were pulling air from the attic or just the open wall space. If it were pulling from the attic- yes, it will make a huge difference, but also that means the indoor coil will need serious cleaning as well.
For the water heaters- I wouldn't even consider replacing one for less than $120.00. If I have to use my truck and time to go get one, drain the old one and haul it off, install the new one and garrantee everything on the install, it's at least $200.00.
Do all of that work for $75.00 and get a complaint? I'd be sure and tell them not to bother calling me for anything else- period.
namabafo
Original Author
16 years ago
right now--there is NO return AT ALL from the upstairs or the attic. just the unconnected duct work to a large grille in the wall in the upstairs hallway.

There are 5 smaller returns on the 1st floor that are connected to the system.

so I guess I'm being sc&^%ed if I pay $1300 for a water heater??? They quoted me for a Bradford-White if that makes any difference.

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