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Heating & Air Conditioning

Should I replace my 15 yr old furnace/AC

16 years ago

Last year I had to replace my 2nd floor Furnace/Ac (cracked heat exchanger), Carrier 1.5 ton and 40,000BTU. I have never been satisfied with the temperature management on the first floor and the Carrier dealer suggested a solution might be replacing my current system with an Infinity 96 3 ton/80,000BTU system. Total cost $4,400. The issues I am trying to address are: 1st floor bedroom doesn't get adequate heat in the winter. And,if there are more than 6 people in the house during peak summer the AC runs contiuously and won't cool below 77 degrees. The combined 1st and 2nd floor is 2,800 sq ft and the finished lower level is another 1,200 sq ft. Would replacing the 15 year old system adress these problems?

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Comments (4)

garyg
16 years ago
How many systems do you have now? 1 system for the entire 2800 + 1200 = 4000 square feet? You would need to either zone the system with dampers or have 2 separate systems. You will always have 5 to 7 degree temperature differences between floors using one non-zoned system.
jwalker678
Original Author
16 years ago
I have two now: 3ton/80,00BTU and 1.5ton/40,000BTU. The Carrier guy suggested that the new system with the continuous flow option might be a solution for the uneven temperature.
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doobzz
16 years ago
For $4000 he thinks you "might" have a solution? Wow. Did the guy do a heat/loss analysis? He wants to give you the same size furnace. What is the continuous flow option? Is that a variable speed blower? I think a VS blower run all the time will help to even out temps, but what i cannot get is that an 80k system is having a hard time heating 1200ft of space. My whole house is heated with a 100k system and its 1800ft. I never have more than a 3 degree temp diff btw floors if at all. I did however focus on insulation and draft blocking (real cheap to do) to get that. Heat wise is there something special about that bedroom that it wont heat? Ductwork issues: loose boot at register or going thru uninsulated walls? What does the room look like. Are there dropped ceilings is it under an attic space etc. Are the walls insulated or does it have a million windows. So many questions and probably cheaper to find solutions to your problem than dishing out 4k.
bonanza_stu
16 years ago
If your contractor told you that the 80K Btu furnace is 96% AFUE, he is not being truthful.

The only,Infinity 96, 96% furnace Carrier makes is 40,000 Btu's . the rest are less than 95%

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