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Heating & Air Conditioning

HVAC Quote Questions

8 years ago

My 3,000 sq ft home is 20 years old and has the original rudd heating and ac. The AC is a 5 ton unit. The water Heater is 11 years old. The house has a weathermaker two zone system with ECOBEE thermostats controlling each zone.

This past summer the coil began to leak and rather then continue to repair an aging system, I decided to replace all of the components since they are all towards the end of their service life.

I received a quote for carrier equipment. The want me to step down in size from a 5 ton to a 4 ton.

The quote:

59SP5080-21-21 ECM 96% 80,000 BTU Furnace

48,000 BTU Two Stage AC 24ACB748A003

CNPVP4821ala SEER 16 EER 12.5 Coil

Bypass Humidifier 17 gal HUMCCLBP2417

Air Purifier PGAPAXXX2025CA (2000 CFM)

Carrier UV treatment One bulb UVLCC1LP1020

Navien Tankless WH NNPE-240-ANG- EF .9

Quoted Price is $17,500

My concerns are

1: Is the 4 ton too small? I have a lot of returns and vents about 28 vents and 6 returns, can a 4 ton handle that many?

2; Am I getting hosed? Seems like a high price for the carrier mid line equipment.

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Comments (9)

mike_home
8 years ago
What is you location? What a load calculation done? What thermostat has been quoted.

Most likely the right size for the AC is in the 3.5-4 ton range. A 5 ton AC would seem over sized.

It is difficult to comment on price because the tankless hot water heater is included. Even removing that the price does seem high. I would drop the UV light. It just a maintenance headache which does little for you. Is the air purifier an electronic cleaner? I would trade that in for a 4 inch media filter box.

Are you having humidity problems in the winter? Low humidity is usually caused by air infiltration. I would rather see you spend money in making the house tighter than adding a humidifier.

The Carrier 59SP5 furnace is a single stage model. I have concerns how it will work with your two zone system when only one zone is calling for heat. I think a 2-stage funace (multi or variable speed) would work more efficiently and quieter.
aiacobone43
Original Author
8 years ago
The load calcs were done, one called quote called for a 4 ton the other a 5 ton, the 5 ton was based/modified on the amount of registers.

The water heater is about $3500 as a stand alone item so figure $14,000 for heating and AC. The thermostats are ECOBEE's and are currently installed, I'm keeping those.The air purifier is electronic and the current system has a 5 inch media filter box.

Thanks for the comments much appreciated.
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The indoor and outdoor temperatures will affect the load calculation. The numbers I quoted are the industry standard, but they can be changed to something else. A change of one or two degrees up or down are not going to make a big difference. So if they use 68 degrees in the winter, and you like it to be 70, then the furnace or heat pump will have to produce more heat to raise the house those 2 degrees. It should not matter unless the amount of heat the equipment produced was very close to the calculation. For the summer if they used 75, and you like 74, then the house will need a little more cooling than calculated. Again I would not worry about it because the cooling load is increased by a lot for sensible and latent cooling. You really want to understand what's going on with the insulation. You pay a premium for spray foam so you want your money's worth. A good strategy for a big house is to spend extra money on upgrading insulation values so that the energy bills will be lower. You want to confirm this is being done correctly. Otherwise you will have had made the extra investment will little return. There is no excuse not to do the calculations as accurate as possible. Changing the orientation is very easy. If he complains about that then you I foresee you are going to have bigger problems later.
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tigerdunes
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Location?... I would want another quote either from Carrier or sister company Bryant dealer for comparison purposes....I also suggest a quote from a plumbing company for the HW heater...I agree with Mike. I don't like that furnace selection.

IMO
aiacobone43
Original Author
8 years ago
South Jersey. Sorry
aiacobone43
Original Author
8 years ago
the 17.5 quote was the lower of 2 from completing Carrier dealers. The other was 1500 higher.
weedmeister
8 years ago
I agree that with a zoned system a multi-stage unit would be better.

In S. J, near shore or farther away? It might make a difference.
aiacobone43
Original Author
8 years ago
Im closer to Philadelphia than AC. Definitely inland.
mike_home
8 years ago
Are you getting the tankless water heater in order to qualify for the NJ Energy Star program? Be aware that the prices under these programs are often inflated. People tend to buy things they don't need in order to qualify for a bigger rebate. I live in NJ and I am familiar on how it works. I personally don't care for it. I think most people are better off buying an HVAC system through a qualified dealer and not use the program.

The number of registers has no affect on the load calculation. The is a another calculation that should also be done. Some contractors do calculations because they are forced to do them under the energy star program. They either don't know how to do the calculations or don't want to spend the time to do it correctly. You know one of the calculations has to be wrong, and a good chance they are both wrong.

If you live near Mercer county I can send the contact of the Carrier dealer I use.
aiacobone43
Original Author
8 years ago
I'm down in Gloucester County but I do appreciate the offer. Thanks.

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