Our Bryant Coastal AC 4 ton unit developed a problem after the air handler was removed and re-installed during a renovation. The unit is 8 years old. Replacement cost is $6,000. We opted to have the blower motor and capacitor replaced for $600. Now five days later the outside unit is not working. I remember having been told that the compressor and evaporator runs around $2000 to replace. This is not a full time residence so the SEER improvement would take a very long time to be cost effective. Since the air handler is basically new, is it a sound choice to repair the outside unit for 1/3 of the cost of replacement of the system? I need to make a decision quite soon.

Replace with correctly sized 13 SEER condenser and matching coil. Quality not POJ. IMO

I am not-repeat not-a professional or expert, just a homeowner like yourself. Jost some ideas.... The edges: If it were mine, I think I would just tape and mud the wall and ceiling as best I could, and then cover the wall-ceiling joint crack with a crown molding or maybe even just some quarter-round stock. Light fixtures: On This Old House, when they have to make this cut in drywall, they use a special power tool with a spiral cutting bit that look like a drill bit, that guides on the inside edge of the metal fixture mounting box in the wall or ceiiling. Looks like you did this by hand with a keyhole saw or something similar. From what little I know about it, I'm not sure you can fix this with tape and mud. Again, if it were mine, I think what I would do is go down to Lowe's and buy an inexpensive plastic ceiling medallion, just big enough to cover the ragged part, and install that above the light fixture. It may be a bit "grand" for what looks like a pretty small room, but it's a lot less trouble than tearing out the ceiling and trying again.

My current system has the Carrier thermidistat, that can monitor temp and humidity, as well control the HP and Furnace, or at least I think it can. I am not sure where the programming for switch points and such are in my current system, I was a lot more trusting back then. As far as the duct work I know the supply duct work was redone with the last system and increased in size greatly. The one contractor did check under the house to take a quick look at the ducts. The reason I was given for the high install price of just the HP and coil was that they would have to uninstall and re-install the furnace to perform the installation. Then it just became the cost of the new furnace while doing the work. I thought it was very high but the quote have all been what I thought to be very high. I know that I have been concerned about the sizing, as it seemed quite large. I have asked the one contractor about the furnace size and he is going to look at that. He did tell me that they usually just match the furnace to the HP, at the same size since the cooling is more critical here. Also, the furnace can modulate down to a lower capacity to save energy and keep the comfort at a certain level. I have a feeling that the contractor is frustrated with my asking lots of questions, but I try to be an educated consumer and this is turning out being a larger purchase that expected. I know that I have tried contacting 3 more contractors and they have not returned the emails or calls, it has been 2-3 days now. I am not sure how far out I should look for a contractor, Raleigh is about an hour away from me and not sure how many would be willing to travel for the job, or how responsive could they be if a problem arose. I appreciate everyone's insight and advice.