Central Air -replacement costs

[tommie frazier]

looking at replacing the central air unit we have. duct work and furnace are fine. just need to replace the 25 year old unit we have.

I think it is about 30,000 BTUs (roughly 2.5 tons) someone told me.

what do these things cost? what do I need to consider and/or worry about?

many thanks.

[Steve Grondin]

25 YO system???? That's amazing. New systems (you will need both exchanger and compressor) will be expensive (I haven't priced them so I can only guess, 5-6K maybe), but they have much better energy efficiency. SEER 13 is now the standard, 25 YO system may only be SEER 6-7 equivalent. If you're in the South, you might make that back quickly given how energy costs are going to double or triple in the next 5 years (my personal ).

[Feif]

I live in an apartment in a complex that has units which must be well over 50 years old. The landlord keeps repairing them, never wants to replace them. Well, one apartment's unit died this past winter so they had no heat, and he finally bought them a new unit. Their bill immediately dropped by over $100.
My unit isn't working now, it won't turn on most of the time no matter what I set the thermostat to, and when it is on, the air it puts out isn't cold. My landlord keeps telling me he'll have a guy come look at it, but so far it hasn't happened.

[LoneGirl]

I replaced my 23-year-old Central Air and furnace last year. Even the heating and air guys couldn't believe the thing was still running! Anyway, I paid $6900 for both. I think the Central Air portion was a little more than the furnace, so I would guess around $4000 maybe for the air conditioner alone.

[hardinda]

I have a dual zone system and one of my units has to be original to the house. It's 26 years old and still kicking. We are gonna replace it eventually, but hope it lasts through the year and we can pickup the normal Feb/March sales on A/C units.

[tommie frazier]

phew, this is reassuring. I was quoted something by one place (rated high by some local consumer club, etc.) but you never know. no one I know replaced one recently.

yeah, the serial number on the current unit suggests it is from 1982.

total cost, including duct clean out, is 5k. SEER "up to 16", but more likely in the 13-14 range.

[hardinda]

Another thing is have you done a blower door test on your house? I recently did one and found out I have some major leakage going on through the ducts and other places in the house. It's normal to have recycled air in the house, but too much and your are essentially cooling outside when your A/C is on, if you haven't had one of these tests done, I'd suggest atleast looking at it.

There were some projects I could fix myself (attic stair cover and whole house fan cover) and others it would have to be done professionally (leaks in the duct work due to bad seals).

I'm slowly going to fix all the issues as it will end up saving me $$$ in the long run due to lower electric bills.

[Mopus]

Originally Posted by tommie frazier

total cost, including duct clean out, is 5k. SEER "up to 16", but more likely in the 13-14 range.

I'm replacing furnace and AC in the next week or so. 4 ton AC and 120K btu furnace, together with sundries (humidifier, thermostat, ...) kicks in at a bit over 12000 cdn. IIRC the AC alone is in the 5K range.

[Dr T Non-Fan]

Check on-line for prices of units.
Check Home Depot.
Check Lowe's.
Check local A/C installer guy.

Do you need two? Upper and lower kind of deal? Upstairs generally needs more A/C, but only needs it when someone is actually upstairs (at night, mainly). Otherwise, you keep that one at 82 degrees or so during the day. Having two smaller units instead of one large one can help to cut overuse costs.
And definitely check the ducts. No need to cool the attic or the inside of walls or the garage. My parents had a horrible leak in their attic. Duct to their bedroom was broken.

[Jack]

Is central air worth the expense? I've got window units they work fine. I've thought about getting central air but something else always comes up.