made ac purchase, your comments welcome

Rumpole · 06-06-2009, 11:32 AM

I recently made an "on the spot" decision to purchase a new AC unit for my home when faced with the cost of repairing the old unit. Of course NOW, I'm trying to research if I made a good decision.

I have a 1200 sq ft home that is 15 years old and is fairly well insulated. In comparison to my friends with similar homes my utility bill is pretty low. I live near the southern tip of Lake Michigan, so I figure I only need AC 3 months out of the year tops, and I am conservative about usage.

I was sold a 2 ton Goodman 13 seer AC installed for $1400.00.

First is 13 seer that bad? I figure I need to consider the cost of a higher seer unit for the amount of time I actually use it. Five years ago when I bought the home a 12 seer wasn't considered all that bad.

yuri · 06-06-2009, 02:54 PM

For that price you must have got the outdoor condensor only and that is a good deal. 13 SEER is the standard and you are good with that, in Florida/Texas they would appreciate 15 SEER or higher.

Rumpole · 06-06-2009, 02:59 PM

yuri,

Thanks for the response. I do feel a bit better!

ok, what do you mean by, outdoor condensor only?

yuri · 06-06-2009, 04:24 PM

The unit that sits outside. The freon lines and evaporator coil inside the furnace are probably the original. A complete system starts at $2500 - $3000.

Yoyizit · 06-06-2009, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rumpole

so I figure I only need AC 3 months out of the year tops, and I am conservative about usage.
I figure I need to consider the cost of a higher seer unit for the amount of time I actually use it. Five years ago when I bought the home a 12 seer wasn't considered all that bad.

From Wiki
The annual total cooling output would be:

24kBTU/h * 8 h/day * 90 days = 17.3E5 BTU
With a SEER of 12, the . . . electrical energy usage would be about:
17.3E5/12 BTU/W·h = 144kwh
and 133 kwh for SEER of 13.

But your system may only run half of the 8 hours each day.

Do these cooling degree days sound about right?

6/1/08 234
7/1/08 330
8/1/08 275
9/1/08 140
10/1/08 29
11/1/08 7
12/1/08 0
1/1/09 0
2/1/09 0
3/1/09 4
4/1/09 21
5/1/09 61

I'd be more worried about reliability going down and parts cost going up as SEER goes up.

hvaclover · 06-06-2009, 09:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yuri

The unit that sits outside. The freon lines and evaporator coil inside the furnace are probably the original. A complete system starts at $2500 - $3000.

Your high for a two ton Yuri. Around here its' more like 1800 to 2000.

hvaclover · 06-06-2009, 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoyizit

From Wiki
The annual total cooling output would be:

24kBTU/h * 8 h/day * 90 days = 17.3E5 BTU
With a SEER of 12, the . . . electrical energy usage would be about:
17.3E5/12 BTU/W·h = 144kwh
and 133 kwh for SEER of 13.

But your system may only run half of the 8 hours each day.

Do these cooling degree days sound about right?

6/1/08 234
7/1/08 330
8/1/08 275
9/1/08 140
10/1/08 29
11/1/08 7
12/1/08 0
1/1/09 0
2/1/09 0
3/1/09 4
4/1/09 21
5/1/09 61

I'd be more worried about reliability going down and parts cost going up as SEER goes up.

The OP was asking about price. Your stuck in heat load and U factor gear from talking to Been.

peterk · 06-06-2009, 09:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoyizit

24kBTU/h * 8 h/day * 90 days = 17.3E5 BTU
With a SEER of 12, the . . . electrical energy usage would be about:
17.3E5/12 BTU/W·h = 144kwh
and 133 kwh for SEER of 13.

24kBTU/h * 8 h/day * 90 days = 17.3E6 BTU

1,440 kWh for 12 SEER, 1,330 kWh for 13.

**beenthere** · 06-06-2009, 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hvaclover

the op was asking about price. Your stuck in heat load and u factor gear from talking to been.

lol...

hvaclover · 06-06-2009, 09:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peterk

24kBTU/h * 8 h/day * 90 days = 17.3E6 BTU

1,440 kWh for 12 SEER, 1,330 kWh for 13.

Aw ggeeezzz!!!! Pete found us!

Dude we are talking about local pricing here in MI not what our utilities cost for a given SEER rating.
Please stay on topic.

yuri · 06-06-2009, 10:31 PM

Clover, you should charge more $$ LOL.

We can easily sell Lennox units for $3000-$4000. We are a VERY well established company and people are willing to spend more for that. I guess it depends on what your market will bear.

Yoyizit · 06-07-2009, 12:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peterk

24kBTU/h * 8 h/day * 90 days = 17.3E6 BTU

1,440 kWh for 12 SEER, 1,330 kWh for 13.

I used to be able to do numbers.

**beenthere** · 06-07-2009, 08:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoyizit

I used to be able to do numbers.

Maybe you didn't have enough HDD samples to be within your 2% statistical accuracey.

Yoyizit · 06-07-2009, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beenthere

Maybe you didn't have enough HDD samples to be within your 2% statistical accuracey.

Nah, this time I'll blame low batteries in my calculator.

**beenthere** · 06-07-2009, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoyizit

Nah, this time I'll blame low batteries in my calculator.

LOL... yea. I've had weak batteries cause trouble with meters and calculators also.