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  1. #1
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    Fucking Global Warmingz-Need AC

    So have any of teh maggots had ac installed in their home? I am getting a 4 ton 18 SEER unit installed for $6,600 I can not take the heat of a San Diego Coastal summer anymore. In the old days it was hot a week or two in September. Now the heat is there July through the end of September, with some hot weeks sprinkled through the year
    So am I getting hosed. The bid is using the existing heater duct work, but includes everything else.
    Quote Originally Posted by leroy jenkins View Post
    I think you'd have an easier time understanding people if you remembered that 80% of them are fucking morons.
    That is why I like dogs, more than most people.

  2. #2
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    I got an estimate last summer and it was in the $5k-$6K range as I recall, but I can't access the specifics right now. My recollection was it was for a 4 ton unit, too. I didn't pull the trigger last year, but hope to before this summer.

  3. #3
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    I always hated the summer months due to the overcast produced from the onshore flow. Made nights unbearable sometimes. When I returned, I had a ceiling fan in my bedroom, and I kept windows open. Worked fine. If I could have done something differently, I would have planted a shade tree or two in the front (west-facing house).

    Do you really feel that you need whole-house cooling? A couple of portable single-room units may suffice?

    BTW- Santee is just as hot and fucking ugly as it's always been. So I wouldn't go blaming global warming yet.
    Daniel Ortega eats here.

  4. #4
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    $3.5k for a 15 SEER (cannot remember the tonnage but probably less than 4, 1,800 ft2 house) 9 years ago. $6.6k for a more efficient, larger unit almost a decade later doesn't seem totally out of bounds.

  5. #5
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    Probably best to SEER clear of Carrier.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by liv2ski View Post
    So have any of teh maggots had ac installed in their home? I am getting a 4 ton 18 SEER unit installed for $6,600 I can not take the heat of a San Diego Coastal summer anymore. In the old days it was hot a week or two in September. Now the heat is there July through the end of September, with some hot weeks sprinkled through the year
    So am I getting hosed. The bid is using the existing heater duct work, but includes everything else.
    First world problems. You live in frickin San Diego....99% of the Earths population would crawl over barbed wire, risk their life's savings with criminal coyotes just for the opportunity to work in an un-air conditioned kitchen to feed you and you're going to f-ing cry about it? F.U. Move north or move to the mountains if you want something cooler

  7. #7
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    just had it installed in October, haven't even used it yet. 2.5 ton, 13 SEER Lennox for $4k.

    Now, the way this always works on TGR is numerous people tell me I got robbed even though I got a number of quotes and went with the lowest one.
    "fuck off you asshat gaper shit for brains fucktard wanker." - Jesus Christ
    "She was tossing her bean salad with the vigor of a Drunken Pop princess so I walked out of the corner and said.... "need a hand?"" - Odin
    "everybody's got their hooks into you, fuck em....forge on motherfuckers, drag all those bitches across the goal line with you." - (not so) ill-advised strategy

  8. #8
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    With low humidity, can go bigger on tons and lower on seer to save money. Juice bill will be about the same with more tons running less.

  9. #9
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    riser4 - Ignore me! Please!

    Kenny Satch - With pleasure

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rednaked View Post
    First world problems. You live in frickin San Diego....99% of the Earths population would crawl over barbed wire, risk their life's savings with criminal coyotes just for the opportunity to work in an un-air conditioned kitchen to feed you and you're going to f-ing cry about it? F.U. Move north or move to the mountains if you want something cooler
    Baaaahaaahaaahaaa........jong, no way Mrs L2S is leaving our cozy beach side home for a place up north or where it snows. Not only can my fat ass not handle heat, but there is teh fur kidz I have to keep comfy.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Quote Originally Posted by leroy jenkins View Post
    I think you'd have an easier time understanding people if you remembered that 80% of them are fucking morons.
    That is why I like dogs, more than most people.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by liv2ski View Post
    In the old days it was hot a week or two in September. Now the heat is there July through the end of September, with some hot weeks sprinkled through the year
    I've noticed that too. I bought a place last winter and one of the main selling points was the whole complex just had new windows/doors and heater/AC paid for by the airport Quieter homes project. I didn't think it was a big deal as I've never had heating or AC in any place I've lived in down here. But I am loving it now... I have trouble sleeping when temps are too warm. My last place didn't drop below 80F even at night from July through Sept. Now I can run the AC for 20min before I go to bed and drop the temp to mid 60s. Total game changer for me.

  12. #12
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    Fucking Global Warmingz-Need AC

    Quote Originally Posted by liv2ski View Post
    Baaaahaaahaaahaaa........jong, no way Mrs L2S is leaving our cozy beach side home for a place up north or where it snows. Not only can my fat ass not handle heat, but there is teh fur kidz I have to keep comfy.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Damn I miss Coronado right now. Is that your yard or is it the park down by N Island?

  13. #13
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    Down here in the dirty south each floor gets it's own HVAC. Needed to replace the upstairs system last year, and did an Amana 3 ton, 16 SEER and and an Amana 2 stage furnace. Under $4 grand. Went with a company that does a lot of commercial business.

    Not sure if it's because A/C is a way of life here so there's tons of competition, but I only got 3 bids and this was the middle one that offered the best equipment.

    YMMV apparently.
    I still call it The Jake.

  14. #14
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    Sounds about right, maybe little over but for your area it's probably standard
    watch out for snakes

  15. #15
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    Have you considered a heat pump? I don't know how hot you're talking about it getting, or if it gets cold enough in the winter to even need any sort of heating, but I was thrilled with the small ductless one I had in MT. They use less juice than AC, and there were a ton of rebates and tax incentives for installing them, so the one my landlord bought went from being $3500 to somewhere between $500-$800.
    Quote Originally Posted by Smoke
    Cell phones are great in the backcountry. If you're injured, you can use them to play Tetris, which helps pass the time while waiting for cold embrace of Death to envelop you.

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by steepconcrete View Post
    Damn I miss Coronado right now. Is that your yard or is it the park down by N Island?
    Shit, I wish my back yard was that YUGE!!! But no, it is the dog park down at the Cays. And Evdog sealed the deal, sleeping when it is 90 in my room is impossible. Farmer, I thought a heat pump was for heating the home??? I will check it out though.
    Quote Originally Posted by leroy jenkins View Post
    I think you'd have an easier time understanding people if you remembered that 80% of them are fucking morons.
    That is why I like dogs, more than most people.

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by farmer View Post
    Have you considered a heat pump? I don't know how hot you're talking about it getting, or if it gets cold enough in the winter to even need any sort of heating, but I was thrilled with the small ductless one I had in MT. They use less juice than AC, and there were a ton of rebates and tax incentives for installing them, so the one my landlord bought went from being $3500 to somewhere between $500-$800.
    ^^This, i'm pretty sure you're talking about a mini split heat pump. They use way less juice than a standard central air set up and cost much less to install. They do work better in an open floor plan as there is typically just one indoor console (head) although you can get multi-head systems that run off one central outdoor unit. Lots of good brands: Mitsubishi, LG, Daikin,Fujitsu etc.
    "It's like we're watching a movie... and then suddenly we're acting in it."

  18. #18
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    As you already have ductwork Mitsubishi also makes a split heat pump system which uses an indoor coil / air handler instead of a wall mount head unit. This system will heat and cool and is the most efficient way to do so.

  19. #19
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    OK, I have seen those in hotels, but don't you need one for pretty much every room? I looked at the above from Mitsubishi and they were about $2k per unit installed and definitely would not cool the entire house.
    Quote Originally Posted by leroy jenkins View Post
    I think you'd have an easier time understanding people if you remembered that 80% of them are fucking morons.
    That is why I like dogs, more than most people.

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by ctsmith View Post
    As you already have ductwork Mitsubishi also makes a split heat pump system which uses an indoor coil / air handler instead of a wall mount head unit. This system will heat and cool and is the most efficient way to do so.
    Not familiar with a split system. The point is, when it's 100 degrees outside and 90 in the house, what system is going to bring me down to 75 degrees the most cost effectively? And I don't live in a 1 room yurt.
    Quote Originally Posted by leroy jenkins View Post
    I think you'd have an easier time understanding people if you remembered that 80% of them are fucking morons.
    That is why I like dogs, more than most people.

  21. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by ctsmith View Post
    As you already have ductwork Mitsubishi also makes a split heat pump system which uses an indoor coil / air handler instead of a wall mount head unit. This system will heat and cool and is the most efficient way to do so.
    Not really sure what you're getting at here. He has ductwork already and wants to cool the whole place. That's an application for a standard central AC or heat pump. Whather Mitsubishi makes the most-efficent ones I don't know but there's not much difference in efficiency amng the better units from the better brands.

    Heat pumps aren't any more efficient than central AC's and they cost more. But they can both heat and cool, which is their main advantage. If your heating system is on its last legs then a heat pump would be a natural choice.

    There's some discussion up there ^^ about split systems, which can be either AC or heat pumps. They are not any more efficent than other units, but if you're cooling (or heating) a smaller space they can be cheap to run. They aren't super-cheap to install especially if you need multiple units. There are also hybrid split sytems where you can run multiple indoor wall units off a single outdoor unit but L2S would have to tear his place up to install the piping so I'm gonna say that's out.

    Geothermal heat pumps is a whole 'nother discussion, but almost certainly L2S isn't a candidate for one of them anyways.

    Considering the existing ductwork and desire to cool the whole place a standard AC or heat pump (if he wants heat) is the way to go here imo.

  22. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by balefulstare View Post
    ^^This, i'm pretty sure you're talking about a mini split heat pump. They use way less juice than a standard central air set up and cost much less to install. They do work better in an open floor plan as there is typically just one indoor console (head) although you can get multi-head systems that run off one central outdoor unit. Lots of good brands: Mitsubishi, LG, Daikin,Fujitsu etc.
    2 of those in 3 ton units, are going to cost me 8k installed.
    "I don't pretend to have all the answers, and I think there's something to be said for that" -One For The Road

    Brain dead and made of money.

  23. #23
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    Again, the perception that they use less juice than a standard AC is skewed. Cheaper to install if you don't have ductwork, hell yeah. Cheaper to get cool air to specific areas, also yes. But to cool a specific number of square feet head to head they're not any more efficient at all.

  24. #24
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    just a few observations: my family lived in solana beach in the late '80s/early '90s. We had central a/c but only turned it on once or twice a year to make sure it worked. So, yeah, fuck global warming.

    I replaced two zones of a/c using existing ductwork in dc about 4-5 years ago. I think we paid 3 grand+ a pop, installed. I priced out a mini-split for our finished attic while we were there because we didn't have the ductwork. The mini-splits were popular in some of the urban neighborhoods where people were renovating 19th century houses built before ductwork, but it wasn't a good deal for us because we had the ducts in .75 of the house already. That would've been 4 grand so we went with a portable unit attached to a dormer window for 400 bucks or so. The house was 2000 square feet finished and had radiator heat.

    I recently priced a whole house a/c using existing ductwork for our place in park city. We are in the same shoes as you: historically, you wouldn't need a/c here, but recent years have started to get uncomfortable. It was 5 grandish for something adequate for our 2000 square feet. I'm probably going to deal with it and hope this coming summer is better.

    Long story short: your rationale for the purchase and the price you were quoted seem reasonable to me.

  25. #25
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    Bump for hot season! I could use a sanity check on replacing AC in Denver-ish. Got a quote for $12K to replace existing system with a 3-ton 13 SEER unit and air handler, which sounds insane compared to the (admittedly dated) #s thrown around in this thread

    However, there are the following potential mitigating factors:
    - Cramped space: The air handler is in a super shallow attic -- they'll need a child to crawl around up there, which I figure comes at a premium
    - Duct work: Adding one return (going from 1 to 2), sealing and potentially replacing existing ducts because the air currently coming out of the current unit smells like blown attic insulation
    - I really like the company -- they've treated me well on heating work, particularly when stuck to their ~$300 quote for a "heating outage check-up" that ended up with the owner spending the better part of a weekend tearing up walls to locate and fix a burst pipe (but that was 5+ years ago). I've known that they're more expensive but more professional than average

    Add'l fun facts:
    - ~1700 sq ft single story, want potential to expand to ~2500 (sideways, not up)
    - Separate AC unit -- have hot water/glycol baseboard heat. That will need some service soon, too, but I don't see a reasonably-priced route to combine heating and AC systems

    Not looking to spend a month collecting bids to save a few hundred, just want to make sure i'm not off by 50%+. Also, can I expect to save significantly if I wait out AC season?

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