I NEED AN Air Conditioner!!

[Rule35]

no clue what size, or what to look for.

My house is 2 story
3200sq feet+1600 sq ft basement.

any advice would be appreciated.

I was quoted $3200 for a 3.5 tonne

HEEEEELLLPPPPP:hyper:

[owenmxz600]

well if you need one right away, just open a window...:hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :p

[bigbertha]

no clue what size, or what to look for.

My house is 2 story
3200sq feet+1600 sq ft basement.

any advice would be appreciated.

I was quoted $3200 for a 3.5 tonne

HEEEEELLLPPPPP:hyper:
Haven't had to put one in recently but sounds about right. I am not sure what the latest technology is but with a house that big, what you will find is the basement and main floor will be frozen and your upstairs will be HOT HOT HOT. Make sure you ask them how they can ensure the rooms upstairs to stay cool (especially the rooms that face east and west) without having the thing run 24/7. I find that the price is usually negotiable as well as get some freebies from them, e.g an electronic air filter.

[nearace]

what area are you in as i have a few friends in the business?

[3whack]

I need one too. Had been thinking about seeing what kind of deals might be available before Spring. I am in the Avenue/Lawrence area.

[nearace]

had mine put in with new condenser and new copper 1 story bungalow under 1000 dollars

[3whack]

Sounds like a great price. Any recommendations?

[nearace]

depends on you he will recomend what you need one story or two story house how many square feet pm me with name and number .and i will pass it on.

[rotator]

Other than size, energy efficiency of unit should be factored.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SEER

Also re size (BTU/tons), you should get a proper calculation provided by the contractor for your specific house and conditions, based on industry standards.

Just for your interest, here's a discussion on calculating HVAC. There are many other similar discussions. It's a US website, but it would still be relevant here. It touches on why it's important (as the poster above points out, you want as balanced a system as possible, otherwise you are not going to be happy). Note the last post.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/hvac/msg1221344831401.html

I know it may be way too much info for your case, and you don't want to go too far overboard in making your decisions, but take what you want from it.

A full formal design may be too much to ask for, but the contractor should show you something that details how he arrived at the size. Did he note the size of the rooms, the windows, doors, construction of house, insulation, supply and return ducts...? No reason for you to be asking us if the size is OK for your house. The professional is supposed to show you.

I understand that too large an unit is not good, not only because of the waste of money. I guess that dampness in the house would be one problem.

[leftintherough]

no clue what size, or what to look for.

My house is 2 story
3200sq feet+1600 sq ft basement.

any advice would be appreciated.

I was quoted $3200 for a 3.5 tonne

HEEEEELLLPPPPP:hyper:

A proper load calculation is only one part of the equation. You should start with a professional HVAC sales associate who can and should do some of the following.
1) Perform a proper Heat gain calculation.
2) Determine your wants, needs, budget, and how long you plan to reside at this residence
3) Review your current CAC installation and issues (if applicable)
4) Review you furnace installation and duct system
5) Provide more than one choice of CAC, look for a good, better, best offering with different warranty lengths.
6) Provide good financing options to suit your budget

The company should be a reputable one and should be able to provide references and a long list of satisfied customers. They should have a good service department that is factory trained and have all required licenses including their refrigeration mechanics license, gas licenses and TSSA registration. The last and most critical is a good team of installers. Most of the HVAC OEM manufacturers produce some very good equipment. But it can be reduced to "garbage" staus very quicklyt with a poor installation and/or poor installation practices.

Never should you purchase solely on price point.

Here is a good website to review the horror stories and dumb questions.

http://hvac-talk.com/vbb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=1


I know it may be way too much info for your case, and you don't want to go too far overboard in making your decisions, but take what you want from it.

A full formal design may be too much to ask for, but the contractor should show you something that details how he arrived at the size. Did he note the size of the rooms, the windows, doors, construction of house, insulation, supply and return ducts...? No reason for you to be asking us if the size is OK for your house. The professional is supposed to show you.

I understand that too large an unit is not good, not only because of the waste of money. I guess that dampness in the house would be one problem.

Good post however, to clarify:

A formal design or blueprint is not required for add-on central air system. However, a heat gain calculation should be done. Most installations do not have one performed and use a simple "rule of thumb" guide of 1 ton of A/C cooling (12,000 btu's) for every 1000 sqaure feet. This rule can work here in southern Ontario reasonably well, but with purchases now ranging up into the $6000 range, I would not want to hang my professional hat on it.

Now with the SEER minimum rating being raised to 13, the use of a TX valve (thermal expansion valve) is being used in place of a fixed pin oriface to achieve 13 SEER efficiencies. What this means is that a system that is slightly over sized will work ok thanks to the TX valve.

You are correct that an oversized system will cause "dampness". What happens is the desired temperature is achieved by the thermostat before all of the latent cooling is completed.

had mine put in with new condenser and new copper 1 story bungalow under 1000 dollars

No offense Nearace, but you typically get what you pay for.

[nearace]

A proper load calculation is only one part of the equation. You should start with a professional HVAC sales associate who can and should do some of the following.
1) Perform a proper Heat gain calculation.
2) Determine your wants, needs, budget, and how long you plan to reside at this residence
3) Review your current CAC installation and issues (if applicable)
4) Review you furnace installation and duct system
5) Provide more than one choice of CAC, look for a good, better, best offering with different warranty lengths.
6) Provide good financing options to suit your budget

The company should be a reputable one and should be able to provide references and a long list of satisfied customers. They should have a good service department that is factory trained and have all required licenses including their refrigeration mechanics license, gas licenses and TSSA registration. The last and most critical is a good team of installers. Most of the HVAC OEM manufacturers produce some very good equipment. But it can be reduced to "garbage" staus very quicklyt with a poor installation and/or poor installation practices.

Never should you purchase solely on price point.

Here is a good website to review the horror stories and dumb questions.

http://hvac-talk.com/vbb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=1



Good post however, to clarify:

A formal design or blueprint is not required for add-on central air system. However, a heat gain calculation should be done. Most installations do not have one performed and use a simple "rule of thumb" guide of 1 ton of A/C cooling (12,000 btu's) for every 1000 sqaure feet. This rule can work here in southern Ontario reasonably well, but with purchases now ranging up into the $6000 range, I would not want to hang my professional on it.

Now with the SEER minimum rating being raised to 13, the use of a TX valve (thermal expansion valve) is being used in place of a fixed pin oriface to achieve 13 SEER efficiencies. What this means is that a system that is slightly over sized will work ok thanks to the TX valve.

You are correct that an oversized system will cause "dampness". What happens is the desired temperature is achieved by the thermostat before all of the latent cooling is completed.



No offense Nearace, but you typically get what you pay for.true as stated it was for a bungalow under 3000 sq ft just throwing it out there go with who ever u choose good luck :)as everyone knows once u have the job done everyone can beat the price lol

[toro57]

If you have a walkout from your basement it will add to the area you need to cool so make sure you mention this when getting quotes...

[mikejb]

Stick with the quality proven equipment for Canada. Just cause their is a hot deal does not mean the equipment will last as long as it should.

If possible see what it would cost for a preventative maintenance contract on the equipment. You can prolong the life of it and also protect your investment for a long time. Make sure you if you sign one it has a 60 or 30 day out, it can have all the automatic renewals they want, but if you can cancel with written notice you are fine.

If you work in an office building, ask them who they use for the HVAC Maintenace, they might have some suggestions on who to call for installation and quotes, I know I have my list.

[RC*Q]

I am not sure if you are aware in the HVAC business, there are different grades of product (A/C units and heating equipment)....builders grade (cheapest), intermidate grade(middle priced) and premium grade(most expensive)

So do your homework because you get what you pay for;)