OT anyone in the A/C business?

[txsbill]

I know that many of you don't have to deal with A/C in November, but for us unlucky enough to live in areas without 4 actual seasons, it is a burden we have to bear.
My A/C unit did a "burn out" yesterday. I had an A/C guy over today and he said I needed to replace my condensing unit (it did the burning), as well as my evaporator in the attic. I can go along with that I guess, like components and seer ratings and all. But he was telling my wife that we need to do it now because after the first of the year the price will nearly double on all that equipment. My plan was to build up my funds over the next 3 or 4 months to avoid having to go to the bank, but if the price is gonna double I guess I'll bite the bullet.
I just feel like the guy was just trying to get us to buy it now rather than later.

Anyone here know about this stuff?

 

[John N]

Hey Bill, I have a friend in the business. He replaced both (I have 2 zones) of my units with 14 seer units; up from builder grade 10 seer. They are saving me on the energy cost, it's obvious. The deciding factor of repair over replace was the age; mine were 13/14 years old. Being in the real estate business, I know that is typical/average life of the units, there's no sense in putting the bucks into them.

I hope that helps a little.

 

[kohldad]

Check with your local utilities company and see if they are offering any special incentives to upgrade the unit. Lots of times they have either special financing or rebates.

I would also get another guy to look at the units and make sure he gave you a good diagnoses. Prices are going up, but no-one knows if they are going to double and I really doubt it. Have them give you a quote on repairing the unit. Only after you have that quote, then ask about replacing. If you ask for both, they may inflate the repair quote to make the replacement sound better.

With the low cost of upgrading the units, make sure you get a minimum of a 14 SEER. In Texas, it'll pay back for the upgrade in a couple of years easy.

 

[ryankopecki]

They're supposed to be changing the freon used again in new units to a much higher priced one again.

 

[txsbill]

They're supposed to be changing the freon used again in new units to a much higher priced one again.

Figures....The unit I have is a 10 seer...I don't think repairing it is something I would consider. I went out and looked at it, and it's pretty well toasted. Down here you want to make sure that A/C is in tip top shape. The guy just got my wife all stirred up by saying you could spend from around 4k to upwards of 15k depending on how "efficient" you want to be. So she thinks the average unit is somewhere in the middle of that range....I'm not gonna spend more on a A/C than I did building my Scrambler.... I've got a meeting tomorrow with the owner of the company that came out today. I've been knowing him for 15 years. The guy that came out was one of his techs...I think he was just trying to generate some business...
Little does he know that he's dealing with a Jeep guy, and we are some of the penny pinchingest folks he's ever met....I have an extra CJ radiator and an old OBA compressor, I could rig up my own A/C...

 

[John N]

Make sure Laura knows that if you have to spend too much on the A/C, it might take longer for her to get her Scrambler. Maybe she'd be willing to stay a bit warmer for the next year, if you put it that way ....

 

[Stouttrout]

Man, I got the same thing going on here. Mine is not that old and I hope it can be repaired. I have guy comeing out his week to look at it. I will ask him if he know anything about a price jump. My nieghbors just went out too. He put a new one in two weeks ago. Must be that time of year.