Air Conditioning
Question: >I am in the market for a new heating/air conditioning system. This will be
Anyone have any special suggestions or advice when >shopping for a heating /air conditioning system? I have checked various >manufactures’ sites for their information. What I am seeking is information >about your personal experience in this area. Are the new energy star >systems really worth the extra costs? Is an electronic air cleaner really a >worthwhile investment?
>I have one estimate from a local contractor and have sticker shock at this >point. I will get more estimates before doing anything. As you can see, I >really don’t know much about what I am buying; so I am seeking information, >suggestions, and your evaluation of a system that you have purchased >recently.
I live in southern New Jersey, and am considering whether I should buy a new heater or repair the one I have. Here’s what I’ve found so far.
We heat with gas. Living space is a bit more than double your 1200 square feet. The installed price of a gas furnace for this house varies a lot, from around $1,400 to nearly $5,000, depending on the unit and the contractor.
I’m told that the low priced stuff is “contractor’s grade” – not real efficient and somewhat noisy. Supposedly, when an individual buys one of these, it’s because they won’t be in the house for more and another year or two.
Top of the line, condensing gas furnaces are at the high end of that range. They deliver 92% percent of the energy in the fuel as heat to the house. The best ones have an adjustable flame – when you need only a little heat, the fire is smaller than when it’s real cold out and you need a lot.
Top furnaces also have variable speed fans. One guy told me that at least one study found that on average, a furnace fan uses about $500 worth of electricity a year to operate, and that the new variable speed ones on average use only about $85 worth of electricity a year.
So if you have an old furnace that was around 50% efficient, you could potentially cut the gas you use for space heating almost in half (this has no effect on the gas you might use for hot water, cooking, clothes dryer, pool heating, lighting, etc. so your total use doesn’t drop by that much) and top it off with only a fifth or so of the electricity you use to blow that warm air around the house.
On the other hand, another guy (who by the way sells high end systems) tells me not to bank on that too heavily – there are so many variables that it’s all but impossible to predict what savings might actually materialize, and that often, people see operating savings amounting to only $50-$100 a year.
Measuring the saving in dollars could be misleading, however, since prices tend to go up with time. He couldn’t tell me what the savings were on gas and electric consumption, if any.
Check with your utility – in NJ new furnaces that are 90% efficient or better qualify for a rebate from the utility. It’s designed to help offset at least some of the additional cost associated with the more efficient systems. I expect that rebate reduces the cost basis of the system for tax purposes, so if you sell the house, your profit is higher.
If your state/county/municipality has a consumer protection office, check out any contractor with them – when people have a problem and file a complaint with the government, these are the people they file with.
Answer: Are you planning to keep your ductwork? A big part of the expense seems to involve replacing the ductwork when adding a new unit. (In our case, this is really necessary.) I just wondered what an entire top of the line system for a small house in PA-Ohio-Jersey area would typically cost. There seem to be so many variables involved in this purchase that it is difficult to make a good decision. I am considering going with a local contractor who has been in business for more than 15 years and seems to have a good reputation especially for continued service.
Somebody said to stay away from some of the newest top-of-the-line models because they are basically untested since the technology behind them is so new.
Wow, those prices for electricity seem really high! Are you talking about just running the blower on a gas furnace? My home electric bill for an entire year usually runs less than $400.00. I do live in an area that has some of the lowest electric rates in the entire US; so maybe that accounts in part why I find the prices that you mentioned to be pretty high.
I want to be frugal but I don’t know if this is really the place to economize. Maybe a more expensive system would be a much better investment as we do plan to stay in this house.
Has anybody had any experience with changing a duct system in an older home? This part of the job really concerns me because every room in my house will require some repairs, new paint or wall covering and rearranging furnishings. Our heat registers are on the inside walls and the new systems need the registers on the outside walls. Since we want to add central air, that means the present registers on the inside walls have to be changed from warm air to cool air. Are all these changes really worthwhile in a older home? Should I maybe forget the central air and go with window air conditioning units? The cost of the central air unit seems to be comparable to the cost of window units but would be more efficient to operate. Besides checking with the BBB and making sure the contractor is insured, what other precautions should I take with this project?
Please keep posting on this because I really appreciate your comments and find them very helpful.
On the financial end, do you think I would be wiser to just pay for this or take out a loan at 7.5% for a couple of years for the entire estimate of $7,000? On one hand I would like to hang on to my investments, on the other hand I would rather not be in debt. Your opinions and comments on this end of my project, please.
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