AC replace? repair?

Hello wise anons, I come here asking for advice / wisdom regarding A/C. My unit is from 2005 when the house was built. It's looking pretty old. The company that works with Costco came out and basically said buy a new one. It's a big decision for me so I'm unsure if I'm making the right choice to go through with getting a the whole thing done. It's looking like 15,000$ roughly, is it worth it to try to keep repairing the current unit? It's a big purchase maybe I just have to suck it up and go through with it? Please share your wisdom or experiences on the matter.

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  1. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    Is it broken?

    • 10 months ago
      Anonymous

      no, but it's looking pretty old, and I'm embarrassed when the neighbors come over for the weekly HOA meeting.

      • 10 months ago
        Anonymous

        Are you moronic?

      • 10 months ago
        Anonymous

        So, you're worried about the outside unit that houses the compressor looking ugly? First of all, who cares. Run it until it dies or starts leaking, since there's a chance it's an R-22 unit and you'll pay through the ass for a recharge if that's the case. If you really have to give a shit about how it looks, clean it and repaint it. Make sure you paint only the exterior and not the condenser coils. Maybe you can take the whole outer housing off to do that.

        • 10 months ago
          Anonymous

          The picture I posted was of the coils in the furnace upstairs. Yes it's R-22 compressor outside, my concern is that if I wait until it breaks, it might start leaking upstairs and there could be a bit of water damage.

          • 10 months ago
            Anonymous

            Well that is a valid concern. If it leaks refrigerant, the evaporator coils inside will ice over and when they thaw you can get some water that misses the condensation catcher. You won't have enough for "water damage" since it won't be a long term thing but it could put a stain on the ceiling. Happened at a place I rented once.

    • 10 months ago
      Anonymous

      Surprisingly no it still works, I have no idea what I'm talking about but it looks like it might not last much longer?

    • 10 months ago
      Anonymous

      no, but it's looking pretty old, and I'm embarrassed when the neighbors come over for the weekly HOA meeting.

      • 10 months ago
        Anonymous

        Im gonna consooom

        • 10 months ago
          Anonymous

          I just want an air conditioner I can control from my phone when I'm not home or in bed and don't feel like getting up, seems like the best way to do it.

          • 10 months ago
            Anonymous

            That is called a thermostat anon, you can go buy one right now.

            The only thing your ac doesn't do (probably, it still might) is function as a two way heat exchanger, so there's no switch to use it as a heater instead of a cooler.

            It was a rare feature 30 years ago, it's a little more common now, but still not that popular in the US. Pretty common in Europe as I understand

          • 10 months ago
            Anonymous

            Of all these stupid systems, I've never seen one that's actually faster than just standing up and turning the air-con on. Maybe if you get one with a dedicated remote that connects to it, I've got a wi-fi wakeup bulb and a remote stuck to the side my desk so I can turn it off without getting up.

  2. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    Is your house 20000 square feet?
    Why is a new ac so much money?

    • 10 months ago
      Anonymous

      I'm not sure really, It's a pretty standard 2 story single family house. Probably the company that works with Costco is a little more expensive but the server is probably reliable.

      • 10 months ago
        Anonymous

        its overpriced af, jesus christ 15k for an ac

      • 10 months ago
        Anonymous

        Looks like theyre trying to charge you for a bunch of shit you should already have

      • 10 months ago
        Anonymous

        Why are they charging you for flue pipes, gas lines, traps, etc? Why are you getting a 20 year heat exchanger warranty? Why are you getting a new plenum? They can't just use the old one?

        Are you installing a new AC, or a new furnace + AC? Cause that form makes it look like they're running a new gas line for the furnace and building a new plenum (why? is yours all rotted out or something?).

        Flue pipes, heat exchangers and gas lines are for furnaces, not air conditioning.

      • 10 months ago
        Anonymous

        They're billing you about 13K for labor. This is usually the kind of install that takes 2 guys a single day to install.

        If you bother to call around and do your homework, you could probably get an install done for 8-10K less.

        So the real question is: do you like throwing away ten thousand dollars? You are absolutely insane to pay these prices, and doubly so if your current unit isn't having problems.

        This would be like buying a new car because your other new car got a flat tire.

      • 10 months ago
        Anonymous

        I didn't see this, they're upselling you on some things but it's nothing that'll hurt. New flue pipe through the roof sounds nice, especially if you have the old single wall pipe and they're replacing it with double wall b vent.

      • 10 months ago
        Anonymous

        What state are you in? The quote looks like they are doing everything right but they have higher efficiency equipment quoted than is needed in most regions. The cost goes up significantly when you go from a 13 or 14 SEER AC to the 17 they have quoted. Same with the furnace, a 97% or 98% is going to cost significantly more than a 95%. It's usually not worth it. The new plenums, gas line, and vent are included if the old doesn't match up with the new. The 20 year heat exchanger and 10 year parts warranties are standard on everything now and included by the manufacture, don't let them charge extra.

        You're still getting raped unless you know someone that will do it on the side. The system they have quoted is between 7 and 7.5k in material and equipment costs for them. You could see if they'll quote lower efficiency equipment and tell them to keep their $900 filter box and go buy a Honeywell or Aprilaire for $150. A standard efficiency (14 SEER AC 95% furnace) would bring their material cost to roughly 5k. I definitely suggest avoiding paying low ball contractors to half ass things like this, it will cost more to straighten it out later.

    • 10 months ago
      Anonymous

      My cousin got a house a couple years ago that had a unit from the 80s or before, I couldn't even find anything about the manufacturer. It didn't work. I replaced the contactor, got a retrofit fan motor, cleaned the condenser good and it started right up and ran up until last summer when a developer bought the house and knocked it down. I'd say just keep it til it dies, and even if it dies try the cheap and obvious stuff first. Evaporator leaks are less common than condenser leaks but they are possible. If your main concern is refrigerant leaking in the home a new system won't necessarily prevent that. Manufacturer defects and a bad install could still allow that to happen. I'd just run it til it dies

      They rape you on installation, labor and markup. $12000 to $15000 sounds pretty reasonable here if you're changing refrigerant too which OP will need to do. If they're not a shit company they should give you a pretty good warranty too, which should include labor

  3. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    That's copper. It's supposed to be brown.

  4. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    You're a spaz for thinking you needed to pay 15k to replace something that work perfectly well but I appreciate you had a problem and posted relevant information to ask for advice.

    Better than most of the moronic threads here. Always get more than one quote especially for something worth more than a grand.

  5. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    thumbnail looks like dozens of men scratching their backs, standing in rows in an old soviet swimming pool building, with a huge tetanus infinity pool.

  6. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    clean the fricking thing for gods sake anon. the coil looks plugged with dust man.

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