My A/C: RIP

Monday, June 11, 2007

This past Friday I noticed that the a/c unit I just had serviced was spitting out warm air. Since it had been pouring down rain the day the repair guy was there, I was hoping that he simply hadn't charged the unit with freon.

When I called the service this a.m., they gave me a 11-1 p.m. slot so I had to drive home from work for the designated slot. The repair guy did actully make it within the slot, and after he tried several things, I got the bad news: the compressor was kaput. The unit is 22 years old, so it exceeded its life expectancy by 10 years. However, the temperature gauge is hitting 90 degrees right now in Southern Florida. Fortunately, given how the house is constructed, it does have a 2nd a/c unit that cools the kitchen/TV room branch. So I'm not totally miserable. When it's time for bed, I crank up the ceiling fans and enough cool air reaches the other side of the house to keep it from being totally unbearable.

Since my schedule is such this week that I can't call up a bunch of a/c companies to shop around, I simply order a new unit through my service company. I had begun researching online plus speaking to others about units they bought so I had a fair idea of what the cost should be.

Come this Friday, I will be using a vacation day to get a new unit installed and will be a heck of a lot poorer. However, as I get ready to enter the hot side of the house, I feel like this picture I took of a sunrise when the smoke was playing havoc with the sky. Hot, hot, hot! :) Carol


2 comments:

Nancy Cohen said...

Hey, Carol, what kind of unit are you getting? WE've priced a/c units lately too, and got estimates of over $4000 for 4 ton Tranes.

Carol Stephenson said...

Nancy,

The quotes you're getting sound right given the size [4 tons].

I went with the same make: Rheem. 1) Since the original unit had lasted 22 years...
2) The air handler setup would only have to be updated rather than replaced altogether [important since the handler is in the attic and would be a nightmare to move].
3) The pad doesn't have to be modified.

The unit being replaced is only 1 1/2 tons so total cost of everything was $3700. Now my other unit is 2 1/2 tons so when that goes, I'll have to tag on another $1000-1500 to the cost.