New hvac system

[easyrider]

When I built this house 24 years ago we installed a 10 seer air source heat pump. It began tripping the breaker this year and the last 3 years was blowing the fuses in the heat pump disconnect.

I decided to see what was wrong and began pulling wires and when I pulled the hot lead off the compressor the heat pump fired up. I then checked the compressor and it was grounded so I would need a new compressor. The compressor installed is about $2000.

I decided to get a new heat pump and found that because of the new regulations regarding refrigerant gasses the coil in my air handler would not be big enough to accommodate a new heat pump. So to change the heat pump I have to change the air handler as well.

I decided to change the system to a better 16 seer matching system. Supposedly, I should save about $500 or more each year in electricity costs with the new system. If that is true then the system would pay for itself in about 25 years.

Since I will never be moving from this house it did make sense to change the system. If I thought I was moving I would have changed the compressor only.

The crew was supposed to be here at 8 am and its now 8:25 am. Maybe they meant they were leaving their facility at 8 am.

Bill

 

[easyrider]

One guy showed up at 10 am. and started removing the system. Another guy showed up at 12:30 with the new system. This was on Friday. The first guy told me that my lines were not suitable for the increased pressure of the new system. I agreed because the old system was soft soldered together and did leak after 8 years ruining the heat pump compressor. They yanked the lines. Then they left at 2 PM. They couldn't say when they would be back because of all the calls on air conditioners and the recent heat wave.

I think Tuesday is going to hit 105. Oddly, the heat doesn't really bother me anymore.

Bill

 

[Sapper]

We swapped out a 7 or 8 SEER HVAC for a 16.5 SEER HVAC (not heat pump, both 5 ton units) a few years ago. This is in Houston, TX, so the primary focus was on the AC side of things The summer electric bills dropped $100 per month. The winter gas bill dropped maybe $20 a month. The new outside portion has required more maintenance and suffered more parts failures in four years than the old system did in twenty. Not counting the increased maintenance, the ROI from the increased purchase price vs savings from increased effiency would be close to a decade. Based on what I know now, I'd take a lower purchase price on a more dependable unit than the higher priced increased effiency unit. I suppose it could have gone the other way had electric prices doubled, but they didn't and with all the renewable coming on line, prices look to be steady to dropping.

 

[pedro47]

We installed a new American Standard HVAC system after 25 years; two (2) years ago and it cut our gas and electric bills in half.

 

[Steve Fatula]

It should definitely cut your bills. We've had 4 days in a row at 110+. My AC portion of the heat pump never even hit high stage, they are very efficient. We have a Carrier Infinity system with 3 zones.

 

[bogey21]

We replaced a 20+ year old system in my Son's house with a new one. I'm amazed how much his electric bills have declined. I haven't calculated how long it will take to recover the $4,000 cost but my guess is that with the Texas heat it will be somewhere between 4 and 5 years...

George

 

[easyrider]

I took the portable ac and card board out of the patio door about 10 minutes ago. The new system is on and working great. It feels good. One thing I noticed is how quiet the outside heat pump unit is. The inside air handler blower fan sounds about the same as the old one which is barely noticeable.

Other noticeable items were the coils are now made out of aluminum instead of copper. This makes for a larger coil and larger unit overall.

The compressor on the old system fried because of a bad weld on the tubing causing the refrigerant to leak out. The guys that welded these were fresh out of trade school and didn't know crap so I had fired them 24 years ago. They should have used better solder and less fittings.

The new line set has only a few fittings in it. Most of the tubing was bent using a tubing bender and the new line-set was installed in a more direct and better looking approach from the heat pump to the air handler.

Bill

 

[Steve Fatula]

I took the portable ac and card board out of the patio door about 10 minutes ago. The new system is on and working great. It feels good. One thing I noticed is how quiet the outside heat pump unit is.

Yes, that is very true indeed! We can sit on our screened in patio (well, sunroom with windows open) and we really can't tell if the system is on or off, maybe 10 feet away. Way different than the older houses we had where you could tell down the street practically!