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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   35442 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 3, 2022

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The $16k quote included the following hardware:

4A6L6024A1000A 4A6L6024A1000A Single Stage, 17 SEER, 9.5 HSPF, 24,000 btu 2 Ton, 20 Amp

1.00 $8,844.78 $8,844.78

AMSTEM6A0B24H21SB AMSTEM6A0B24H21SB Air Handler 2 Ton, Communicating, Variable Speed Blower

1.00 $5,925.21 $5,925.21

Install and permits were listed as ~$1500. I was trying to find out how much these actually retail for, to see how much I'm being overcharged, but apparently the suppliers hide the prices from end-users for some completely inexplicable reason.

The heat pump I have also works as AC in summer, in case this is relevant for pushing up the price of the device (which I don't think it really should, given that pretty much all that is required to make a heat pump work as AC is a reverse valve).

I would get some more quotes. Mine was around $4,500 installed for a larger unit 5 years ago. Might want to look at the lower efficiency options too, not worth spending $10k to save a few hundred dollars a year.

Oh, you have a ducted central air system, the expense makes more sense now. But the rated performance of that unit is still ridiculously bad for a scroll compressor that should have vapor injection improving its cold weather ability. The damn thing isn't even variable speed, which is an absolutely basic standard now.

Depending on how many rooms you need to heat/cool, see if you can get anyone offering a ductless mini-split install. Compare the specs with, say, a top of the line Mitsubishi MXZ-SM48NAMHZ, which is significantly cheaper with much better performance at twice the btu capacity (you definitely don't need something that big)

If you have a house with rooms rather than a studio apartment, a ductless mini-split doesn't make a lot of sense.

Depending on how many rooms you have, a few units or a multi-head one can. They're so much cheaper and easier to install than a central air system that it takes a lot of tiny conditioned rooms to tip the balance (and you really don't need it in every room)

And a lot of the central air ones are horribly outdated and overpriced, like what they quoted him.

Certainly you need it in every room. Unless there are rooms you don't use when it gets hot. Perhaps you don't need it in a bathroom; OTOH, I have one bathroom which has no A/C duct and it gets quite uncomfortable in the summer. An n-bedroom house will need at least n+1 units, most likely more than that.

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