Adding central air to house

Winterborn · Jun 3, 2013

The spousal unit has been complaining steadily louder about this, so I guess its time to start researching.

Anyone who can do it would be great, but any advice on what to get/where to go would be helpful as well.

Thanks,

Rich

paulstitz · Jun 3, 2013

RichB said:
The spousal unit has been complaining steadily louder about this, so I guess its time to start researching.

Anyone who can do it would be great, but any advice on what to get/where to go would be helpful as well.

Thanks,

Rich

What is the current heating system? Forced hot air?

Winterborn · Jun 3, 2013

paulstitz said:
What is the current heating system? Forced hot air?

Natural gas furnace with installed ducts (central heat).

We use a few window AC units right now, but all but one window on the ground floor are casement windows......so we only have one A/C unit for the ground floor and apparently she feels it is no longer enough....

rseymorejr · Jun 3, 2013

Make sure that whoever does the job doesn't cheat on the return. If you have a 2 story house it would be a good idea to get a return upstairs if possible. You need more return for A/C than heat so some might be tempted to stick an A/C on the existing ductwork and the results can be disappointing.

plaincola · Jun 6, 2013

you could look at this style of AC unit.No duct work and can work in a lot of areas.

https://friedrich.com/products/residential/built-in/ductless-split-systems/wall-mounted

Mark75H · Jun 6, 2013

rseymorejr said:
Make sure that whoever does the job doesn't cheat on the return. If you have a 2 story house it would be a good idea to get a return upstairs if possible. You need more return for A/C than heat so some might be tempted to stick an A/C on the existing ductwork and the results can be disappointing.

Heat ducts are usually satisfactory for straight AC ... its heat pumps that need dramatically different ductwork.

joemac · Jun 6, 2013

rseymorejr said:
Make sure that whoever does the job doesn't cheat on the return. If you have a 2 story house it would be a good idea to get a return upstairs if possible. You need more return for A/C than heat so some might be tempted to stick an A/C on the existing ductwork and the results can be disappointing.

A good recommendation. Generally you give up a corner in a room or part of a closet to gain upper level return which should be considered mandatory. Find someone who is well versed in duct design you will be better off all around for it. There are plenty of butchers out there that will slap in the units without addressing duct work. Duct sealing at this time would be a good thing to do. As for brand of equipment don't get too hung up on this. There are a lot of universal components in the equipment.

Mark75H · Jun 6, 2013

If your house was built far enough back that it doesn't have central AC ... you might want to consider a new high efficiency furnace in addition to the AC ... might dramatically cut your heating bill

Blaster229 · Jun 8, 2013

RichB said:
The spousal unit has been complaining steadily louder about this, so I guess its time to start researching.

Anyone who can do it would be great, but any advice on what to get/where to go would be helpful as well.

Thanks,

Rich

PM PBHarvey here on the forum. He has a company. Very honest guy.

hvymax · Jun 8, 2013

If your ductwork is adequate and your furnace in good shape it could be as simple as adding a new thermostat a coil and outside unit. This could be an opportunity to upgrade your entire system as well. I cut my heating/cooling bill 80% replacing my crappy old system. Sound lined duct is worth it as well. It is insulated on the inside so you can't hear all of the other rooms in your bedroom and visa versa.

joemac · Jun 8, 2013

hvymax said:
If your ductwork is adequate and your furnace in good shape it could be as simple as adding a new thermostat a coil and outside unit. This could be an opportunity to upgrade your entire system as well. I cut my heating/cooling bill 80% replacing my crappy old system. Sound lined duct is worth it as well. It is insulated on the inside so you can't hear all of the other rooms in your bedroom and visa versa.

How could you tell your cut your bill 80%? Assuming if you use fossil fuels you used less and electricity is hard to break out of the bill the portion used for cooling. Honest question.

As for sound liner that stuff gets nasty quick. If the duct is sized and designed properly it is not needed. It is mostly a bandaid. I've never gotten complaints from noise from people through the ducts. System noise a different story.

Hotrod Diesel · Jun 8, 2013

The cheapest option is too obvious...

get rid of her!

Mark75H · Jun 8, 2013

joemac said:
How could you tell your cut your bill 80%? Assuming if you use fossil fuels you used less and electricity is hard to break out of the bill the portion used for cooling. Honest question.

As for sound liner that stuff gets nasty quick. If the duct is sized and designed properly it is not needed. It is mostly a bandaid. I've never gotten complaints from noise from people through the ducts. System noise a different story.

A lot of dinosaur equipment out there, 80% is not unreasonable. I cut my oil bill 55%+ with some programable tstats and correct size oil nozzle.

Some people might call duct insulated from the inside sound lined ... you are correct, if its correctly designed it doesn't matter whether the insulation is on the inside or out.

Blaster229 · Jun 8, 2013

Big difference between a heat pump and traditional ac/heat system too.

sent from somewhere in the world.

sundaeman · Jun 8, 2013

Blaster229 said:
PM PBHarvey here on the forum. He has a company. Very honest guy.

+1

240 towles · Jun 8, 2013

I will vouch for Heat pump and central AC. Used to run space heaters and window units. Moved into a house with central AC/ heat pump combo. Cut my winter bills in half and then some, summer stayed about the same, but with incredibly better results.

wgttgw · Jun 8, 2013

Best advise I could give as a owner of a HVAC company it meet with several contractors and find one you feel you can trust. Ask friends and family for a recommendation. Be skeptical of high or low estimates. If you find a contractor you like let him recommend a equipment brand. And don't do the job without a load calculation of your home. I would want the contractor to be able to preform the load calculation himself (you would be surprised how many companies can't do them and rely on a third party for them).

A lot of good information has been given here already. Unfortunately there has also been a lot of misconceptions posted.

I am not fishing for the job either, Baltimore is just too far for me.

3/2ACR Vet · Jun 8, 2013

Could look at this

My Dad used to sell these units. They are very easily added to existing systems.

Spacepak

RIGGS · Jun 12, 2013

Arundel cooling & heating
410-789-8300
Ask for John VanHorne

wbw2123 · Jun 12, 2013

wgttgw said:
And don't do the job without a load calculation of your home. I would want the contractor to be able to preform the load calculation himself (you would be surprised how many companies can't do them and rely on a third party for them).

A lot of good information has been given here already. Unfortunately there has also been a lot of misconceptions posted.

^^^^^ this

Adding central air to house

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