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csberryLast evening around 5pm, I noticed the temps in the house were sneaking up. After looking around and not finding doors open or other obvious reasons for the rise in warmth, I decided to jump into action and examine the A/C. I called up All Seasons around 5:45pm and a guy was at our house around 8:45pm. We soon discovered that the capacitor for the outdoor unit/compressor was bulging and dead.
During my discussion with this repairman, it became obvious that our unit is probably going to die in the next year or two. He said the industry advice was to start evaluating the repair vs. replace costs after 10 years. He then told me that A/Cs in Huntsville tend to last 12 years. The repairman inspected both units and let me know there was an oily film at the bottom of the...can't remember now...that he said was typically an indication that the bearings were leaking and likely to cause a problem at some point in the near future. After a quick look at the info I had on the A/C unit, I found out it is just over 12 years old. Add to this information: 1) the tax credits for installing new energy efficient appliances (including central A/C) will expire at the end of the year and 2) TVA/Huntsville Utilities has a rebate for installing a new A/C unit that will also expire at the end of the year. The rationale for getting a new A/C unit by the end of the year becomes very compelling now.
I started reading up on pointers for A/C shopping this morning (great article in Popular Mechanics and yet another time I got annoyed with Consumer Reports for not having a thing available on equipment most people would LOVE to have info on). Then when I came out of Home Depot today, there was a guy with Trane info and an offer to come out for a free estimate. So, I'm getting this ball rolling now in hopes of actually doing the swap during this fall.
One thing I will certainly be debating with this is whether or not to do anything about the air ducts and circulation in the house. When the house was built, the original outside unit was on the south side of the house and the interior unit in the attic above the south end of the hallway that goes from the living room to the bedrooms/bathroom (where there is an intake in the ceiling). Well, when they put this new unit in, they put the outdoor unit on the north side of the house and the indoor unit in the attic on the north end of the house above the kitchen and right at the top of the attic ladder that is in the garage.
BUT they kept the intake where it was on the south end of the house. So, there is one huge duct that runs from the intake vent to the indoor unit on the opposite end of the house and then another large duct tube that comes out the north end of the indoor unit, does a U-turn and travels parallel to the intake duct down the middle of the house. What makes all of this even more odd is that the ducts running the treated air are all twisted and curvy around the indoor unit. There is a definite temperature difference between the rooms on the south end of the house (the bedrooms) and the kitchen area. There is a very noticeable difference in the force/speed that the air comes out of the vents in the bedrooms compared to the vents in the kitchen. So...will I be buying new indoor/outdoor units AND having guys set out new ducts? I've never been through this experience before and am very concerned and curious.
Ah, the joys of home-ownership!!!
During my discussion with this repairman, it became obvious that our unit is probably going to die in the next year or two. He said the industry advice was to start evaluating the repair vs. replace costs after 10 years. He then told me that A/Cs in Huntsville tend to last 12 years. The repairman inspected both units and let me know there was an oily film at the bottom of the...can't remember now...that he said was typically an indication that the bearings were leaking and likely to cause a problem at some point in the near future. After a quick look at the info I had on the A/C unit, I found out it is just over 12 years old. Add to this information: 1) the tax credits for installing new energy efficient appliances (including central A/C) will expire at the end of the year and 2) TVA/Huntsville Utilities has a rebate for installing a new A/C unit that will also expire at the end of the year. The rationale for getting a new A/C unit by the end of the year becomes very compelling now.
I started reading up on pointers for A/C shopping this morning (great article in Popular Mechanics and yet another time I got annoyed with Consumer Reports for not having a thing available on equipment most people would LOVE to have info on). Then when I came out of Home Depot today, there was a guy with Trane info and an offer to come out for a free estimate. So, I'm getting this ball rolling now in hopes of actually doing the swap during this fall.
One thing I will certainly be debating with this is whether or not to do anything about the air ducts and circulation in the house. When the house was built, the original outside unit was on the south side of the house and the interior unit in the attic above the south end of the hallway that goes from the living room to the bedrooms/bathroom (where there is an intake in the ceiling). Well, when they put this new unit in, they put the outdoor unit on the north side of the house and the indoor unit in the attic on the north end of the house above the kitchen and right at the top of the attic ladder that is in the garage.
BUT they kept the intake where it was on the south end of the house. So, there is one huge duct that runs from the intake vent to the indoor unit on the opposite end of the house and then another large duct tube that comes out the north end of the indoor unit, does a U-turn and travels parallel to the intake duct down the middle of the house. What makes all of this even more odd is that the ducts running the treated air are all twisted and curvy around the indoor unit. There is a definite temperature difference between the rooms on the south end of the house (the bedrooms) and the kitchen area. There is a very noticeable difference in the force/speed that the air comes out of the vents in the bedrooms compared to the vents in the kitchen. So...will I be buying new indoor/outdoor units AND having guys set out new ducts? I've never been through this experience before and am very concerned and curious.
Ah, the joys of home-ownership!!!
