mchellep
10-05-2008, 10:02 PM
I have gotten my head straight with much thanks on a possible crckd HX here. I've been reading for days. I have a few problems that may or may not be connected -if not appropriate for here, please disregard. What would you do? House is 2 story,w/ finished basement, 4500 sq ft, 20 yrs old, not well maintained by prev. owner.
1. Old heating cooling unit needs to be replaced. It is the 2nd unit for house located in attic. Serves upstairs only. Basement unit is for main floor and basement. A few years old.
Replacement quotes include:
York – 75k btu, heating, 2 ton cooling. + airbear upgrade and disconnect upgrade for all options.
Gold – 80% furnace, 13 seer,:
Platinum – 2 stage 80% 13 seer:
Titanium – 2 stage 80% variable speed, 13 seer
Rheem – 50K btu, heating 2 ton cooling +additional for 10 yr parts labor
Basic -13 seer, 80%,
Classic 14 seer, 80% (maybe 2 stage?)
Classic plus – 2 stage vs, 15 seer
This is ALL the info I received. No one said squat about ducts, R22 or 410, or venting, etc. These are the two big dog comp. in my town. I would have just picked one at face value, but after reading here, how did they arrive at these options. Does it matter, any will be fine? I would go with the Gold or Basic for our purposes and comfort.
I have heard from city inspectors that the Rheem co. rarely makes mistakes. I used them in my last home and was fine. In fact, the city inspector did not even go into the attic to check after install, assuming it was fine. Yep. It was a small crawl through and he was a bit older.
York is locally made, I was told, and their city wide rep is very good also.
When we moved into the house we had the ducts cleaned and they mentioned something to us about rusting ducts, I think.
2. Fireplace – removed 20 year old wood burning insert and the blower did not work. It smelled like old burnt wood in the house and is getting better now. Chimney was lined with flue tiles. The company that removed the insert cleaned the chimney and said we needed a stainless liner or a poured liner and that it was not safe and that was causing odor (not pressure, I asked about that) (at 10 times the cost of the next company’s quote). 2nd company said it was fine after a few repairs and cap sealed. I see now that some heaters are vented through the chimney – we have 2 flues. No one has said squat to me about that, so I assume the attic unit vents through attic ceiliing, not chimney. There is a non working fireplace in the basement and I have been told it cannot be made to function. I assume this is what the 2nd flue was for… but something during the build prevented it from being finished.
3. Hot master bedroom and bath. Off of MB is sun room that is climate controlled, but still hot or cold. Don’t care about that. Like the MB to be cold. The exhaust in the bath vents to nowhere. The stat is in the great room with high ceiling. Have been told to close off vents in this room so it didn’t cool as fast as MB.
I have received pricing on a mini split and a through the wall unit. For same identical install, one minisplit was double the other and the through the wall was half as much. The wall is brick, not siding. The windows are not suited for a window unit. I would almost rather have a portable unit with a smaller hole in the wall than a through the wall – at much less cost than the minisplit. Mini splits are a little new around here apparently. These rooms are at least 10 degrees hotter when our body heat starts working.
I think that’s it for this. I am just overwhelmed and don’t even know where to begin. I don’t want to waste my money or time diddling around, but I worry that I’m not going to get the right fix. Is there someone that I could hire as a consultant that I would know is on MY side - cost and quality of the job. Not a GC who can do it all, but someone that would really tell me what's what. We had a home inspection, but after this and many other issues, I can't see that that's the way to go.
If you’ve stuck with this so far and are interested in responding, thank you. If not, believe me, I understand!
1. Old heating cooling unit needs to be replaced. It is the 2nd unit for house located in attic. Serves upstairs only. Basement unit is for main floor and basement. A few years old.
Replacement quotes include:
York – 75k btu, heating, 2 ton cooling. + airbear upgrade and disconnect upgrade for all options.
Gold – 80% furnace, 13 seer,:
Platinum – 2 stage 80% 13 seer:
Titanium – 2 stage 80% variable speed, 13 seer
Rheem – 50K btu, heating 2 ton cooling +additional for 10 yr parts labor
Basic -13 seer, 80%,
Classic 14 seer, 80% (maybe 2 stage?)
Classic plus – 2 stage vs, 15 seer
This is ALL the info I received. No one said squat about ducts, R22 or 410, or venting, etc. These are the two big dog comp. in my town. I would have just picked one at face value, but after reading here, how did they arrive at these options. Does it matter, any will be fine? I would go with the Gold or Basic for our purposes and comfort.
I have heard from city inspectors that the Rheem co. rarely makes mistakes. I used them in my last home and was fine. In fact, the city inspector did not even go into the attic to check after install, assuming it was fine. Yep. It was a small crawl through and he was a bit older.
York is locally made, I was told, and their city wide rep is very good also.
When we moved into the house we had the ducts cleaned and they mentioned something to us about rusting ducts, I think.
2. Fireplace – removed 20 year old wood burning insert and the blower did not work. It smelled like old burnt wood in the house and is getting better now. Chimney was lined with flue tiles. The company that removed the insert cleaned the chimney and said we needed a stainless liner or a poured liner and that it was not safe and that was causing odor (not pressure, I asked about that) (at 10 times the cost of the next company’s quote). 2nd company said it was fine after a few repairs and cap sealed. I see now that some heaters are vented through the chimney – we have 2 flues. No one has said squat to me about that, so I assume the attic unit vents through attic ceiliing, not chimney. There is a non working fireplace in the basement and I have been told it cannot be made to function. I assume this is what the 2nd flue was for… but something during the build prevented it from being finished.
3. Hot master bedroom and bath. Off of MB is sun room that is climate controlled, but still hot or cold. Don’t care about that. Like the MB to be cold. The exhaust in the bath vents to nowhere. The stat is in the great room with high ceiling. Have been told to close off vents in this room so it didn’t cool as fast as MB.
I have received pricing on a mini split and a through the wall unit. For same identical install, one minisplit was double the other and the through the wall was half as much. The wall is brick, not siding. The windows are not suited for a window unit. I would almost rather have a portable unit with a smaller hole in the wall than a through the wall – at much less cost than the minisplit. Mini splits are a little new around here apparently. These rooms are at least 10 degrees hotter when our body heat starts working.
I think that’s it for this. I am just overwhelmed and don’t even know where to begin. I don’t want to waste my money or time diddling around, but I worry that I’m not going to get the right fix. Is there someone that I could hire as a consultant that I would know is on MY side - cost and quality of the job. Not a GC who can do it all, but someone that would really tell me what's what. We had a home inspection, but after this and many other issues, I can't see that that's the way to go.
If you’ve stuck with this so far and are interested in responding, thank you. If not, believe me, I understand!