Central air question

[jjscott]

I’m planning to have central air installed this summer and have a few questions. I have a 15 year old, two story colonial that’s 3,000 square ft. It has a Carrier 58PAV111-16 furnace that’s the same age as the house. The furnace is located at one end of the house and, due to patio & landscaping, I would like the A/C unit located at the other end. The distance between the units would be approximately 70 ft.

- Can anyone tell me if there is an issue with such a long run between the two units?
- Am I setting myself up for trouble down the road?
- Would there be a huge price increase for materials with this design?
- Will my Carrier furnace support the addition of central air or will I need to replace it?

Thanks

[BaldLoonie]

70' should be OK
No
No
Yes, that furnace is fine to add A/C to up to about 3.5 tons. A GOOD dealer would do a load calc to tell you what size your house really needs.

[jjscott]

Thanks for the information. I read somewhere that a rule of thumb is 1 ton/500 square ft. So, that would put me at 6 tons for my 3000 sq/ft house and based on your post, would be outside the specs for my furnace. Is this correct?

[comfortdoc]

Only way to know is have heat gain calls done. I suspect 6 tons to be very large.