Home AC question re: Cost?

[BushMasterBoy]

I have a small house(1400sqft). I put a small window unit swamp cooler in the living room window. I keep the two smaller bedroom doors closed. Costs is $10 to $15 a month extra. 102F outside right now and 77F inside. I bought a solar power fan for the attic to vent air from the the roof eaves to the outside, but haven't installed it. House came new with central air, I just don't use it.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Master-F...OLAR/100548465

[Wolfshoon]

Going through this myself at the moment as the AC I have got a leak in the evaporator A frame inside and is the old R22 coolant system. First bid in is $6300 to replace the condenser compressor (outside unit) and heat exchanger A coil (inside unit) and flush and reuse the old coolant lines and install new R410 components. God all mighty. I "knew" a guy and I bought all this stuff for $1550 back in 2012 under his license and another $1400 in labor so less than 3k back then. Full MSRP on the stuff I bought would have been $4087 total, or 2.84 times what I paid at jobber. I know R22 is around $140 a pound, but this tough to accept. It's a 4 ton unit for a 1800 sq ft house with a 1800 basement.

[Wulf202]

The cfc test isn't expensive. It's not hard, just memorizing a bunch of useless laws. You only need a type 2 (70% iirc). An llc is $55 then set up a cash account at the supply house.

[Irving]

I don't think I ever paid for any of my LLCs, if I did, it was no where near $55.

[ray1970]

I had AC installed including a new furnace for about $3500. Of course that was about fifteen years ago. I found a guy who worked doing installs who was willing to do the job on the side which probably saved me a bunch of labor cost. The guy showed up on a Saturday with all of the new stuff, took out the old furnace and installed the new AC/furnace and hauled the old stuff off. Probably took him five or six hours start to finish. I think my house is around 2000 sq feet. I had a swamp cooler before that but it was too much maintenance and upkeep for my liking. I much prefer to just flip a switch one way or the other if I need hot or cold.

[NFATrustGuy]

I had AC installed including a new furnace for about $3500. Of course that was about fifteen years ago. I found a guy who worked doing installs who was willing to do the job on the side which probably saved me a bunch of labor cost. The guy showed up on a Saturday with all of the new stuff, took out the old furnace and installed the new AC/furnace and hauled the old stuff off. Probably took him five or six hours start to finish. I think my house is around 2000 sq feet. I had a swamp cooler before that but it was too much maintenance and upkeep for my liking. I much prefer to just flip a switch one way or the other if I need hot or cold.

Wow. I’d like to find that guy. I’ve got 2 AC/furnace units at my house that have been unreliable and I’m afraid may be on their last legs. I’m bracing myself for a big bill and am hoping they’ll make it through the summer so I won’t be overcharged in the “heat”of the AC season.

[ben4372]

I've been in my house for ten plus years, and this is my 1st year with A/C. I have a whole house fan. Get it cold overnight, would stay below 80 even during hot days. The biggest factor is insulation and thermal curtains. Reflective film on the windows is a huge help too.

A friend put a modern central evap cooler in a couple years ago and it is SWEET. My house would have been more trouble than it was worth or I'd have done it. If you're basing price on the example you gave........get ready. Prices are bananas.

[pickenup]

My neighbor works for a company that sells swam coolers that do not add moisture to your house. It cools the air the same way as a swamp, but the moisture is contained and drips out of the unit itself into the yard. He's been telling me that if an A/C unit of the same size as his unit takes 4,500 watts to run, his takes 450 watts. The company is called Coolerado.

http://www.coolerado.com/how-coolerado-works/

From their website....

Unfortunately, at this time, Coolerado does not sell or install air conditioners for residential use. However, if you are interested, please fill out this form and we will let you know when residential options are available.Click here to enter text

Too bad, sounded good.

[Irving]

Hmmm, I'll have to inquire about that.

EDIT: Yes, they only have standard Evaporative coolers for residential. Sorry for the mistake. I had never looked into the product and he has one on his house, so of course I assumed they sold to the general public.

[TheGrey]

Our AC went out on us right before summer last year, and we suffered mightily for it. Our furnace and AC were circa 1976, and our hot water heater was circa 1988. We bit the bullet and had all 3 appliances replaced at once, with one of the "buy X air conditioner and get Y furnace for free".

It was expensive, but we look at it as an investment. In our opinion, it was well worth it. We also got solar panels a few months prior, so it really cut our electricity down.