Background – my wife and I bought a 2 BR condo (~1100 square ft) about 3 years ago. We live in the DC metro area. The home inspector at the time told us the HVAC unit was very old (~25 years) and would need to be replaced soon, though it still functioned. Fast forward to the last few days, the red warning light on the thermostat has been intermittent, so we called a repair guy. The repair guy shows us the unit on the building roof – it’s nearly frozen solid, and the motor is struggling just to spin.
So we could spend a lot and repair it, but I think it’s time to just get a new one. Any experiences? I think it will cost between 5 and 10 grand… but how do we choose the right brand and model? How do we ensure we get a good deal? My instincts are to call a few different places and ask them to send a sales guy so we can compare all the options. What else should we do?
I think that you do just that. We bought a house in 2014 and our furnace is about 20 years old. I got about 7 different quotes. I’m holding off on the replacement because I want to see how the a/c works in the summer, but I know who I want to use.
Does your condo board have people that they recommend for this?
I’m also in the DC area, so if you want to pm me, I can tell you who I called.
I’m not sure what the “HVAC unit” means, as the furnace and a/c are usually (though not always) separate units, even where they use the same forced air system. From your mention of the past few days giving you trouble, it sounds like it’s the furnace that’s going, and this doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to replace the a/c compressor unit if that’s still OK, even if it runs through the same ductwork.
On another note, these types of systems are frequently subsidized by the state and/or utility if you’re upgrading to a more energy efficient system - which if you’re replacing a 25 year old system you generally will be. A few years ago I was finishing the basement and while we were at it we replaced the furnace although it functioned fine and was about 15 years old. The HVAC guys were working there anyway and didn’t charge much if anything for installation, and by the time we finished with energy efficient subsidies the whole upgrade cost a few hundred dollars. Although I think this would vary by state.
I’ll second the idea of getting several bids, and also asking tough questions about how many of those systems they have installed.
Several years ago I got a new natural gas boiler, and saved $3,000 or so by going with the lowest bid. I didn’t realize at the time that the company had only installed like two of those boilers before, and they made a lot of mistakes. That $3,000 savings was more than consumed by three years of fixing little stupid things that they did: wrong type of pressure release valve, expansion tank was way too small for the size of the radiators in my home, etc.
Heat pumps are very common in the Mid-Atlantic. The pump is still separate from the air handler, but usually both are installed/updated at the same time unless something goes wrong. So if they are just reaching the end of their useful life, you’ll probably want to replace both.
When I did this a few years back, the spread in prices among the bids astounded me, as did the knowledge and skill of the contractors. Once you talk to a couple of contractors, you’ll probably have some smart questions to ask the others. Getting a proper installation matters for these things, since there are a lot of things they can fuck up. So if you choose the bottom bidder, make sure you’re confident that they know what they’re doing.
IME, many contractors only do one brand. You could choose the contractor by the brand, but I’d advise choosing the brand by the contractor. The efficiency certifications are pretty reliable, so you can compare apples-to-apples that way.
Thanks for all the input and the other thread link. A co-worker recommended a company, and I’m having a sales guy come out this afternoon. I’ll also have a sales guy from the first company at some point. Then we’ll see.
I’ve been quoted $3000 for a new furnace for my drafty crap-shack, so $5-10K for a condo seems high to me. Maybe if it’s a combined HVAC unit the price range is different, though.
You want at least three bids.
Discard any bids from contractors who only use rule of thumb guess. The contractor should use a load calculations program. Taking into count Attic insulation, sun light exposure, windows doors, and wall insulation.
When the contractor comes out notice their truck. If the truck is cheap equipment then … Pay attention to what they say. And ask questions. If one contractor can’t answer questions or his answers are along the lines of don’t worry about that make him give you a good answer as to shy you should not worry about that.
By the way just because the unit is iced up does not it definitely needs to be replaced. It just might mean that it is low on charge and needs some gas added. But at 25+ years changing out the unit is not a bad idea.
