re: Help me buy a central HVAC system - best price / reputable source for drop shipped system

The furnace is really the main thing driving a total replacement. The enclosure is more rust and duct tape than metal now, lots of butt splices, thermal fuses pop all the time, etc etc. It's just had it. Every time I have to take the door off it's a major duct tape engineering job to get it back on.

It's all actually 31 years old now. I'm going to buy a case of beer and have a funeral for it.

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you got your moneys worth

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Uh, yea. I'd say so

And a new system will pay for itself in about 6 months if I DIY the install. It's a no-brainier. New one will be getting a soft starter as well, I'm pretty excited about that.

eBay another option. Under $4k after tax. Just make sure get 80-81% furnace if it vents through a metal pipe. The 90+ ones need special exhaust.

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My buddy is drooling to get his greasy hands on the precious R22 in my system

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for some reason when all this kicked off, it got real hard to get techs to return recovery tanks... i may have found a couple myself LOL.... they make mister systems that activate with the condenser motor, but constantly putting municipal water on the coils will eventually rot them away

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Have you used that vendor before?

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Yes, last spring. Super easy, great pricing, financing available and ships to your location.

You can purchases Rudd (=Rheem) online through AC wholesalers LINK. No experience with them but they provide pricing so at least you can compare to other suggestions. You’ll need to decide if you want to use R454B refrigerant (Rudd, etc, and just about all other major manufacturers) or R-32, the Daikan line…..Goodman, Amana, Daikan) for down the road when the evaporator coil leaks….lol. Cost & availability of R-454B was pretty problematic a while back compared to R-32, May have settled down now.

If you installed a mini-split for the LR, you should look to downsize the new unit, via manual J calculation You are a ME, piece of cake for you…..lol. Decent manual J, manual S, on-line calculator, LoadCalc, which I used to verily proper cooling & heating equipment sizing prior to my HVAC change out a few years ago. LINK

Glad someone piped up with that. I think I've installed a half dozen mini splits now, and man i like em a lot. Id rather have gas heat than a heat pump, but its hard to argue with how good they work for how cheap and easy they are.

I second Alpine. I've used the multiple times and they are fairly priced and stuff shows up fast.

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For many people having a solid warranty is critical. Last summer our long-time installer had a very hard time finding the right coil for a warranty repair. I don't know if he had to eat many costs, but we got 5 weekly coolant refills during the summer until a suitable coil was found and had no out of pocket expense. The techs advised keeping our 5-year-old system as long as possible since new units are more complicated and failure prone.

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I buy 3-4 units a year for my rentals. Warranty, at least in my area is completely over rated.

The warranty only covers parts from years 2-5 or 10, does not cover refrigerant. But maybe I need to look closer at them. It also DOES NOT cover labor after the first year.

I had a unit that was under 2 years old get a leak. Total was over $1800 between labor and refrigerant, required refrigerant 3 times before the part came in.

During covid times, I had a unit under warranty less than 3 years old. OEM part under warranty was 6 weeks out. I had to put in a non OEM part, over $2000 because we couldn't wait 6 weeks.

Warranties are great but they aren't everything.

Supplyhouse.com is a good place to order from also.