Just bought new home a/c unit. Price details inside.

5ton.

Just FYI, at the wholesale level there is only a few hundred dollar price difference between a 16 seer and 14 seer unit. That extra mark up is a ....

Big HVAC company (lot of trucks/Techs) or small HVAC company (couple trucks/several employees)?

Did the new 5-ton replace a 5-ton?

Price is not bad - I had a quote of $10,200 for a single stage 16 SEER Trane in August 2018 - and of course equipment prices have sky rocketed since 2020.

Pretty small but reputable company.

Replacing a 22 yr old 5 ton Trane unit. The original rigid ducts were in great shape so didn't need those replaced.

I felt like the price was fair for what I am getting, considering the current economic environment of out-of-control pricing.

From August 2022:
3-Ton
14 SEER American standard system.
$7,453.00

18 SEER Bosch variable speed outdoor unit with a American Standard variable Speed indoor unit.
$9,156.00

Bosch 20 SEER variable speed outdoor unit with a American Standard variable speed indoor.
$9,794.00



Went with 20 SEER.
Had the low-end Nest thermostat already installed, so I’ve got two-stage cooling and single stage heat (included a dual -stage furnace (90% if I recall), no ductwork), went with the “low” mode on the heat as this is an upstairs unit in a 2-story house. Hope that doesn’t bite me in the next 72h, but the good news is that I don’t live upstairs. My in laws may not be happy this Christmas, though…


And I won’t suggest that Nest is fantastic or anything, but I don’t understand the hate they seem to get (HVAC guy’s complained about his was network connectivity rather than actual performance/safety/longevity). Ignoring the “google is spying on you and stealing all your data” stuff, I still have my old Honeywell “dumb” thermostats lying around for a rainy day.

Also got quoted on a Trane from a different installer. It was something in the $24-28K range. I told them to keep it.

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I’m going to link a couple threads on NEST thermostats from the AOP forum on HVAC-Talk where homeowners can get advice (not DYI) by experienced HVAC techs.

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Appreciate it.

This is one of those things- wife bought the thing as I was learning about it before I was ready to pull the trigger. Incredibly thoughtful on her part, but it’s what im stuck with without a real justification to get rid of it without hurting her feelings.

Only one of those threads really mentions properly installed (with C-wire) having any real problems, and had I flushed out what I wanted when I was looking at these things, I wouldn’t have gotten them. But they’re in.

I used a pretty well-respected HVAC guy in my area when we changed the unit out. He didn’t push swapping it out. As I said, he has one in his house (presumably he knows how to install it!). But he and his partner (also has one. And they each have an ecobee as well)- their biggest complaint was wifi connectivity and interface. I even specifically mentioned actual harm to the product- he didn’t have any negatives there and leaves it hooked up to his own house.

Again, not promoting them- I wouldn’t buy another one, and I would replace it with something different (hell, just the aesthetic appeal of a different thermostat would be enough for me. I don’t think they look particularly nice), but I have no real negatives except:

Turn learning off
Relatively decent to control through HomeKit if you rig it up that way. Their app really doesn’t bug me. But it could certainly be better
I easily have to turn it 3 degrees cooler than I did with my “dumb” Honeywell for it to feel the same in the room.

That said, variable speed in one of my 3 zones is new to me. I’m a few degrees WARMER on the thermostat than with the single stage and loving the humidity control (Acadian style house, 2nd floor only has dormer windows which means we have attic over it + 2 walls, and then the other 2 walls are roof- so it’s a bit of a difficult zone).


My opinion is, of course, that of an idiot homeowner who allowed his wife’s gift to supplant research and quality, but I read very little “pleasantly surprised” comments about them and felt like I should make one.

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Understood - the important take away is now you are aware should “weird” things happen with your HVAC down the road that a tech has trouble diagnosing is to not to discount the Nest thermostat as a potential cause.

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How you are liking the Bosch system? Any issues with high humidity control in your house? I’ve read good reviews on the Bosch but I’ve read, maybe with the earlier models, some having high humidity issues in the house that they didn’t have with their older, single stage systems.

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My upstairs always felt a little stale and a little humid (see the layout post above). as soon as that thing went in, my humidity control was significantly better. Worst part was i had 3 closets with no air circulation that all had 1 or 2 walls along the attic as well. i did get him to come back and drop 4" vents in each of them (about $1000 in parts/labor in addition to the above). the path was wide open and the ceiling of each was easily accessible from above. I have zero complaints about humidity in my upstairs now, and that includes August and September.


I guess I may want to point out that my 1998 edition single stage unit was a Carrier- not exactly a “bad” or “low-end” product, but the comfort level of my upstairs on hot summer days is head and shoulders above what it has been. Unit runs on low-speed most of the time outside of when I really cool it down when someone is sleeping up there (68). Typically I leave it around 74, and it’s very comfortable.

Please, please, please get 4-6 quotes always. Always! On hvac replacement. I replace multiple a year between my rental properties and helping my friends, and there is a BIG mark up which gives a LOT of flexibility on price. I will routinely see a $4-5000 difference in quotes. I will pretty much always call the same 2 companies for quotes but then I always get more.

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Totally agree, and equally important to vet the expertise of the company you are getting quotes from, because as in auto mechanics, not all techs are created equal nor do they have the same experience and skill set - that part is bit more difficult for the typical home owner to assess.

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This is just theory and while ideal is not possible really in real life. Companies are going to have multiple installers most likely, and the guy that gives you the estimate is the salesman not the installer. Installers are no different than other positions like a nurse or mechanic, plenty of good ones work for bad companies and plenty of bad ones work for good companies. Are you going to ask to interview all their installers? Do people interview the mechanics available before work is done?

That’s why price is more important than ‘a better company’. Now don’t go with a company selling you BS for sure and make sure they’ll back up their work.