re: Another OTer needing home AC advice...

quote:

---

If it's not working at all (what I would call "dead"), there is usually a specific part that failed and almost all of them can be replaced. If, instead, everything is working electrically and mechanically, and the refrigerant checks out right, and everything is clean, but it's just not cooling, then probably replace.

---

Just like any other repair, there's often a part that's too costly to replace. Would you screw around replacing a motherboard on a 15 year old Dell desktop? Of course not, and you wouldn't bother replacing a compressor on a 15 year old condenser running on obsolete R22 refrigerant. You'd just start over.

eta: just saw it's on 410A. That's better, but still. The price of a new compressor with the labor to replace, you might as well start on a new system.

quote:

---

Just like any other repair, there's often a part that's too costly to replace. Would you screw around replacing a motherboard on a 15 year old Dell desktop? Of course not, and you wouldn't bother replacing a compressor on a 15 year old condenser running on obsolete R22 refrigerant. You'd just start over.

eta: just saw it's on 410A. That's better, but still. The price of a new compressor with the labor to replace, you might as well start on a new system.

---

Could have been the compressor, could have been a $10 capacitor. My point was "it's dead" doesn't tell you anything, so how can you make the decision?

quote:

---

I am not going to get into efficiency or brand without a budget but I will say unless you have better than average insulation or the house is in a lot of shade I would want more than 3.5 tons for a 2100sqft house in along the Gulf Coast.

---

I agree. General rule of thumb in Louisiana is 1 ton per 500 sq. ft. You have 2100 near the gulf I'd say you need at least a 4 ton. Sometimes to make the SEER rating higher they use 3.5 ton condenser (outside unit) and a 4 ton evaporator (inside coil). That may explain the 42,000 outside unit.

quote:

---

My point was "it's dead" doesn't tell you anything, so how can you make the decision?

---

Well, I could read between the lines that the OP was using a figure of speech indicating that the situation is hopeless when he said "It is officially dead." I wasn't really expecting "It is officially dead" to be the actual diagnosis code on the paperwork, y'know.