HVAC Quote Check

quote:

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Amana, 5 ton, 410a, 16 SEER, two stage compressor and variable speed blower.....$17,000

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Ideal.

That's only high by a couple thousand. Every home is different. The AC equipment will be 8-9K. Old work is miserable. It's much simpler during construction. The duct work and registers are labor intensive. New electrical connections and breakers are probably included also.

eta: If I were in the business, I would charge extra for a Summer replacement.

I just installed a 5 ton Amana 17 seer 5 two stage unit with basically the same work you describe for 12,500. Work was done in B.R. due to flood.

Drop all that extra duct work & return air stuff and other than the unit, requote it with a new thermostat, plenum plus condensate pan and line.

The 5" filter is overkill unless you are paranoid about the air in your home. If that's the case, you should add the ultraviolet lights to kill all the microbes, germs and mold.

Quotes are free, you should get at least 3 but I'd recommend 5. I replaced an AC system in a rental this past May and my quotes were from $3500 to 6500. 3 of them were the exact same machine, and over $2000 difference in price. I'm all about paying for what you get, but HVAC quotes can be all over the board depending on how much they needs the work

I think you are paying a little premium at those prices. Not out the park if you feel good about the company, but I think you can get a reno 16seer var speed 2 stage set up for about 12k-14k. They are usually about double what a basic unit would be. I'm not familiar with Ariana. I've mainly dealt in American Standard Lennox, Carrier. And I've liked them in that order.

It's a little high. But not extremely

I may get slammed by the hvac elite, but since Daikin bought Goodman, the last 2-3 years Goodman's have been pretty solid for my new construction builders.

Retro ductwork will jack the price the price time/labor but if it's old house (+40) it may not be a terrible investment. Still that price seems a little high but I only see builder quotes on new construction

I've worked for an energy efficiency co. and I find it very hard to believe you need to go from a 1.5 ton unit to a 5 ton. AC co.s always sell units way bigger than they need to when certain simple, cheaper measures would allow a smaller unit to run more than efficiently enough to satisfy a homeowner's needs...AC returns tend to have a ton of air leaks that require the unit to work harder, for instance, as do duct connections to registers and to the unit. Having someone thoroughly seal your ac system and small things like caulking window/door frames, etc and buying a smaller unit is the way to go from everything I've seen. Small measures save big dollars.. Just fwiw...

ETA.. Rebirth Energy works out of N.O. and did the most thorough work from testing to appropriate measures that I saw. They can tell you the exact percentage of your AC units production that's making it to the registers and how much is being leaked, and perform balancing where they adjust the dampers on each register based on the square footage of each room so there's no wasted output. I haven't worked there in like 3 years but I've heard they still have that reputation and should be expanding to Colorado shortly, so I guess they're still doing something right.

That's not ridiculously expensive and pretty much in line with what I've heard people paying. My in laws had their system changed out, smaller unit, no duct work and paid $12,500