After 24 plus years we had to replace furnace and AC. Just finished this AM, took 1 1/2 days. Just a FYI
105 year old house here. 5 years ago when we did a ton of work on the outside of the house…. Chose new windows on the entire house instead of AC when we got our new energy efficient furnace. About 2 weeks a year I kick myself. This week I’m kicking myself.
Oof. Just get it done. Finance it for $50 per month. I held off for years and finally got it done like 3 years ago... Soooooo worth it. Should have done it sooner.
This is our first house to have it, our three previous homes we didn't. We were much younger then and we grew up without it. The older I get the more heat and cold, get to me....
It's so much hotter than it used to be though. For so much longer. You're right, it can be done. But man, do I regret not getting it sooner.
Living in South Texas AC is pretty much a must have. We had a motor go out on us last week with it being 109 out that day. One night of sleeping like that was painful enough, luckily the guys we had working on it found a way to make it work the following day while the motor we really need is on back order for 6-8 weeks. Had a friend down here that went without it for all of June and the first half of July, it was over 120 in his house most nights, not sure how he and the fam survived.
It's interesting, I was having this convo with one of the wife's uncles on Saturday. We've had a brutally hot summer, (over 105 for 34 of the last 36 days) and he doesn't think it's that much hotter, just that everyone has gotten use to having AC everywhere they go so we aren't conditioned to it like when he was a kid. I think there is some validity to that but it's also gotten hotter everywhere, not as bad down as 2011 but still a furnace on a daily basis. I will say I don't even mind the heat of the day getting to 110, it's that it never cools down. I get home at 11pm and it's still in the upper 90's and more humid then during the day. In fact we set a record for most days in a row without the temp getting below 80*.
We went heat pump last year (we have a small house, <1000 sq ft). I was concerned as to how well it would work in extreme heat, but it kept us at 75 all through Monday's 107+ scorcher. Kinda nice having just a single device for all temperature regulation.
Yea at that heat the window being open doesn't even help, just blowing in hot air. I tell my students if they want to make a good living and always want to have a job, get HVAC certification. Guys charged us $500 for an old motor and two hours of labor!
I grew up in a family heating business my grandfather started in the late 1920's. I didn't have an aptitude for or interest in it unfortunately. My cousin still runs the business and makes a very nice living. And even with my family discount it's still expensive as hell. I wish I had paid more attention and interest as a much younger man.......but then, I'd probably still be working my ass off if I had.....
Thought about heat pump but went with York split system 2 stage variable speed fan. Got it down to 66 yesterday for a short time then set it back to 74.
We've had nothing but heat pumps for years. Works well here in Georgia...I assume the heat side is basically a reverse A/C ?...Anyway, it works well for heating too in the winter time until the temps get below 35 degrees or so...then the heat strips kick in, which requires a good bit more electricity to run.
Major replacement for sure. One reason I didn't go with heat pump is we use Natural Gas and it was basically a clean retrofit. Ive always like the feel of the split system too.
I didn't have AC growing up out here, but my wife and I decided that it was a must when we bought our last house in 2015. We bought a full system for $9k in... 2018? I think it was around that time. Sold and moved into our current house last May and this house didn't have an outdoor condenser unit so we called around. It almost cost the same amount of money to get an outdoor condenser unit as it did to get a full system in just 4 years. COVflation is a mother fucker. Totally worth it though. The house is completely comfortable right now during this heat. The next comfort item that we had that was already here when we moved in was a tankless water heater and oh man.... game changer. If/when we move again, definitely getting another tankless. It has been GLORIOUS.
