Help. Please. Need a cost for a new central A/C, Heating unit. Getting wild bids!?

Question

1300 SF house, pier and beam cabin, 100% ro
18 Foot ceilings
energy star windows, #13 insul in floor and ceiling
No current unit; no ducts
Now using two window units
live in country in Texas
3 bids from 5K to $13,700 K
We are in our 60's, so we arn't looking for a 50 year unit
Our climate and build of house is pretty good, we don't need to use A/C, only in July, August and Sept...we like to have windows and doors open...kind of rough it.

The big hitch seems...some say we need 2.5 tons and others say we need 5 tons, apparently due to the high ceiling.

Some say we need 13 seer, others say we need 15 seer

Some say we need metal ducts, others say we can have flex ducts (the compressor unit will be under the house, they say we need metal due to possible rodents etc.

With the new conservation title 24 laws, we juast had a bid done for a 1300 sq. ft house. Both companies said around 7K

Thanks for reading this I hope you can help us, we are confused

Answer 1

i work on commercial a/c units in high rises. my wife and i have a 2800 s.q. f.t. home. we upgraded to a 4 ton, condenser and furnace 2 years ago. we contracted the job thru our local company. the total charge for instalation and removing the old unit and labor was 1800$. i can give you their number if you like.

Answer 2

You don't need anything more than SEER 13. The SEER rating only addresses the efficiency not how well the unit cools. Very few folks are buying anything more than SEER 13.

2.5 to 3 tons should be more than enough. You may have 18 foot ceilings but you will find the cold air will settle toward the floor and you really don't need to cool the top 8 foot or so.

Is there a reason why you want a central unit rather than staying with the window units. You can buy a lot of window units with $5000!!

Answer 3

The 7 grand figure sounds about right... but if you want my honest opinion....considering the short period of time you'll actually be using it through the year, I'd just upgrade to two higher BTU window units, keep the old ones for back up (you could install them elsewhere if wanted) and not do central air at all. You'll save a lot of money on the front end, obviously...at leat 7 grand or more, and the energy cost on the back end will be no different, and possibly better if the new units are energy efficient.

That's my 2 cents' worth anyhow. Hope this helped.

Answer 4

Well Oldtimer, I would say a decent A/C unit inside and out will run aprox. $3000, its the installion of the ductwork and vents that will hit you the hardest. Probably double the original cost. $5-6K would be what I would shoot for. Maybe find a handy man in the area that would be willing to do some prep before the A/C guys got there. Good luck.