If a house has ducted heating how hard is it to add cooling or air con?

Question

I am looking ot move and alot of the houses in the area we are looking are only ducted heating. Can I add an aircon ? How? How much should it cost? Can I do it myself?

Answer 1

Can't do it yourself because only licensed technicians can purchase equipment.
The good news is .. all you have to add is an evaporator coil,( just after the furnace in the duct work), A line set which is copper tubing for freon, a condensate drain, the condensing unit outside and a 230 volt dedicated circuit for the condensing unit.
Approx cost for an average size home (3 Ton) $2500.00
Give or take.
The better news... you've just increased your home value by $10,000.00 or more ! ( A worthwhile investment!)

Get more than one estimate, check references and come back to answers with any other questions you might have before making any decisions..

Answer 2

we had that done to our house years ago. it is realy verry simple. someone will come to you house and measure it to find it's square footage, and to locate your furnace in relation to a good place to put the condencer. they bring in a truck that has every thing that they need. they remove about 2-3 feet of ducting directly above your furnace and replace it with a cooling coill. if it is convinient they simply run a drain line down to a drain. however, if no drains are convenient they will simply install a small automatic pump to collect the water from the condencer(from moisture in the air) and pump it to a more convinient place. they run a set of copper pipes, power line, and a control line (about 2-3 inches in diamiter when bundled up) through the best place they can. ours is in our basement(no drywall, just the floor joists) across the ceiling near the main beam, to the exterior wall. they just drill a hole in the wall and seal it back up when they have the lines run. outside of the house they set down a concrete pad and simply set the condencer unit on top. they connect the pipes and wires and pressurize the line. i dont know if you have to pay extra for this or not, but they also installed a humidifier on to the duct that supplies the furnace( keeps it comfortable in the winter) it was as simple as cutting a hole in the incoming duct and running a 1/8 copper tube from the nearest water line. they use one of those quick tap valves that simply bolt onto the pipe and punch a little hole. a small duct is added that blows air from the outgoing air back to the humidifier. when winter comes around you simply open the water valve, open the humidifier duct valve, and set the humidity sensor. they put a new thermostat in and run some wires to the unit from the cuircit breaker box and that is about it. you can call the company and get an estamant on the price, but just about every house will cost differenty. it is relitively easy, and takes one afternoon to install. obviously this is only done by pros because you have to be certified to work with the freon. it is simply amaising how nice it is to have central air conditioning. it is definitly worth the cost.

Answer 3

You will need to contract a pro. Copper lines will need to be run and soldered/welded. An evaporator coil will need to be put downstream of the heater. Some revisions to the duct work will be needed. Electrical to the outdoor unit must be run. Control wiring must be installed along with the proper t-stat. Good luck.

Answer 4

Not hard. Furnace plenum is opened and "A" coil is installed. Refrigerant lines run to and from outdoor compressor/condenser unit. You may or may not need to change out your present stat.