how much does air conditioning and heating cost to buy and install?

Question

Our home is 11 years old, and everything functions well. I am not thrilled about our utility costs so was wondering how much it costs to replace existing system with new, energy efficient systems. House 2100 sq.ft.
Any ideas?

Answer 1

Looks like a system of about 5 tons (60 kBtu) in capacity if you go by the rule of thumb of 400 sq. ft. / ton. This will vary depending on weather region, window area, other internal heat loads and amount of insulation your home has. My guess is that you have a system that may be rated as SEER 8 or 10 because of its age. You'll want to look at a new system that has a SEER 13 (Federal minimum standard) or greater. A new unit with a SEER 13 will save about 23% on energy costs when compared to the old unit (SEER 10). The savings could be higher (about 38%) if the old unit has a SEER 8.

Make sure the new compressor is properly matched to the coils to ensure you get the correct SEER ratings. Otherwise mismatched coils may decrease the rating somewhat and the system not operate at its optimum performance. Fan flow (cfm) of the air handler is an important factor when considering SEER ratings along with the system being properly charged with refrigerant. If the new and old system does not have the proper air flow or refrigerant charge, your system won't operate according to specifications.

You need to see if the old system is properly charged and the coils are clean. This could be another huge cause for excessive energy use. It's a cheap fix provided their aren't any leaks in coils.

I first suggest you treat the building envelope for air infiltration (weather stripping, outlet gaskets, seal plumbing penetrations etc.) and seal the ducts before going to the big expense of buying a new AC system. Leaky ducts can account for 30%-40% of conditioned air being lost into attic or other unconditioned spaces. To find the leaks, testing would be done through the use of a blower door and Duct blaster. Your local utility may be able to do this for you for free. You can also contact a HERS Rater to do this. The small investment for testing and sealing up leaks could possibly solve your energy use problems without going to a lot of expense by replacing the existing system that has about 50% of it service life remaining. If the electric bills don't go down, then look at a more efficient system. Work from the cheapest solution to the most expensive.

To figure out how much energy your AC is using, take your three highest monthly bills (summer months) and average the energy (kWh) use, then take the lowest three months of energy use (winter months) and average those months as well. Subtract the winter months average from the Summer months average. The difference between the two figures is a good indication of how much energy your air conditioning is using.

To find AC operational cost, divide the average summer bill (dollars) by the average summer kWh. This will give you an average $/kWh. Multiply the average $/kWh times the difference between the summer average kWh and winter kWh. This will be an approximate of how much your air conditioning costs to operate:

Cost could run as low as $3,700 to $5,500 depending on who does the work, brand and required work to install; provided existing duct and electrical service are in good shape.

Answer 2

Depends on how the house is now heated. A system that is only 11 years old may not be all that bad -- unless it is electric resistance heat, which IS that bad. If you have ductwork as part of your present system, then you are talking about replacing the furnace, which will cost a lot less than installing ductwork also. Recommendations:
- If you have natural gas available, use a gas furnace, and if you are in an area which needs A/C, install an electric one.
- If you have electricity but no gas, get a heat pump. The operating cost for heat will be slightly more than if you had gas, but not much; and the A/C comes for free. Another alternative: a propane fired furnace with electric A/C; roughly comparable in cost.

Answer 3

I recently did an entire house remodel on a 1700 square foot house. We got a single-stage, single-speed (least expensive) furnace, had all new ducting installed throughout the house (it was basically down to frame at that time), and plumbed it for future installation of an A/C compressor. This came out to about $6,000. To add the A/C compressor (about 3-1/2 ton), it would cost us an additional $2,500 or so.

Since your house is larger, it will require a larger furnace and A/C compressor, but probably not the duct work. The size of the required equipment is determined by a number of factors. If you call an HVAC company, they will come out to your house and do a heat load calculation. This takes into account the climate where you live, direction of exposure of your house, presence of insulation in attic, walls, and ceiling, whether you have dual-pane windows, etc.

But, I would guess you're probably looking in the $10,000 to $12,000 range.

Answer 4

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RE:
how much does air conditioning and heating cost to buy and install?
Our home is 11 years old, and everything functions well. I am not thrilled about our utility costs so was wondering how much it costs to replace existing system with new, energy efficient systems. House 2100 sq.ft.
Any ideas?

Answer 5

likely about $7000 bucks for something that is going to have a noticable difference over 11 year old equiptment. Thats very young for appliances of the nature your speaking. Perhaps checking to ensure your insulated effectively and having a sun-shade fence on the outdoor compressor for the A/C unit would be much more effective then replacing your overall heating system. What do you use to heat, if its electricity then perhaps a Central Air gas forced system will be cheaper.

Answer 6

You are probably going to be looking at a 5 ton A/C, but there is going to be a wide margin between different types of systems and installers. I would think you are going to be in for between 4,000 to 7,000.

Answer 7

It depends upon the heater capacity and its brand.

Answer 8

well the cost for anew heating and air conditioner is Little bit spensive all depends what capacity of heater and air you haveor your house have brand name heaters and air counts may cost 6,000 to11,000 all depends