Need Advice A/C not cooling

Has anyone added FREON this year , what are they charging for freon.
Who do you recommend for service?

 

Hi, we recommend:

http://www.climaticva.com/ (1st choice)

http://www.snellandson.com/ (our previous provider; good 2nd choice).

Good luck!!!

 

They are charging $120 per lb for r-22....ouch

 

Your Environmental Protection Agency at work! When folks visit the ballot-box this fall I hope they remember the regulatory enviroment created by this administration and the costs in dollars and jobs. For the record, the EPA banned r-22 and soon you won't be able to buy it at all - it's no longer being produced.

 

Oh... I remember. The problem is, the 2 parties have different rhetoric but govern the same so real choice is an illusion.

 

Check out this thread, more than likely your capacitor, but you need your unit's model number to be sure you get the right voltage:

http://www.broadlandshoa.org/hoaforum/showthread.php?t=27064

 

You could pin a lot of things on the current administration if you want, but probably not the price of R22.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, as I'm not an expert, but from my understanding this stems from the 1990 Montreal Prototocol which hundreds of countries agreed to. That and the Clean Air Act of 1989 led the US phase out rule finalized in 1993, modified in 2003 with a specific clause to reevaluate in 2009/2010.

Due to a court ruling, the EPA said that producers can still make R22 now while the final 2012 rule is being developed. R22 will probably still be made through 2014 at least, but less each year.

As this an international agreement, R22 is going away, (just about) everywhere. Banned in Europe by 2015, so this isn't a US thing, or a this administration thing.

 

The ban has its roots from the UN in 1987 and 1993 but the changes began in 2004, with the most recent phaseout in 2010.

http://www.epa.gov/ozone/intpol/index.html

 

I agree with Shim... we don't need regulations to improve the environment in which we live. Also, Reagan signed the treaty/protocol (I bet that blows your mind). But it's all the black muslim in the White Houses fault, right? Go move to China and enjoy the air quality there.

 

I could not get Freon added this year, as both my units were leaking. It is of course my fault for not asking the builder if they were putting in unites that used R-22 or more modern units, and also if the units they put in were powerful enough.

Sarcasm aside, for the 11 years we lived here, we always had one room upstairs that was too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter. When we learned this spring that we had freon leaks and could not get the freon replaced, we got quotes and put in a new system ... all of it. We paid 16K, it is a 17 SEER system, and we FINALLY can cool the whole house.

I assume that everyone in the Broadlands is pretty much in the same boat, and when your systems start leaking they will have to be replaced pretty fast. I would recommend doing it in the winter, I could have saved about 4K had we gotten it done in Feb/March.

Live and learn,

Marianne

 

Yup, We are probably going to have to replace soon. Builder grade A/C units have a 5 year life span, and we are on borrowed time now. If I may ask, was that 16k for two units at 17 seer each? That's a good price, did you do it off season?

 

We ended up replacing ours as well. Guess we were lucky ours lasted 7 years, while leaking consistently the last four years or so. We also found out our models were too small be to efficient and upgraded. Due to crappy insulation and probably equally bad duct work, we have a room (master) that doesn't ever cool down enough when it's 90+ outside. Thanks VM. 16k later, we no longer have a 10-12 degree difference in our house.

 

After two years of consistently losing freon, I finally broke down and bought new AC system and got three different quotes. Called Modern Mechanical, Climatic, and Bowman.

After inviting all three to submit quotes and doing some heavy duty research, I settled on Modern Mechanical and they did a GREAT job, was very professional, did the work properly, ensured that everything was covered on the floor before going up in the attic, explained everything to me during the entire process. To boot, the owner, Shawn Mitchell, was very honest with me, didn't use the pushy sales spiel (Told me that the furnance was not in need of being replaced as it was still in a good shape and will be for some more time and no need to throw away money on it since it was stll functioning very well). He even gave me a temporary AC mobile unit to help keep the temps oin the second floor down until they installed the new unit.

Shawn was very thorough, very prompt, responded to all email inquiries, honest and I would hire them again. Oh, and they had the best prices and had a great aftercare program. I would not hesitate to use him again and would recommend him to others.

Once the system was installed, the temps went from 85 to 72 within two hours!!! That's because of the larger capacity system (2.5 ton) as well as the higher SEER (Goodman systems are 10 SEER and a piece of certifiable crapola.) Am one great satisfied customer here.

A note to anyone who is considering upgrading to a new AC system--- invest in a good extended labor warranty...trust me, its worth it. Who wants to pay for labor, if for some reason, there is a problem with the unit after the warranty period expires although the 10 yr warranty for parts is still there.

Thanks to Modern Mechanical!

 

About SEER, you are right. Im not saying that the higher SEER was bought for the "ability to cool" but purely for the energy efficency. 14-16 SEER is good for our neighborhood but any HIGHER than that would just be a total waste of $$$ since you won't recoup your $$$ unless you had a HUGE mansion...

I got three different quotes and recommendations and two out of three said the same thing and the other was like why buy 2.5 when you were ok with a 2 ton...but something is wrong when you are quoted MORE for LESS Tonnage. I was quoted LESS for more tonnage which would help the house upstairs. Its always SO hot in the attic and 2nd floor so having 2.5 Ton AC system made more sense cooling-wise and economically. My previous 2 Ton unit couldn't keep up with the cooling needs even if I had freon in it!!

All of the contractors said there was NO need to replace the furnace at this point and I never asked them whether I needed to replace them or not at this point.

 

Upstairs Trane XR15 3 Ton AC, Trane XR15 2.5 Ton HP, Trane 3 Ton Air handler with electronich air cleaner, Downstairs Trane 95% Furnace w. communicating Trane 4 Ton AC coil, Honeywell electronic air cleaner, thermostat, and trane humidifier, 16,200 done beginning of June. Their quote in March was even better. Fairfax Heating and Cooling, they did a great job. Btw., I was also told I did not need to replace the furnace, but I decided to replace it all at once. The installation also includes 10 year parts warranty, and 5 year labor, which is extended to 10 if maintaining a service agreement with them.

Marianne

 

I'm loving my new AC that Climatic put in our upstairs area in April. It's so quiet, and the house is blissfully as cold as we want it, and the utility bills are even a little lower than they were last year.

 

We went with a SEER 13 unit downstairs, the installer said it would be a waste to go any higher since the current furnace would not be able to take advantage of anything higher than SEER 13. They also said the while the Goodman A/C units are crap that the furnace should probably last about 20 years. Apparently there isn't near as much difference in quality when it comes to furnaces. It seemed to make sense but who knows. We used B&B http://www.bbairconditioning.com/ . Job was about $5,600 for a Carrier 2.5 ton unit and included installing the unit on the ground on a raised bed of gravel with a concrete slab. They convinced me that this was better as the unit would vibrate less thus last longer plus be a little more quiet when running.

 

That's kind of high....I didn't even pay anywhere near that or a 2.5 ton Lennox.

 

we just had climatic do our upstairs as well. Put in a new 2.5 ton carrier unit. Extremely quiet. We are in a winterset and they spent more than half the day in the attic repairing the duct work. They found serious leaks around both intakes (2-3 inch of completely exposed intake) and horrible kinks in the main flex line out of the unit. Now that it is all fixed these hot days have been nice and cool upstairs. Very happy with the work they did all for a very reasonable price (just over 4k) with a 5 year labor and 10 year parts warranty.

They also recharged both units free of charge as it was going to be a few weeks before they could do the work. The main unit took over 4.5 pounds of freon. I'm guessing I'll be replacing that unit this winter if I can get a deal...

Thanks VM