Hello all,

Hope everyone is doing well. I needed some advice or feedback from anyone on this recent quote I received. My downstairs AC unit has a Freon leak somewhere. We had it filled to get it by for a while so it can keep cooling properly.

Went ahead and at least got a quote for a new AC/Heat Pump (Lennox XP17 two outdoor units). Was also told the Furnaces would also need to be replaced along with the new outdoor AC units at the same time...

All in all the entire quote was around 16,450 - 1400 in rebates. Like, thats as much as a new car!?? This is for 2 x XP17 Lennox (SEER 17.5) Units and 2 x Lennox Furnaces in the attic. Needless to say, I decided NOT to proceed with this due to the insane price and it is just not anywhere being close to justifiable.

Our current AC units are pieces of junk and not energy efficient, but still does not justify spending that much on new units when we can just keep filling freon for 200-300 once a year. During the really hot and cold months they cool as best they can, but just have a really hard time keeping up. They are currently 2 Ton, SEER 10.

Would love some feedback or advice from anyone who can offer a suggestion on if I am taking the correct course of action here? Thanks so much.

 

that 200 -300 once a year will soon be 500 -600. Not to mention by law they will have to fix the leak once it becomes to big. Get a quote on a 14 or 15 seer unit that should save you some money.

 

When will it be justifiable? You have to spend several hundred dollars a year on them! They aren't energy efficient! They don't cool very well! What state are you in?

 

Hey Airman, thank you. I am in Georgia.

The problem is 16 Grand for all of that vs 200-400 per year when we will only be in the house for 5 more years max? I can't justify that. That would be a car payment basically.

 

It is more than the price of adding refrigerant.
When your system is low on refrigerant it must run longer to cool your house. This will increase the electric bill.
Leaks tend to get worse and refrigerant prices are going up.

Dropping to 14 or 15 SEER can shave $ from that price. Getting a system that is not one of the top 3 brands would also shave money. An ICP or Goodman will be cheaper than that 17 SEER Lennox.

I do like that posted Lennox unit and that is a good rebate.

 

I deal with this constantly. People want a new system but think we are ripping them off. Putting a new system in isn't easy. There's a lot of labor involved. If you want a new system you are going to have to pay. I've found that it's better to spend more up front on a name brand than to cheap out on the unit only to run into problems down the road.

 

Find the leak and repair it. A few hundred at most. Your biggest hurdle will be finding a good company and tech that will take on the task of troubleshooting, finding it and making the repair.
Isn't it funny how they're quick to write a quote for a new system, but don't mention spending time to find the leak.

 

Depending on what Freon your system uses... especially if its an R22 system....

Some of the professionals here can correct me if I am wrong but we just had a new central heat/air system installed in our home. The main reason we went ahead & bought the whole system now is because R22 is now obsolete. Government regulations have outlawed manufacturing R22. You can still buy it through vendors who have this in stock. Come December 31, 2014, they wont be able to manufacture condensers or compressors or something for R22 systems.

If this is true, if you plan to stay in that home for another 5 years, you're still going to have to replace the system once supplies of R22 are depleted anyway... there won't be any be any R22 to put in it sometime after the first of the year. First time you need to have it recharged with freon, there wont be any.

We went with the new 410A system.

You guys who know, please correct any incorrect info, as I am just repeating behind our AC guy. I personally dont know this first hand.

 

I am cheap, I'll fix the leak and save that $16000, or I can invest the money somewhere and get 2 or 3% earning a year and that will cover the annual freon cost. Or as other people pointed out, you can get a less expensive uint, like 14SEER Goodman, or get 2 or 3 mini-splits. You have many options, do some home work before making the final decision. R22 is going away, but they will be around for at least 5 years. plus there are other refrigerants coming to the market
to replace R22 without conversion effort, you will hear more and more of these new refrigerants when price of R22 get so high that no one can afford it anymore. Please note more than 50% of residentail AC systems in US are still running with R22, they don't just go away that fast.