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My house, that is. The AC broke and it's well over 100 here today. Of course the AC breaks on the hottest day in at least a year. Tomorrow is supposed to be 108 which is even hotter. It's up to 90 in my house now and it just broke about 3-4 hours ago.

It's a 20-25 year old AC unit, I don't know the maker. Does anyone here know about new AC units and which is the best and most energy efficient? I'm pretty sure it's a freon leak that caused this and it's happened twice before I bought the house 3 years ago. My house was built in the mid 50's and the insulation isn't very good either. It heats up fast. Frown I dont even have dual pane windows in the majority of windows. Frown I need to get onto PG&E and start looking for some rebates to do some upgrades.

I'm considering getting a new AC unit since the it is 20-25+ years old. I mean it's going to happen again anyways in 3-4 years if I have it refilled.

I sure hope no friends stop by because I can't answer the door like this, lol.
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Yikes Jeff, sorry to hear!

Of cousre AC is a big issue here in FL. I know FPL (power co) offers deal/rebates on new products if you call them first. Might look into seeing if you have something like that available.

Our unit is older as well and my house was built in the 70's and my windows are paper thin. We didn't do so bad because we had an empty lot next to use that shaded my house 90% of the day. Well now there is a new house there and my shade is gone and my AC just runs and runs and runs and I have it set on 78 but it never gets below 82 mid day. We are looking into getting an atic fan, I hear it helps.

At least we can cool off in the pool DH is putting up Razz
Hey Jeff, I feel for you man. Definately too hot where I live in texas to go without an AC..lol. Anyway, I dont know if yours will, but my AC unit went on the fritz and I was shocked to discover that my home owners insurance covered it. My uncle is in the heating and cooling business and he says that a TRANE unit is the best you can get but that they are a little more expensive. Hope this helps ya!
Good Luck, William
I grew up in Chicago - HOT and HUMID with only polish air conditioning.
Get window fans - beg bought and steal them - put bowls of ice cubes in front of the fans. Put some wet towels in the freezer too so you can take them out and hang them on a cair or something directly in front of the fans.

Trust me - this will help you sleep at least.


It's currently 73 in my office and I have the heater on! I am always freezing!
It's covered under your home owners policy just as William stated. We lost a water heater last year and my father told me to check our homeowners insurance and sure enough. It was covered! WHEW!

Plus reimbursement too if need to stay in a hotel (percentage). We didn't stay in a hotel for a hot water heater, but if my air went out? Yep..you can guarantee that I'd be living the life of air conditioning on the tab of my insurance company.

And just as Danielle said in our area of FL, there's a rebate upon purchase. (100.00)

BT..<smile> You made me smile with the 73 in my office. Watch out Jeff may pack up lock stock and barrell with everything and head to CO.

My Best,
Donna
quote:
Trust me - this will help you sleep at least.
I waited until 4am. It finally cooled down to a nice 88 degrees. I can't believe it only cooled to 88!

My wife has called a few places and they are all booked up because of this heat wave. One was booked till the 3rd, the other until Friday. I may have to get some friends to pull some favors.

I talked to my parents who I bought the house from and they've had the freon replaced twice, that was around 4 years ago, and 7 years ago. I don't want to do that again because of both the cost and the impact on the environment. I may just buy a new unit. I also found out it's 25 years old. They are under the house so I hadn't ever really looked at them and one of them was a making noises when the heater was on.

For the cost of an AC unit it may actually be cheaper to move to CO, lol.
Back in my younger, able to handle the heat days. I use to live in a mobile home and it would get hot, hot, hot. I used to put a fan in one window drawing air in and another one in another window drawing air out. This kept the air moving and kept it a little cooler indoors. Needless to say though when sleep time came I had that fan blowing right on me...lol. Its funny how stuff like that doesnt bother you so much when your young...but when you get a little older just being to hot can be very very uncomfortable and really screw up your daily life.
sounds like our oklahoma summers Frown

our air gave out back in april, was freon leaks in coil. so, ended up having to get a new unit. got a 2SCU13 Series (model # 2SCU13LE142P-1) manufactured by Armstrong Air Conditioning, Inc, a Lennox Intl. company.

We got it through a local repair guy that specializes in doing things inexpensively (but yet still doing it right). Don't know anything about the unit itself, other than that it's working fine so far; was the unit he recommended and he's been doing good work for the family for years.

So far so good with new unit. It's smaller around but taller than the old one, runs quieter, and so far has been doing a great job (knock on wood).

I forget what he charged, but even ran new lines into the house (in case the pipe in slab also had freon leaks)

best of luck!

edit - found the receipt

3 1/2 ton unit $1378.00
(dunno what that 3 1/2 ton bit refers to, it certainly doesnt weigh anywhere close to that much!, but says that on receipt)

new copper refg lines overhead $280
(new lines through attic since is slab house)

Total $1658.00

prices include labor (his labor is ultra cheap)
Last edited by wayoutwest
quote:
For the cost of an AC unit it may actually be cheaper to move to CO, lol.


LOL, not if you plan to buy a house. House in a half way decent area is costly.

I think you should just go spend a few days with Auctiva Bill B., LOL, seems like he's got too much cold air - maybe he can bottle you some and you can take it home.
Hey Danielle... we have the attic fan. Here its called a "whole house fan". We paid $179 for it and hubby installed it himself. It works pretty good. We have the sun hitting right into the house in the prime time of the day so it can get hot. It is normally about 78-80 during the hot summers (90-100 and HUMID) but it keeps the humidity down and also does cool the air somewhat, it does feel less than 80 though! We love ours, had it in for 4 summers now. We cant do central air because our tenants would take advantage and turn it down to like 60!! ~Steph
Hey Jeff, I have a Misty Mate air cooler Pump Up for auction right now...lol. Better get your bid in.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=010&it...TRK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1

LMAO...sorry, I couldnt help myself! I know you gotta be miserable in all that heat. A cheap window unit might just be the ticket like ewonders suggested..they are pretty cheap and at least youll have one room cool till the new unit arrives.
We have a whole house fan too. It doesn't do any good though when the temp outside is near the same temp as inside. It was like 82 outside last night and 88 inside. When the temps are so close you can run it on high for hours and hours and it barely cools down inside. There needs to be more like 10+ degree difference for those to work very well.

Ours has a timer so I set it to run until 6am and it cooled things down a little. It works really great in the spring and fall, but not so great in the summer when it doesnt cool down very much until almost sunrise. We got suckered into a more expensive "quiter" model so it was like $500 but I think there was a $200 rebate. It's really not any quieter that I can tell. The remote control though with a timer is nice. That way there doesnt need to be a switch on a wall that friends flip on accident and turn on with all the windows closed. I had that happen at my last home and it sucked in a lot of ash from the fireplace onto the carpet.

Near the end of the day my wife found a company from out of town who had someone available to come out. We can get a new coil for like $7k or a new unit for $11k. Needless to say we're going to get more quotes. I always thought these things only cost like $3-4k + installation, so maybe $4-6k. So I was quite shocked. It was a Lenox, I'm not sure if that brand is more expensive.
quote:
a new unit for $11k

YEOWCH!!!

Armstrong Air is also Lennox, and might be cheaper (see earlier post)

that price paid was for outdoor compressor/ condenser coil unit and new lines to house. didnt include air exchange unit inside the house.

dunno if that $11,000 price ya'll got includes both or what, but sounds way too high to me. does the shafting at least include a kiss? Big Grin

Here's pdf on the one paid $1,658.00 for (incl install) http://www.bondaire.com/PDF%20FILES/allied%20pdf/2SCU13...0ARMSTRONG%20PDF.pdf
Last edited by wayoutwest
Hey Donna,

GMTA (great minds think alike) regarding Window units.

fyi, the Swimmimg thing I thught was in lakeland, was the 77' Junior Olymipics Swim Invitational in Bartow. We stayed at a Holiday Inn in Lakeland I think, because the hotels in Bartow were full. Also, My Great Aunt lived in outside of Lakeland. Frances Purvis was her name, and Bingo was my name-o.

I swam in Florida from 74' to 78' then was recruited to Mission Veijo CA. for the 80' Olympic team. I was a butterfly and IM (individual medley-butterfly,backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle) swimmer. In 79' I ranked 17th in the world for the 100 meter butterfly. In 80 we boycotted the summer olypimpics and I discovered GIRLS... LOL

I was looking through the boxes of awards and I swam all over Fl. and I do remember swimming in Lakeland, now which pool... lol

Ok... enough blogging....

Ciao
quote:
Near the end of the day my wife found a company from out of town who had someone available to come out. We can get a new coil for like $7k or a new unit for $11k. Needless to say we're going to get more quotes. I always thought these things only cost like $3-4k + installation, so maybe $4-6k. So I was quite shocked. It was a Lenox, I'm not sure if that brand is more expensive.


OMG! You must live in a mansion if you have to pay 7k to 11k to move your air...if your in a normal sized house...you should be able to get a new unit "installed" labor and all for less than 3k tops. You dont have a house in Malibu do you?...lmao that would explain alot.
I was also wondering if it was an exceptionally large house, for an AC unit to cost that much! Wow!

We have a whole-house fan in the attic and it works very well some days. Fortunately it gets cooler at night many nights here in Ohio. But it's usually really humid in the summers. I rarely use the fan because it sucks in all the moisture outside along with the cool air, then the dehumidifiers are working overtime the next day.

Jeff, I'd be hanging out at the library, nursing some tea and bagels at Panera or other place with free wifi, etc. Get out of the house and to cooler spots as much as you can while it's that hot.
quote:
Originally posted by eWonders:
fyi, the Swimmimg thing I thught was in lakeland, was the 77' Junior Olymipics Swim Invitational in Bartow. Francis Purvis.
Boycotted Olympics and I discovered GIRLS... LOL

I was looking through the boxes of awards and I swam all over Fl. and I do remember swimming in Lakeland, now which pool... lol

Ok... enough blogging....

Ciao

Hey!
I went to high school with some Purvis'.

As my children and hubster say...DUH! You went to school or know everyone. <smile>

Paula Purvis. I was in the class of 75.

I can see why Bartow hotels were filled up...it's smaller than Lakeland. Back then we only had a handful of hotels/motels. A little bigger now but still a small town atmosphere.

Ahhhhhhhh, those were the days.

Thanks for the update! Wouldn't it be something, small world, if the Purvis I know is your family?

take care,
Donna

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