Home DIY Crew v. HVAC Overhaul
07-22-2013, 04:36 PM
#1
RB does men
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Home DIY Crew v. HVAC Overhaul
When we bought our house we decided to keep our townhouse and use it as a rental. I had a coworker in there for about 6months and got the dreaded call.
"Kevin the AC isn't working" Fuck. I get there and through some research I determined the start capacitor in the AC unit was dead. Bought a new one and was back in business. Quick 25$ fix.
Two weeks pass and I get the dreaded call again. I go our there again and notice I had zero voltage on the backside of the relay contacts when the relay was energized. The relay was making contact, but no voltage was passing. Determined the contacts were bad. Another $25 fix and I was in business.
3 days pass get the dreaded call for the 3rd time. The unit was now tripping the breaker. Took the motor apart on the fan and the bearings were seized. That was the final straw.
The furnace/AC were 25 years old. It was time for a complete overhaul. I got a 2 quotes to install new furnace/ac/coil. Quote 1 was $4,200 and quote 2 was $5,800. I did not have the funds to pay someone so I tackled the job on my own. I took Friday off, and had ice cold air on Sunday at 2pm. Don't let anyone tell you you cannot do a job like this on your own. It was cake. I even built the transition piece. I found an furnace/AC guy on CL to vacuum my lines, braze the lines to the AC & Coil, and add additional coolant.
95% efficient furnace + 2.5 Ton AC system + 2.5 Ton A-frame coil + tools + materials + 50' 3/4'' copper line + 50' 3/8'' copper line+ HVAC Guy for 4 hours =
Total price (including EVERYTHING) was $2,503. Not bad at all.
Last item to tackle are the high efficiency intake/exhaust pvc lines (2'').
"Kevin the AC isn't working" Fuck. I get there and through some research I determined the start capacitor in the AC unit was dead. Bought a new one and was back in business. Quick 25$ fix.
Two weeks pass and I get the dreaded call again. I go our there again and notice I had zero voltage on the backside of the relay contacts when the relay was energized. The relay was making contact, but no voltage was passing. Determined the contacts were bad. Another $25 fix and I was in business.
3 days pass get the dreaded call for the 3rd time. The unit was now tripping the breaker. Took the motor apart on the fan and the bearings were seized. That was the final straw.
The furnace/AC were 25 years old. It was time for a complete overhaul. I got a 2 quotes to install new furnace/ac/coil. Quote 1 was $4,200 and quote 2 was $5,800. I did not have the funds to pay someone so I tackled the job on my own. I took Friday off, and had ice cold air on Sunday at 2pm. Don't let anyone tell you you cannot do a job like this on your own. It was cake. I even built the transition piece. I found an furnace/AC guy on CL to vacuum my lines, braze the lines to the AC & Coil, and add additional coolant.
95% efficient furnace + 2.5 Ton AC system + 2.5 Ton A-frame coil + tools + materials + 50' 3/4'' copper line + 50' 3/8'' copper line+ HVAC Guy for 4 hours =
Total price (including EVERYTHING) was $2,503. Not bad at all.
Last item to tackle are the high efficiency intake/exhaust pvc lines (2'').
always love DIY work.
07-23-2013, 12:35 PM
#5
it's my D in a B
Huh, I didn't even consider doing mine myself. We paid about $3500, which I'm happy with, but the install definitely could have been a little cleaner. Looks like about the same setup as yours.
07-26-2013, 11:55 AM
#6
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Nice work. I wouldn't even consider tackling something of that magnitude.
The wife and I (but really, mostly me) are considering getting our AC system "zoned." I.E. having three zones in the house each with independent temp control, one for the basement, main floor and second floor. Right now with the hot summer we're having I set the main floor at 70 during the night so that I can sleep, which drops the 2nd floor (and therefore the master bedroom) to about 73-74, but the basement goes down to about 60. I'd like to be able to keep the 2nd floor nice and cool without having to spend extra money cooling the main floor and basement, plus if we go down to the basement home theater we literally wrap ourselves in blankets to stay warm
Internet research has given me a VERY rough estimate that it would cost about $2k - $5k to pay a someone to do this for our 3800sf house, but that we'd save about 20% per month on our heating/cooling bills. Any thoughts on this?
The wife and I (but really, mostly me) are considering getting our AC system "zoned." I.E. having three zones in the house each with independent temp control, one for the basement, main floor and second floor. Right now with the hot summer we're having I set the main floor at 70 during the night so that I can sleep, which drops the 2nd floor (and therefore the master bedroom) to about 73-74, but the basement goes down to about 60. I'd like to be able to keep the 2nd floor nice and cool without having to spend extra money cooling the main floor and basement, plus if we go down to the basement home theater we literally wrap ourselves in blankets to stay warm
Internet research has given me a VERY rough estimate that it would cost about $2k - $5k to pay a someone to do this for our 3800sf house, but that we'd save about 20% per month on our heating/cooling bills. Any thoughts on this?