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As we move further along in our planned escape from this Hell Hole, we think we may have found a home in Southern Utah (Washington City). This is a new, to be built home in a housing track. We are currently in the San Francisco Bay Area and have never had the need for Air Conditioning. The new house will obliviously need it. I don't know anything about brands, sizes and such stuff. And I don't know how much I can change or alter with regards to the A.C. install. The house will be single story and about 2500 square feet. Any tips or suggestions on what I should install or be sure to avoid ?? | ||
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I live in Texas in a similar sized house. I had a Goodman 2 and 1/2 ton unit that came with the house. It could not keep up with the heat here and my electric bill was high. it was a 12 seer. My current unit is and Armstrong Air 16 seer 3 ton. My ac guy recommended it and so far I am pleased. Check and see if you can use and evaporative unit there in Utah. If your humidity is low it would work. See what folks that live there are using. good luck to you, John. I too lived in the bay area when I was stationed at the Presidio of SF. I was happy to leave also. | |||
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Certified All Positions |
Take a look at Mini-Splits as an alternative to ducted AC. A lot less complex to install, so a labor savings. They are very efficient to operate as well. The downside? The wall mounted "heads," some people don't like looking at them. Arc. ______________________________ "Like a bitter weed, I'm a bad seed"- Johnny Cash "I'm a loner, Dottie. A rebel." - Pee Wee Herman Rode hard, put away wet. RIP JHM "You're a junkyard dog." - Lupe Flores. RIP | |||
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More then likely your builder already has his HVAC contractor and your options will be limited. Brand means little. Sizing is by load calculation, manual J. Duct sizing is by a manual D. I would make sure they install a quality media air filter system. It will keep the system clean and operating at peak efficiencies. | |||
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Expensive equipment compared to a ducted system (so there goes the labor savings). Complex systems, so harder to find a competent tech for repairs. More time consuming for service and maintenance. They're great for retrofits, but I sure wouldn't recommend them for new home construction. | |||
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| Non-Miscreant |
Boy are you in for some learning. Contractors just use "contractor grade junk". Its designed to be cheap with little concern for life expectancy or quality. When you end up needing repairs in 3 or 4 years, guess why. A friend suggested after the fact that I should consider insulating the interior walls. Reduces kitchen heat in adjacent rooms and noise inside. Wish I'd known. So much I didn't know or realize at the time. You often are interested in keeping the costs down, but eventually you'll pay more. Where I live humidity is a problem, but it won't be in Utah. The contractor probably doesn't want to bother with allowing the customer any access to his subs. I can spend lots of your money if given the chance!  Contact the electrical contractor and pay him on the side if necessary. Get "upgraded wiring" and some 20A or bigger outlets in places. Then pay the extra for just about double the number of outlets all over the house. It ends the extension cord usage. Yes, it'll cost more. I only ended up paying $1500 more directly to the guy, on the side. The plaster hangers weren't too happy. Keep an eye on them, too. Mine were supposed to nail, glue and screw each board. Another guy using the same general discovered they only used 2 tubes of glue on one floor. He was so pissed he called his general and insisted they take down all the work to see what they'd really done. Kind of a fight until they took down one room and found almost no glue. A neighbor then told me about hiring a guy to just watch the subs. To make sure they did a workmanlike job. He wasn't their friend, but mine. OH, yeah, the HVAC stuff. Its cheaper to use less outlets and returns. The reality is you may end up with them on walls where you want furniture. Then you have none. I didn't even realize the blueprints don't include HVAC outlets. They let the sub decide how he's going to do it to save him money. He can compensate by the plenum pressure. But if he's not going to "balance" the system after the install, good luck. More outlets at least in big rooms will be nice. Depending on the size of the rooms, ceiling fans can be your friend. See if the electrical contractor will hang them for you. Pay the money up front, its still cheaper than paying someone afterwards. You still don't know how good an install you'll get till you move in. Then its too late to do much. The answer will be in a few years when you're so upset you end up paying your own contractor to rip out the old (new now) unit to get close to what you want. Some things aren't really possible, because you're stuck with the pipes the first guy used to save him money. Make sure the master bedroom is over designed. At least you will sleep well in the furnace like heat. Oh, have the electrical guy also install a box in the master bedroom ceiling. One on and against a rafter. Or just start out right with a ceiling fan. Or fans in all the rooms. You can turn them off when not wanted, but not the opposite. See, I've just spent a bundle on stuff you've never considered. But the idea is you'll get a house that is more livable. Unhappy ammo seeker | |||
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My brother just left Sacramento for Washington as well. You likely don’t have much say in the HVAC design in a tract build. I’d negotiate with the builder to have some input in comfort related features. Being in the desert, hopefully the HVAC installer has the incentive to properly design the system (SEER, zones, building codes, etc). Also check with the utility for rebates for improved SEER. Upgrade now while labor and materials are cheaper (relatively) versus retrofit after you’ve discovered you don’t like the cooling performance. P229 | |||
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| Certified All Positions |
I've done new, and remodel, and my experience runs counter to yours. I'd recommend people do the legwork of comparing competing bids. As well as checking reputations. Ducted systems installed to code today, can be very good. If they aren't insulated or sealed, well.. Arc. ______________________________ "Like a bitter weed, I'm a bad seed"- Johnny Cash "I'm a loner, Dottie. A rebel." - Pee Wee Herman Rode hard, put away wet. RIP JHM "You're a junkyard dog." - Lupe Flores. RIP | |||
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Thoughts on doing 3 phase instead of single phase for residential? "Freedom is a light for which many men have died in darkness." | |||
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| Certified All Positions |
The service drop and panel in your home are going to be a certain number of amps. Off of the panel, different appliances will require a voltage supplied by one or more hot wires. The entire home isn't wired for "3 phase," just any circuits where needed. Such as an oven, electric heat, or other large power demands. Most homes I've worked on have 100 or 200 amp services, rarely more than 200. Arc. ______________________________ "Like a bitter weed, I'm a bad seed"- Johnny Cash "I'm a loner, Dottie. A rebel." - Pee Wee Herman Rode hard, put away wet. RIP JHM "You're a junkyard dog." - Lupe Flores. RIP | |||
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Great advice here- I too have learned the hard way.
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| In the yahd, not too fah from the cah  |
Make sure everything is properly sized. My home currently has a 1 ton unit when it should have a 2.5 ton. Also do multiple zones, at least one for each floor if possible. My entire house is on one zone and the heat and AC almost never make it to the second floor. Finally, make sure there are returns on all floors. | |||
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Flexible duct is not as efficient as galvanized and kept as short and straight as possible.. Galvanized should be taped and mastic at all connection and vents. Make sure it is well insulated. My bath fans are a pia to get to in the attic. My dryer vented into the garage and the kitchen and bath vented into the attic when I bought this place. | |||
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You probably won't have many options from the builder but check and see. You also might to buy home without AC and have it installed yourself later but the furnace and AC work together so you might not get an optimal match that way but worth looking into IMO. Problem with builders in my experience is they often want to rip you off for upgraded units but worth looking into options and pricing. If you do consider having AC put in yourself be sure to check out reputation of any installer you consider as proper install is important and that they stand by their work and guarantee their install for quality of work and performance. I prefer Carrier myself and just got a replacement AC and furnace on our home as the original units were 26 years old and still running. I went with base 13 SEER from Carrier as we don't use AC that much, about 4 months a year, and the cost of the higher efficiency until was not worth it to me. I really like our new Carrier Performance 80 furnace with the variable speed ECM blower which works so much better than our old basic furnace did. Good luck with the new house. | |||
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That's insane and sorry to hear. I tend to go a little over size and never regretted that. We have two story 2850 SQ home and 5 ton AC as there is not 4.5 ton size so it had to be either 4 or 5. I also have a wife that will make my life miserable if the house is too hot LOL. | |||
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If it’s new construction the duct work will be installed and the equipment will be installed later in the construction. Talk with the builder upgrades can be made and so can the brand or equipment. Any change orders need to go thru the builder. Builder grade equipment isn’t necessarily bad. | |||
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When did you start installing and servicing HVAC equipment? | |||
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No guessing required, it's because it got installed by a hack. | |||
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Duct work is old school, very inefficient and even if installed properly gets dirty and nasty over time. Mini splits are better. My Native American Name: "Runs with Scissors" | |||
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Go to any HVAC website they have calculators to help determine the size unit. When you study on the net the contractors say do not oversize the unit it only costs more to run it will be less efficient and can freeze up. I just bought and replaced my own unit. Insulation is one area that will continue to save you money as long as you live there God,Guns,Cars,& 1Wife, I would say I have it all. | |||
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