Anyone know about HVAC?

[scooter729]

Would anyone know about HVAC services? I'm trying to figure out if an estimate I received for a furnace and central air conditioner unit to be installed is fair, so I figured I'd throw it out to see if there are any folks on here who would know anything on that front.

Thanks!
Scott

[sdkammeyer]

I'm not a licensed HVAC guy or anything but as a rental property owner I know more about HVAC than I care to know
What ya got??

[scooter729]

Thanks Steve - let's give it a shot. Any thoughts??

PROPOSAL:
To remove old gas furnace and A/C unit.

To furnish and install one (1) York 2-Stage Gas Furnace, Model #TM9V040A10MP11 (96% efficient), one (1) 3-ton A/C Coil, Model #PC36A3XN1 and one (1) York 2-ton Condenser, Model #YCJF24S41S1.
To furnish and install insulated sheet metal duct work to connect new furnace to existing duct work.
To furnish and install one (1) Trion Air Bear Filtration System.
To furnish and install 2" PVC for flue exhaust and combustion air intake.
To furnish and install gas piping and electrical work to connect new system to existing gas and electrical lines.
To furnish and install refrigeration piping to connect new indoor A/C coil and outside condenser to existing refrigeration piping.
TOTAL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $8,450.00

[teetwoohsix]

Originally Posted by scooter729

Thanks Steve - let's give it a shot. Any thoughts??

PROPOSAL:
To remove old gas furnace and A/C unit.

To furnish and install one (1) York 2-Stage Gas Furnace, Model #TM9V040A10MP11 (96% efficient), one (1) 3-ton A/C Coil, Model #PC36A3XN1 and one (1) York 2-ton Condenser, Model #YCJF24S41S1.
To furnish and install insulated sheet metal duct work to connect new furnace to existing duct work.
To furnish and install one (1) Trion Air Bear Filtration System.
To furnish and install 2" PVC for flue exhaust and combustion air intake.
To furnish and install gas piping and electrical work to connect new system to existing gas and electrical lines.
To furnish and install refrigeration piping to connect new indoor A/C coil and outside condenser to existing refrigeration piping.
TOTAL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $8,450.00

Hi Scott-

Just a couple of things....York is a good brand, so that's a plus (they aren't trying to sell you a cheap brand that will give you problems two to three years from now).

If they are charging you to remove old gas furnace & A/C unit, in my opinion that's a bunk charge. You are giving them business and the removal goes with the territory, and it's not that hard to do. Just my opinion, I did this type of work for a brief while. We never charged to remove or haul away old units.

They may have to have the sheet metal duct work built by an outside sheet metal company-not sure how it is back east but we used to have a company that would build any specific type of sheet metal/duct work, so that would be a legitimate charge (doesn't sound like there's too much space to connect?).

Furnish and install PVC ,,,, PVC is relatively cheap, I'd question what that charge is about.....it just sounds like they are itemizing things to make it sound like they are doing more than an average install, where most of these things are just part of "the install"

"To furnish and install gas piping and electrical work to connect new system to existing gas and electrical lines."- Very easy to do, normal part of install.

"To furnish and install refrigeration piping to connect new indoor A/C coil and outside condenser to existing refrigeration piping."- OK- here's where you need to ask a few key questions-*If they are installing a unit that uses the same type of refrigerant as your old unit, than connecting everything to your existing refrigeration piping is ok. If your new unit uses different refrigerent than your old one, they may be planning to "clean" your existing piping which can be a problem if they don't do it correctly, because you CAN NOT MIX DIFFERENT TYPES OF REFRIGERANT. Even a few drops of your old refrigerent left in your pipes when introducing a different new refrigerant can corrode your piping and eat through the copper, and screw your system up. If you have a rookie doing the job, this could be a problem. An old school tech would know how to do it, but beware of a "newbie"

So, make sure you find out if the new system uses same refrigerant as the old one. Normally, they should run all new copper piping if it's a different refrigerant. Some places just "blow out" the old refrigerant(out of the piping), and, well, it's kind of "risky".

I don't know about the Trion Air Bear System, I did this type of work for one summer straight out of a crash course 3 1/2 month class (going to school at night after working all day) and I did great in all of the written exams and in class tech work, but being out in the field (as a newbie) for one summer here in Vegas made me realize this work was not for me , so I've forgotten alot of what I learned.

Usually, from my experience, they try to charge double of what the unit costs them- 50% parts 50% labor. If they do this, you may have room to negotiate down on the "labor",,,,not all places will budge, but you can try.

All of that being said, we paid about $8,000.00 for our split system York almost 5 years ago, and are very happy with the performance. They didn't itemize everything out, it was more of a bottom line price (a bit high for out here but our air handler is in the wall instead of the ceiling, not as common so costs more). This covered anything and everything that needed to be done.

Hope this helps, and sorry for long ramble-

Sincerely, Clayton

[sdkammeyer]

wow, I just woke up and saw all that
I definitely can't argue with Clayton, and it sounds like he has way more experience than I do as well.

[scooter729]

WOW, this is extremely helpful - much appreciated for all of the great insight!!!