[HJBeck]

Most units aren’t going to last 15 years. I would bet your existing unit is a SEER 14. Technology has changed a lot, allowing for optional SEERS of 19 to 21. By upgrading to a 19 SEER UNIT or above you will get your money back over the life time of the unit in electric savings. Bad part is that a 19 SEER UNIT will start at $12K.

[LuvVillages]

In Florida the average life of a heat pump is 10-12 years. Do you want to spend a $1000 or more for a new evaporator coil just to have another big ticket repair in the next couple years? Like the condenser or compressor?

[Reese8899]

$6200 is expensive . You can buy just coil, and have it replaced. Also for purchasing brand new units, check ebay. Prices are slashed for new units, and all comes with warranties. It is a blessing to have a honest AC technician . Good luck.

[mrf6969]

DeSantis AC Company replaced my neighbors whole AC system recently for around $4200. with a rebate program. Replaced with a Trane system.

[DAVES]

Originally Posted by HJBeck

Most units aren’t going to last 15 years. I would bet your existing unit is a SEER 14. Technology has changed a lot, allowing for optional SEERS of 19 to 21. By upgrading to a 19 SEER UNIT or above you will get your money back over the life time of the unit in electric savings. Bad part is that a 19 SEER UNIT will start at $12K.

I do not claim to be an expert. Our unit is 8 years old, original unit made by carrier and it is 15 SEER. I do wonder if that drops over the life of the unit. I would expect so.

I called one of the radio talk shows and asked about saving were we to switch to 19.
The math 15 to 19 roughly 21%. His guess was we would save 10% on our air conditioning bill. Reminder your entire electric bill is not AC. Your refrigerator, perhaps more than one, freezer are also major energy users as is hot water.

To get the higher efficiency they use variable speed fans and compressors. Parts are far more expensive.

Honest repair? I always watch people servicing my stuff. First of he/she does not know what you know. Not likely to break something so the can charge you to fix it.

[eschiavo]

Had my A/C unit and furnace replaced last June by Sun Kool $6200 for Carrier units. Best investment ever. My electric and heating bills down 50%. Units were 15 yrs old. I keep looking at my bills thinking they must be wrong.lol. New units are so efficient. You won’t be sorry u replaced your units. 👍👍👍👍

[Jerry Leinsing]

Look up the original docs that came with the house and you should see a warranty statement for Carrier for the Villages. If you read it carefully, it looks like the Villages got some kind of warranty particular to them. Ours is warrantied for ten years. We had to replace the fan motor intelligence unit 3 days BEFORE the 5 year parts and labor portion of the warranty ended. The rest of the 10 years is just for parts. If something goes wrong, we are stuck for Labor. Be careful of what you are told by the technician or office. I had conflicting info and produced the warranty papers. Repair at no charge, including the service call $ for the diagnostics. End of story

[Bilyclub]

Originally Posted by J1ceasar

Munn's, DeSantis, both long time and deserve whatever profit they make to their long-standing ties to the community

I'm assuming this is satire. If it's not please get some professional help.

[MegandSteve]

Almost 3 years ago I was told my unit had a leak and needed to be replaced. It was refilled and still works great. Unfortunately they make more money replacing units and they do fixing them.

[Boston1945]

Originally Posted by LuvVillages

In Florida the average life of a heat pump is 10-12 years. Do you want to spend a $1000 or more for a new evaporator coil just to have another big ticket repair in the next couple years? Like the condenser or compressor?

Knock on wood. My carrier 3-ton heat pump was installed in 2003 and it's still running. Still have the sales ticket. Total cost back in the day with tax was $1840. Years ago I use to sell heating and air for Sears. Been here for over 50 years and I can tell you this much. Without naming names here, when certain trucks pull up "bend over". By all means, get a second opinion.

[rmd2]

I paid that price for a brand new Trane AC. I've had both Trane and Carrier and I like Trane better.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by DAVES

I do not claim to be an expert. Our unit is 8 years old, original unit made by carrier and it is 15 SEER. I do wonder if that drops over the life of the unit. I would expect so.

I called one of the radio talk shows and asked about saving were we to switch to 19.
The math 15 to 19 roughly 21%. His guess was we would save 10% on our air conditioning bill. Reminder your entire electric bill is not AC. Your refrigerator, perhaps more than one, freezer are also major energy users as is hot water.

To get the higher efficiency they use variable speed fans and compressors. Parts are far more expensive.

Honest repair? I always watch people servicing my stuff. First of he/she does not know what you know. Not likely to break something so the can charge you to fix it.

Most of the condenser units (outside unit) in The Villages use a one speed fan and a single stage compresser. The higher SEER rating is achieved mostly by making the unit larger with more surface area on the coil for a more efficient heat transfer.

[Toymeister]

Originally Posted by HJBeck

Most units aren’t going to last 15 years. I would bet your existing unit is a SEER 14. Technology has changed a lot, allowing for optional SEERS of 19 to 21. By upgrading to a 19 SEER UNIT or above you will get your money back over the life time of the unit in electric savings. Bad part is that a 19 SEER UNIT will start at $12K.

In a few words NO, a higher SEER WILL NOT pay for itself in savings. You are the victim of a salesman's bad math

First I know 50 - 60% of an all electric homes electricity usage is hvac. I tracked electricity cost with my a monitor which checked usage 10,000 times a second.

Let's say all of your SECO bill is electricity cost (ignoring service charges), of the annual 1,200 to 1,700 bill is hvac or 600.00 to 1,020. An increase for for a 14 to 19 SEER unit is 26.3% savings of hvac costs, WOOT!

So 600.00 to 1,020 hvac cost equates to 157.80 to 268.26 in savings. Using your numbers a 5,800 upgrade to a 19 SEER unit over the overpriced 6,200 unit will take 21.62 to 36.75 years to pay for itself.

It pays to comfirm the facts.

[GeeWhiz]

Originally Posted by Janier

Our CV was built in 2011 and after a routine service call we were told the evaporator coil was leaking and advised to replace the unit with a mid priced Carrier heat pump to the tune of $6200. My question, is that the typical life span of the standard unit with Villiages construction? Also I could use some recommendations. We have talked with someone about installing a Trane unit. What has been your experience? Appreciate your advise

My designer home was built in Mar 2006 and I replaced the Trane 2.5 ton 14 SEER in Mar 2014. It was still running but difficult to hold temp and humidity with temps above 90. Avg. live in US is 15 yr life span and avg use is 5 months. Requires more use of A/C in FL than Avg in US. I bought a 2 Stage American Standard (Trane and American Standard are essentially the same product), 12 inch air filter and programmable thermostat with 16.5 SEER for ~ $5800 and a $400 rebate. Single stage A/C is cheaper. Get multiple estimates from large and small companies. You may be surprised at proposed prices. Good luck.

[mike1921]

Bought my CV in 2015 when it was already a year old so I was shut out on a lot of the warranty. I had multiple problems with my unit from 2016 until 2019 that totaled up to over $3000. When I had an evaporator issue in 2020 that finished me off and I put in a new unit....cost was around under $6000 but I bit the bullet and replaced the complete unit.