AC install recommendations

[Cecil Terwilliger]

There are so many companies that do install and tons have great reviews. Any recommendations? It’ll be for a condo if that matters.

I’m ok to wait until sept or October. Anyone know if there are better deals towards the end of summer?

TIA

[Paulie Walnuts]

Would highly recommend Chestermere Heating and Cooling used them and Kyle and his team are amazing.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

There are so many companies that do install and tons have great reviews. Any recommendations? It’ll be for a condo if that matters.

I’m ok to wait until sept or October. Anyone know if there are better deals towards the end of summer?

TIA

Not really. But on occasion you can find those deals at this time. I was told best time to start asking was typically January to March when they could schedule you as one of the first in the season/know how many pre-orders of inventory.

Research the difference between the 4 types of options you have.

Central AC (probably not for a condo)
Mini-split (VERY high end for a condo)
Window mount portable (you could in theory, DIY this)
Portable AC that vents outside (you could/should DIY this)

Deals wise, not major ones unless you're lucky. Prices of the inventory goes back up a little just before they go back into storage or transfer to other places that install them year round. Decreases in contractor wages as things wind down kinda go in reverse of that and some are still higher wages because they want to discourage people so that they can still have some semblance of a summer break.

Your options are likely window mount portable AC or mini-split... but that kinda feels overkill.

Chestermere is a good suggestion. I'd second that. But I feel like in a condo, you're probably better off hiring a handyman to build a super duper mount that won't fail and just install those $300-500 window ones.

Make sure that you get condo board approval to do work though. Email them to make sure you don't need it or if you need it, you get it.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

I have portable and want to upgrade to mini split. Looking for a long term solution. Portables aren’t efficient and are loud. They also don’t handle a big very space well in my experience.

Might even look at a dual room set up, which apparently is possible, just more money. But I think I’m gonna go for quality on this one. I don’t plan on moving any time soon and with temps the way they are trending I’d like to make sure I’m set up to be comfortable.

Install with condo board approval isn’t an issue. They have guidelines. Just need a reputable installer.

[photon]

If the rooms share a wall just cut a hole in the drywall and install where it's just half in one room and half in the other with the drywall going right up to the unit!

I was going to recommend Chestermere Heating and Cooling too but I do not know if they do those kinds.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

I have portable and want to upgrade to mini split. Looking for a long term solution. Portables aren’t efficient and are loud. They also don’t handle a big very space well in my experience.

Might even look at a dual room set up, which apparently is possible, just more money. But I think I’m gonna go for quality on this one. I don’t plan on moving any time soon and with temps the way they are trending I’d like to make sure I’m set up to be comfortable.

Install with condo board approval isn’t an issue. They have guidelines. Just need a reputable installer.

IIRC when I did the research, the incremental cost of adding a room to a mini-split wasn't much. Maybe $500-1000 per extra depending on how far it was from the main unit. I think each unit could do 3-5 rooms depending on size of the room.

I went with upstairs only central AC over mini-split though.

Absolutely do the multi room and multi region option so that you can essentially control temps in different areas. Far easier to do now than later down the line and you can save on cooling costs by cooling only the areas you need vs AC all over the place mixing with the warm air elsewhere.

[opendoor]

The main caveat with multi-splits (multiple ductless heads on one outdoor unit) is that they really need to be well thought out to have them work well and be efficient. Even the smallest heads are usually too big for the loads in bedrooms, so they turn on and off a lot (which hurts efficiency) and sometimes they overcool (when cooling) or overheat (when heating) the space. That's far less of an issue with single mini-splits, because they can modulate their output to match the load, whereas multi-splits can't really. If they're done right they can work, but with a contractor who doesn't really think too much about load calculations (most don't), sometimes the performance is pretty poor.

Though if they're just being used sporadically (rather than using them as the primary heating system as well) that's probably less of an issue.