Central air conditioning

[Canadianman]

Originally Posted by Weitz

Besides the obvious of course

nope, it is that easy.

Turned ours on for the first time this year on Saturday.

[gasman]

Originally Posted by Travis Munroe

Has anyone shopped around this year for a new AC unit?
Ive requested a couple of quotes and reading online, people point to costco but then others say that costco really has nothing to do with it after the fact and you pay a premium while not receiving the costco support.

Also, are you able to get a smaller unit if you have dual zones (upper as 1 and main/basement as the other). I am assuming you are only requesting ac to one zone at a time but could be wrong on this.

The Costco programs are a joke, The vendors they sub to basically just bump their prices to cover the Costco cash card you get back, so it's really no cheaper. I had this confirmed last year when I did the AC install after I went through Costco, they basically told me that because I was refereed through Costco I Wasnt eligible for their normal pricing, and again when I booked my flooring install.

I ended up going through Action Furnace. I'm quite happy with the unit - When it comes to AC, It's a Goodman unit, and no issues so far (knock on wood)

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by Travis Munroe

Has anyone shopped around this year for a new AC unit?
Ive requested a couple of quotes and reading online, people point to costco but then others say that costco really has nothing to do with it after the fact and you pay a premium while not receiving the costco support.

Also, are you able to get a smaller unit if you have dual zones (upper as 1 and main/basement as the other). I am assuming you are only requesting ac to one zone at a time but could be wrong on this.

My wife just coordinated an AC install at their office. They work out of a small house so it's essentially a residential install. She started with Costco and was stunned by how high the estimate was and how inflexible the guy was. He basically said here's the price - with no description of what they were getting etc. She called another place who ended up being about 30% cheaper and they were thorough on all the options they had. Unit size, how the install could go etc. Not impressed with the Costco quote at all.

[BigNumbers]

Originally Posted by Weitz

Is there anything special I should do to my unit prior to firing it up for the first time of the year? We moved in in the winter and haven't had a stand alone AC unit prior to this.

I usually use garden hose with a good pressure nozzle and rinse out the condenser fins from the outside. let it dry and then go!

[Calgary14]

I put a cover on mine a couple years ago and have found it's made a big difference in keeping the unit clean and all debris out

[Boblobla]

Bump, looking at getting some quotes for AC install and probably a hot water heater. Any recommendations?

[Bill Bumface]

Had this guy out 2 weeks ago: gavinrairie@hotmail.com

Did a great job, quote was really reasonable and did a couple friend's houses before mine (hence me going with him).

[llwhiteoutll]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

Bump, looking at getting some quotes for AC install and probably a hot water heater. Any recommendations?

Correll Heating and Cooling just did mine. Very happy with the unit and the install overall. My unit is actually on his site and FB page

[vtec260]

I think I am going to go with Daiken 13 seer unit 2.5 ton. Anyone have any feedback on this company's AC units? It's parent company to Goodman/Amana and only $200 more for 2 extra years of warranty than Goodman. After getting 3 quotes, about $2000 difference between same seer units.

[bagofpucks]

We’ve had the Daiken 13 seer 3 tonne for two summers now and no issues from us, other than a buck completely destroyed our first unit, so we had to get it replaced through insurance. It’s hard to compare it much to our first house and AC unit as we were in a two story and are now in a bungalow. It’s apples to oranges, but I expected our bills to be worse in the new house with the AC, but it has not been the case. And yes, they have the best warranty in the business that I have seen. But, it does not cover back damage, which seems fair.

[Boblobla]

Originally Posted by vtec260

I think I am going to go with Daiken 13 seer unit 2.5 ton. Anyone have any feedback on this company's AC units? It's parent company to Goodman/Amana and only $200 more for 2 extra years of warranty than Goodman. After getting 3 quotes, about $2000 difference between same seer units.

Who did you get quotes from?

[Flames-FanAttic]

If anyone is interested in getting a quote for there AC,or if you have any questions regarding an AC, please feel free to PM me. I have had my own small company now since 2013 and have been working in the industry since 2005. I would be happy to help. I deal mostly with the Goodman products which is actually a subsidiary company of Dakine. I can also get Trane products as well, they do however cost a bit more then Goodman products.

[vtec260]

I called Action Furnace (highest quote with cheaper units), Fagnan (only deals with Carrier brand and decently priced), Justin Time (they called twice to cancel quote requests so I didn't bother to book them for the third time as I see it as poor customer service to cancel multiple times last minute), and lastly, Shift Air. I would have gone with either Fagnan or Shift Air, but felt Daikin was better choice/value.



I went with Shift Air as their prices were very competitive and found it nice that the owner came out himself to give quote and took time to give explanations with all my questions. And not pushy at all promoting extra services they have like wireless thermostat, annual cleaning, furnace upgrade, etc. I have to wait three weeks for the install to happen, but I suppose, they have small crew doing quality job at a time, rather than how larger firms do it with subcontracting out and getting the quickly.



Called Arpi to get a quote, but the wait time to get a quote was pretty far out so I didn't bother.

[TheSutterDynasty]

Bought a 160 sq foot portable AC for the bedroom. Have yet to test it out. May be annoying to set it up in the window (ie having blinds open will be bright), but I'm hoping to just kick it on for a few hours before bedtime and turn it off since falling asleep is usually the issue, not staying asleep. $350.

[DoubleK]

Here's a pricing anecdote for those of you who are shopping around....

I bought a 1.5 ton 13 SEER Lennox unit in 2016 for the same price as I just paid for a 2 ton 16 SEER Goodman unit.

[habernac]

Originally Posted by bagofpucks

We’ve had the Daiken 13 seer 3 tonne for two summers now and no issues from us, other than a buck completely destroyed our first unit, so we had to get it replaced through insurance. It’s hard to compare it much to our first house and AC unit as we were in a two story and are now in a bungalow. It’s apples to oranges, but I expected our bills to be worse in the new house with the AC, but it has not been the case. And yes, they have the best warranty in the business that I have seen. But, it does not cover back damage, which seems fair.

There has to be a story here

[woob]

Bump - Has anyone gone with a ComfortAire side discharge unit? 14 seer 2.5 tonne is what we are looking at.

[Calgary14]

With the hot weather this week still so glad I bit the bullet and got central AC installed a couple years ago. Would highly recommend for anyone with small kids as it makes the temperatures over the night so much more comfortable

[Bill Bumface]

^ I was anti-AC until kids. Opening the window at 7pm does dick all, and they don't recover as well from the ignorant motorcycles driving by as loudly as possible throughout the summer.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by DoubleK

Here's a pricing anecdote for those of you who are shopping around....

I bought a 1.5 ton 13 SEER Lennox unit in 2016 for the same price as I just paid for a 2 ton 16 SEER Goodman unit.

.
Goodman is always a lot cheaper than Lennox.