Central Air

[RedFish]

Our 20 some year old central AC unit just died, so we are looking at a new unit.   HOlmes heating handles our furnace, so I will be talking to them, plus JC Robinson, and Home Depot.   Any other suggestions?     Bloody house is 27 degrees, it just doesn't get any breeze through it and never cools down.

[elk]

I work for Home Depot,get yourself a HD consumer credit card and you can get 12 months no interest.

[Fishnut]

You'll likely get a deal from the company who is taking care of your furnace if you ask for one AND mention that you'll be shopping around.  When you're shopping around, time is obviously a factor so maybe try to negotiate a faster install date while you're at it .

We have an old clunker too.  Knock on wood, we hope it keeps going for a few more years.  We bought our furnace from JD Swallow.  They do all the maintenance, etc.  They're a great company to work with!  We'll be going with them when the clunker gives out.

[Cheebs]

The best suggestion I can give, because I am going through replacing mine now too, is to get many quotes from many sources, and try to get legitimate customer feedback to see what people think. The unit is one things, installing it to code and for maximum efficiency is another. Definitley avoid any rental-based deals and if you can pay it all in one shot, that's best too. You're probably looking at 3-5k for a solid unit, depending on the size of your home.

[lonereefer]

boone plumbing off startop !!! you wont regret it

[mmaisonneuve]

beware of on the limit units....lots of people out there get a unit that is on the per TON limit.....if your are at the edge of a 1.5 TON then get a 2 TON...... The unit wont run has much and will have a longer life.....with global warming the issue we are goinf to face in the Ottawa region is cooling....not heating. So also take into consideration the power consumption of those units. Finally if one of those contractor offer you to seal those duck work for air lost....take this into consideration.....a lot of lost can add up to your monthly hydro bill.....

[RedFish]

beware of on the limit units....lots of people out there get a unit that is on the per TON limit.....if your are at the edge of a 1.5 TON then get a 2 TON...... The unit wont run has much and will have a longer life.....with global warming the issue we are goinf to face in the Ottawa region is cooling....not heating. So also take into consideration the power consumption of those units. Finally if one of those contractor offer you to seal those duck work for air lost....take this into consideration.....a lot of lost can add up to your monthly hydro bill.....

Thanks - good point on going larger!

I am not understanding "Finally if one of those contractor offer you to seal those duck work for air lost....take this into consideration.....a lot of lost can add up to your monthly hydro bill....."   Are you saying that we SHOULD allow them to seal the duct work, to reduce the amount of cold air lost?

[RedFish]

Thank you Elk, Fishnut, CHubs and Lonereefer.

I will check out HD and Boone plumbing too.   We are definitely getting many quotes, and I have done a fair bit of reading, and Chubs, what you said about installation and to code I understand now to be the most important thing.   The number of things we have had to fix in this house, I wouldn't be surprised if the ducts and previous installation setup need a go-over when the new one gets installed.

I've got a busy Tuesday and Wednesday now, with all these companies coming over!

That's if we survive the weekend.  One kid has already abandonned ship and made plans to go to a friend's cottage for the weekend.

[mmaisonneuve]

Some company will offer to seal the gap and leaks in the dockwork. Basically they take a brush and a special sealent and block those holes were you loose air. This is specially evident in basement with open celling. Its a cheap way to save $$$$ on your hydro/cooling fee...once the leak are blocked more air is pushed onto the main floor resulting is less running time for the cooling unit and less hydro consumption.....it will also make your basement warmer.

[Hookup]

Some company will offer to seal the gap and leaks in the dockwork. Basically they take a brush and a special sealent and block those holes were you loose air. This is specially evident in basement with open celling. Its a cheap way to save $$$$ on your hydro/cooling fee...once the leak are blocked more air is pushed onto the main floor resulting is less running time for the cooling unit and less hydro consumption.....it will also make your basement warmer.

sounds like an easy DIY project... the aluminun tape (whatever it actually is, but it's all shiny) should work just fine...

[Greatwhite]

That aluminum tape is my favorite invention EVER.

Lots of heating/cooling guys will tell you that "leaks in the ducts" are not a concern to them because the heat is still in the house -- even though it's between a ceiling and a floor.  I totally agree on getting more air pushed to the upper level, and have been trying to devise a DIY setup to zone my house automatically with baffles and temperature switches. 

Large buildings do this already, but I haven't seen it in a house yet...  When  you want it to be cool in the house, and the basement is cool already yet the upper levels are warm - close the ducts to the basement and blow everything upstairs.  If it's cool on one side of the house and not the other, close off the other side of the house and shoot everything to the warm side.  When in heating mode, do the opposite.

some day my house will be completely automated.  I just need a martini mixer and auto-beer-opener.

[djtr]

I just had mine replaced, furnace and ac. I quoted with just about everyone in the city. best deal and best service came from

Horricks Heating and Cooling
1 (613) 875-0755

Jeff has been great and even helped out a few of my friends afterwards. He was SO much cheaper than holmes it was rediculous for a much better unit. Tell him the James told you to call and he will look after you.

[elk]

Their is alot of fly by night operations.Sure they have a great price up front because they have no overhead.
Until you have a problem and then they cant be reached or out of bussiness.
Just check Horricks website,no listing of address and using unlisted phone numbers as contacts.

[RedFish]

So we went with JC Robinson.  We only interviewed Holmes, Direct Energy and JC.    A few of us are actually physically ill from the heat and lack of proper sleep, so we were not going to keep on interviewing.

JC Robinson was by far the most honest and informative, the only one who did not bad mouth the other companies' products and also turned out to be very competitive in their pricing.

We decided to get both furnace and AC done, as our furnace was also over 20 years old so this is became a bigger job.

It will all be installed next Friday (one more week of hell).

[mmaisonneuve]

Here is how to make an home maid AC unit.....so that you can have a little bit of freshness.

You will require

Water bottles....a lot like 48 or so (buy a pack at walmart)
Empty Milk crate (like the one they use to deliver milk)
A fan

Freeze all the water bottle (frozen solit) once frozen stack them side by side in the Milk Crate so that the top of the bottle are pointing up....tilt the milk crate on it's side so that the botton of it and the botton of the water bottle are pointing toward the area to cool down. Now take the fan and place it behind the milk crate so that the wind hits the opening end of the bottle first.

Voila....home made AC......keep a constant supply of frozen water bottle......and re-use them

Good lock and hold in tight

[elk]

I guess you didnt do research on York products,they have the worst failure rate.
My neibour has one and she has had nothing but grief with it.

Sears and Home Depot use top quality products like Carrier and Trane.

Hope Jc Robinson has great service.Their repair truck will be parked in your driveway often.

When you spend a few thousand on an ac unit or furnace,never rush into it,do your homework.

Goodluck

[Stussi613]

So we went with JC Robinson.  We only interviewed Holmes, Direct Energy and JC.    A few of us are actually physically ill from the heat and lack of proper sleep, so we were not going to keep on interviewing.

JC Robinson was by far the most honest and informative, the only one who did not bad mouth the other companies' products and also turned out to be very competitive in their pricing.

We decided to get both furnace and AC done, as our furnace was also over 20 years old so this is became a bigger job.

It will all be installed next Friday (one more week of hell).

I was reading this story and it hit me, I heard it yesterday at the one light, two light seminar. What a small world!!!

[Greatwhite]

So we went with JC Robinson.  We only interviewed Holmes, Direct Energy and JC.    A few of us are actually physically ill from the heat and lack of proper sleep, so we were not going to keep on interviewing.

JC Robinson was by far the most honest and informative, the only one who did not bad mouth the other companies' products and also turned out to be very competitive in their pricing.

We decided to get both furnace and AC done, as our furnace was also over 20 years old so this is became a bigger job.

It will all be installed next Friday (one more week of hell).

Good decision to get both done at the same time..  20 year old furnaces are energy hogs!  We had ours crap out at about the 17 year old mark, and put in a Carrier Infinity unit.  It has a 12V fan that uses about the same amount of electricity to run as a lighbulb.  So we have that fan running constantly (it's quiet too).  Keeping the fan running gives you a more consistent temperature throughout the house... Our hydro AND gas bills dropped significantly!

This is just the start to the heat... It's only the beginning of July!!!

[RedFish]

Yeah, we figured the furnace would probably stop working on December 24th if we didn't get it done now!

Stussi too funny, it IS a small world.

[Greatwhite]

Yeah, we figured the furnace would probably stop working on December 24th if we didn't get it done now!

Lol.... Guess what day OURS crapped out??? Dec 23...  We got the new one in the next day...  Fortunately it was a VERY warm Christmas!!!