Air Conditioning - One part of my 10yr old units went out! What's best?

(3200 sq ft home)
Current 10 year-old system is upstairs Lennox 4-ton, 12SEER and downstairs 3-ton, 12SEER. Heat pumps. Gas Furnaces. R-22

After having a number of Lennox HVAC folks over I learned that the 3-ton my downstairs heat pump is out. I've been surviving on the upstairs unit to cool. GOD has helped with this cool weather here in TX. Both furnaces working great. Get this. I found that I didn't need a heat pump in the first place because I got gas. My builder hosed me. I don't even have a heat pump thermostat. I also found that I have this all in one style coil that doesn't match the Lennox units with no plenum and bad seals on my ducts. They all say I probably never got my 12 SEER out of the units.

I tried to condense this story but I have 5 billion questions. I KNOW I'm trading the heat pump crap in for an a/c and gas furnace. I have decided that.

1) I can stay R22 and replace everything with 2 new Lennox Aire-Flo 14SEER units (5 yr warranty that SCARES me), new plenums, redone ducts as they should be and back in business for $7200

Should I stay R22 or go R410A now?

2) I want the $1500 tax credit. 16SEER and 13EER by research. Since I can't get it on 2 units, I might as well do the 3-ton that's easier to obtain but dunno what to do on the 4-ton. I keep seeing load calc. Nobody did that. Does that cost?

Is this tax credit worth it versus getting cheaper 14SEER units? I want to do this right. I plan to be in this house another 7 years at least.

3) I got the brilliant idea of buying my units of the internet. Amana has lifetime limited and 10 year parts. I could get 2 complete units with coils, plenum and2 great thermostats for $7500 but not installed. So, effectively $6000 when I grab the tax credit at tax time just get someone to install it. Well I guess that's not a good plan.

It seems like Amana with that warranty and price is the way to go because the Trane is so expensive.

4) Do I just keep my same problem and just replace the Lennox unit for $3000 and live with what I have been for 10 years?

HOW SHOULD I BE THINKING? I'm pretty handy but I have NO HVAC experience.

Thanks everyone!
KeithGP

Should I stay R22 or go R410A now?


R410a

I keep seeing load calc. Nobody did that. Does that cost?



Any good contractor will do a manual J "load calc"

I got the brilliant idea of buying my units of the internet

Theres nothing brilliant about that, you will not get a warranty regardless of what the web site says. You will have a very hard time getting a good reputible contractor to install it. You will only get the tax credit if the system is installed by a qualified contractor.

Is this tax credit worth it versus getting cheaper 14SEER units

Yes

It seems like Amana with that warranty and price is the way to go

I've installed a lot of Amana equipment and have had no problems

HOW SHOULD I BE THINKING

Concentrate on finding and hiring a good contractor, the installing contractor is more important then the brand.

You are asking opinion questions which pretty much guarantees you are going to get many and varied response and noones going to agree so I am going to steer clear of that and leave it to the others, however I will tell you that the load calculation is vital and will not cost you anything if someone is trying to sell you a system. Also to give you some flexibility you can go with a 97% furnace and adjust the pricing to make it a larger part of the purchase and get the tax credit that way then you can choose whatever DX ac system you want. I will tell you though that if you don't choose 410a now you will be sorry the first time your R22 system leaks. The cost of refrigerant has multiplied 6 times in the last year and a half and judging by what happened when they phased out R12 it will probably multiply another 3 times on top of that before they stop the madness.

Mike N - Thanks for your advice. I realize these are opinion questions but that's why I asked them because I KNOW I'm VERY naive in this subject matter. Just finding out that I needed a separate coil and plenum than the one I had already was welcomed information from one contractor.

dunn11 - I thought about buying HVAC-calc and doing my own calculation. R410a it is. The first contractor said that they are stockpiling as much R22 as they can and I shouldn't worry. He also gave me so much advice on the system that other things started to make sense like not needing the heat pump system if I have gas and the all in one coil crap and bad duct work. I'm sure there is more for me to learn and I welcome it all.

Do I just continue to get estimates? I live in Grand Prairie outside of Dallas, TX. I'm sure there's got to be a reputable place. Word of mouth hasn't helped me thus far. Help!

in some parts of the country it is very economical to have a heat pump and a gas furnace they call it dual fual or hybrid .the coil you have is a allstyle and they are crap but cheap and quick to install .the energy savings from a12 seer to a 14 seer will barley show on your bill i would go for the tax credit

I just can't see how I can but parts online for a low price but my quotes I'm getting in costs 3X as much. I don't get this. I definielty want to pay labor but not THAT much labor. Somebody is making a killing. If anyone knows reputable HVAC people in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, please send me in their direction!

I do have a question for you. What is your downstair unit's problem anyway, Can it be repaired ? May be something very simple to fix. In addition, I do have a few words to say: (1) Heat pump is a very good system in some part of the country where no cheap gas available, and the temperature is mild. You can always turn off the heating side and use it as an air conditioning unit if you have cheap gas to use. (2) r-22 will be around for a long time, currently sale for $200 per 30 lb, on sale you can get for $150 per 30lb. I just sold one $125 yesterday. If you take good care of your system, fix the leaks quickly, that 30lber will last you forever (remember, in order to do freon work yourself, you need EPA certification, so better have a A/C tech to do the freon work). (3) If you decide to replace the whole thing with R410a system as you mentioned, Are they going to replace the line sets in the house (inside the wall ?) New line set is recommended due to much higher pressure of R410a, even some people said the old one will work, something to think about it. (4) it is not easy to find a A/C tech to just do the installation, lots of time, they need to go back to the shop to get a replacement parts if something does not fit, or something they don't like, or they mess up during the installation and need a new part quickly. this is why they want to buy the unit themself from the store they know, also they get a cut on the unit too, so not just labor. IMO, buy online is not a good idea.

clocert -

The downstair's unit's condensor has broken leaking out all of the R-22. The unit can be replaced and everything will be up and running but my system is antiquated and costing me money.

I have the Allstyle (whatever that term is) core that is inefficient as heck. My ducts need sealing and my units are just costing me money. I believe this. I dunno how true but I have seen substantial energy costs some due to rise in energy prices but more to do with my inefficient systems. I really want to go R410A but no one has said anything about changing the line sets. Can they? I'm in a 2-story house. Can you go between the walls? I hadn't even thought of that.

Keith

I see your point. leaky duct is a big efficiency problem, If you seal that, may be your unit is not that bad. After all, you have used it for 10 years already. but to know for sure, the system' efficiency can be tested easily, get a A/C tech and he can tell you in less than 1 hour. About the line set, they don't even mention the line sets because they know they can not change that easily. You don't want them to tear up all the dry walls do you ? You just have to hope your current line set is strong enough (no weak fitting or connectors in between) to handle R410a pressure which is 1.6 times higher then R22.