We’re looking to buy a home in Southeastern PA. The summers are fairly hot and humid. The market is tight and is definitely a sellers market. Houses go the first day they’re on the market, some even without inspections. There are a lot of people in temporary housing waiting to buy the right home.
Due to our budget we have a pick two of the three thing going on:
As a matter of fact, when my family and I moved from Austin, TX to Denver, CO last September, we bought an older house with no central AC. It had two of those ductless systems installed. Since we moved in September, we have not yet had a full summer to test it out; however, we were fairly pleased with the system for the few weeks of warm weather we experienced. Granted, we live in a dry climate, not a hot and humid one, but I felt like it kept our house pretty cool.
We didn’t put the system in, so I have no idea what the costs are associated with it, but in a two-story house, with a basement as well (@ 3,000 sf), our two units work pretty well.
Most of the world uses ductless (mini-split) systems, I’m not sure why they aren’t more popular here in the US. Mini-splits have been around a long time, and are very dependable and effective.
I have central AC, and it works like a champ for my main level. However, trying to get cold air from the basement-based unit up to my second floor is an exercise in futility. This spring, I’m plannning to install a mini-split for my second-floor main bedroom. Some mini-split units can double as heat-pumps too, and that can be nice in winter!
In 2012 we bought a house on Long Island that had everything we wanted except central air. The heating system is gas fired and water circulated. Even the water heater was built into the furnace and it was a super efficient model. The house had no air ducts. There was an 12,000 btu unit in the living room wall, and 4 smaller window mounted units in each bedroom. We closed in September and didn’t run the system unit May of 2013.
The main wall unit was so loud that when running you couldn’t watch TV. Plus it could not be blocked by furniture and blew very cold air right into the living area where you sat. My wife was not impressed.
We searched around and hired a Mitsubishi Ductless contractor, since our house is split (the attics are not connected). On his advice we installed a dual unit Lennox system and installed all the ducts. That was done for several reasons.
Ductless systems do not hold resale value during home sales. I confirmed that with our agent. Central Air increases the valve, ductless not so much.
There is very little cost difference. The savings in labor is about equal to the increase in equipment cost.
The system is transparent. All you see are the ducts in the walls. Ductless system are ugly, unless you have a strange house layout. Out house has vaulted ceilings and the ductless units would have still stuck out.
The split units means I have 2 of everything in my house. If one unit goes down the other one will still cool the house.
I spent $15,900 (plus $1000 that was rebated from a state program). It took the install team 4 days to install it. If my house could have used a single system I would have saved about $5000.
Add to that the cost of removing the old wall AC unit, replacing the aluminum siding on that section, a new window and curtains, and we have another $22,000 in this house.
So what would I do? Price and location are forever. You can always install AC later.
Thanks for the advice. We definitely will not have 20+ grand laying around after closing, that’s the problem. We have to be out of our current house at the end of May. Moving into a house without some sort of AC in the summer is a little scary.
Thanks for the advice. We definitely will not have 20+ grand laying around after closing, that’s the problem. We have to be out of our current house at the end of May. Moving into a house without some sort of AC in the summer is a little scary.
It won’t be $20,000 (probably).
It was just over $16,000, but we had to install a 2 ton unit and air handler in one section, and a 3 ton unit and air handler in the other. We have 3100 sqft of living space on 3 levels (one is partially under ground) and a strange layout.
We were told that the average install this guy does runs in the $8,00 to $10,000 range. We were the most expensive install he had done in several years.
I’ve spec’d A LOT. Never residential, but almost every medical project I’ve worked on had a split/cassette system. Almost all have been huge Carrier units to remove the heat from CT scan and MRI mechanical rooms - those devices will overpower the rest of a hospital’s HVAC system! But these things START at 20 tons! (220,000+ btu).
But 175,000,000 Japanese and Koreans swear by split systems for residential use
You should be able to get installed rate under $10k, depending on about 1000 variables…
Tell us more…
What sizes are houses?
2 story?
bedrooms?
bathrooms?
best location vs best layout vs best price?
Can u list the mls# so we can look them up?
I’m from bucks County originally… Where are the houses?
