HVAC Selection, Negotiation, and Installation

Kelli had her HVAC system installed yesterday! Here's post 3 of 3 about her HVAC experiences.

After my first bad experience with a contractor, I knew there was more work to be done. Over the course of a week, I had FOUR companies total come to my house and provide me with free estimates. During this time, I had to turn off my A/C two more times to get the ice to melt and get the fan in the air handler back running again - but it would probably would have been more frequent if the weather was warmer.

I found all the companies on Angie's List but ended up selecting the one which was also suggested by a colleague of mine.  They were willing to meet with me at 4 pm, 5 pm, and 8 am, which was helpful in flexing my work schedule. Out of the four companies, I had a large range of suggestions, ideas, and opinions about small details.  Most of them agreed that my price range ($6000-$8000, though less would be nice) and the qualities I was looking for (long lasting, value, cleanliness, etc) meant I should get a 13 SEER, 14-15 SEER, or 16 SEER.  SEER stands for Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating.  The unit on my house was probably a 10 or 12 SEER, which you can't even buy any more, because that's where the technology was 9 years ago. If I purchased a 15 SEER model or higher, I was eligible for an energy rebate from my energy company ($200).  Of course, that doesn't make up for the $800-$1000 difference in price for the higher SEER! I also heard from the various companies that it doesn't really matter what brand you purchase, but that the most important day in the life of your HVAC system is the day it is installed!  Basically, this means that you can purchase an awesome system (they make up to 24 SEER which costs about Retail Price $30,000 to buy and install) but if it isn't put in right, you don't get the energy efficiency out of it that you could. My dad told me that anything over 16 SEER isn't worth the increase in money in terms of what I would save on my utilities bill.

I heard several conflicting things from these various companies, which I still haven't figured out:

• I could have larger duct work on my return air ducts vs. They are fine as is
• The reason my roommate's room is a little hotter is because a return air duct is sitting on top of the duct going to her room vs. It's just that she gets the most sun on her room
• I need a model with a variable speed fan because I am using one system for a two-story house, vs. There are other models which have different fans which also work vs. I don't need it at all
• I need a media filter or UV light in my new system to help the system stay clean and improve my indoor air quality vs. I don't need that at all
• I should put the $1 filters (see first blog post) in my return air units or remove them altogether if I get a media filter vs. Keep doing what I am doing already, which is use the mid-grade filter and don't put anything else in my system

I heard several things which were consistent:

• The duct work is in good shape and can be re-used. It was well-sealed the first time it was installed
• I have a medium-quality insulation in my attic which is great, and it is deep enough and looks great
• Don't change the thermostat setting a lot on my heat pump (so, a programmable thermostat is only so useful) because its easier/more efficient for a heat pump to maintain the same temperature than try to bump it up or down 2 degrees on a regular basis. Definitely don't want to change it more than 2 degrees at a time, especially in the winter because that causes the emergency heat to kick on
• If I want a media filter or a UV light, the time to put it in is when it gets installed, not later
• Most brands of heat pumps and air handlers are the same and have similar warranties so it doesn't matter much which one you pick. Each company has ones it uses the most and recommends, and may have trained their employees on installing that system the best. 

Out of the four companies, I picked the Project Manager who took measurements and did a load calculation, who explained a few things I could do myself around my house to make the system run better (ie. consider a fan in my kitchen since it gets warm when using the oven, and who gave me a sales pitch while accepting that I needed time to do my research about the products and the price.  The Project Manager even talked to my dad and answered some of his questions, and my dad negotiated him down another $500 from the price he had given me. (Yes, I recognize this is a very GenY/Millennial thing to do and I am okay with it!)  Which means he gave me my unit plus a filter he recommended for about 17% off the Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price. Considering he gets the unit wholesale for about 40% of the MSRP and then has to pay staff to install it and still make a profit -- well, it could have been a little lower, but they "included" a new thermostat (worth about $200), they have some great guarantees on the installation (parts and labor for the first 5 years if anything goes wrong) and a few other guarantees which I am essentially paying for now. One of the more frustrating pieces of this entire process was that no company provided me with all the information I (and my dad) wanted about exactly what was going to be installed and what the scope of work would be. We had to send the Project Manager a big document with what we thought we were getting (which my dad put together) so he could confirm or change it -- which he did!

I was able to get my system installed the next day, because they are a bit slow given the cooler weather. Three workers and the Project Manager showed up at 8:30 am. They put down drop cloths, I paid the bill, checked in the with Project Manager, and showed them the attic. By 2 pm the system was up and running and being tested to make sure it was working properly!

Here are some pictures of the process:

Old air handler with
the door removed

New Air Handler

New outdoor heat pump on a new concrete slab
about 8 inches taller than the last one!

Old heat pump, pan, and old air
handler in the driveway for discard

New thermostat (on a wall that will get paint touch-up)

There were 3 small snafus: (1) the air handler wasn't the right size because of the beams in my attic. They had to switch it out, with one person driving a half hour each way to get a new one that would keep my SEER rating and (2) because of the tight space in my attic, I wasn't able to get the Micro Power Guard filter for the system. They are still working out exactly what they will install for me since I wanted this and it can't be done in the space. (3) They were going to give me some new filters for my return air handlers but the Project Manager measured wrong and gave me 16x20 instead of 14x20.  Needless to say, I guess these things don't all work out exactly like you plan for them to! I'm sitting in my cool house, waiting for my final instructions, summary, and next steps to resolve these small things. The only other remaining step is to make sure my rebate gets filed and be here when the County inspector comes to check it and make sure it was done right, which I'm sure will happen in a few business days.

Determining the Problem with My HVAC System

Blog post 2 of 3 from guest blogger, Kelli.

As my previous post indicated, I'm having an issue with my home's HVAC system.  I first knew there was a problem back in April when I had people over and the house wouldn't cool down one evening (it got about 5 degrees higher than what I set it at). I turned it off and back on the next morning, and didn't think of it again until Memorial Day weekend when the same thing happened. When I pushed my thermostat down a notch, I could hear the outside unit kick on, but the indoor fan didn't make any noise. This same thing has happened three more times since then, but I've been lucky that it hasn't been as hot as usual for June in the South.

After I called my dad to ask him what could be wrong, he encouraged me to climb into the upper attic, which is where my air handler is located.  I immediately found a frozen pipe attached to the air handler, which is definitely a problem.   My system was freezing up, so when I turned it off (and its hot outside), the ice melted and it worked again. I did some googling and figured out this definitely means I had a leak of refrigerant which is why it was getting too cold.

I looked on Angie's List for a company who had a coupon for a maintenance and cleaning coupon - $89 for a Precision Tune-up and Professional Cleaning for your A/C system for only $89! This service includes up to 2 lbs of refrigerant and is normally priced at $327, saving Angie's List members $73%! (for new customer only). I was heading out of town for the week so unfortunately it was a week before they came out to my house. Within 20 minutes, they told me that I had a leak, that it wasn't worth fixing it ($200 for detecting where the leak is, 9 out of 10 leaks are in the compressor which costs $1800-2000 to replace, and $300-$600 worth of refrigerant to replace what was missing because the EPA had drastically reduced supply of R-22 available since it is so bad for the environment).  They were pretty quick to tell me what the problem was and suggest a new system, and very fast to recommend someone to come take a look at what I need. They "only" charged me $45 for coming out to my house that day so my coupon was irrelevant. I scheduled an appointment for the next day with their "Project Manager" aka their Sales guy.

In the meantime, I quickly realized I knew nothing about how much this would cost or what I was even getting into.  I looked online and the Air Conditioning Contractors of America was helpful at understanding the scope of the work needed to be done. The site does a good job explaining the supply of R-22, the switch to R-410A in all new systems, and helped me think through the questions to ask a contractor. From their site, I was also able to search an incentives database (connected to DSIRE, a database from the US Department of Energy) and find out that while I will not get any rebates on my federal taxes for putting in an energy efficient system like I would have in 2011, I DO get a $200 rebate from my energy company if I put in a 15 SEER system or higher (more on this later).  I double checked the info about taxes with my accountant.  There ARE some discounts but they are currently for solar energy and geothermal heat pumps (read: expensive).  I also really liked Energy Star's website from the EPA and found their Contractor Bid Comparison Sheet to be VERY helpful as I started to get bids for a new system.

After this research, I realized I was probably going to want more than one quote. I went back to Angie's List, which now has over 1 million members who write reviews about various corporations. I've used it several times as a homeowner and when I was considering a new vet and a new dentist. You've probably seen some of their relatively low-budget ads on TV since they recently went public. I do like them, but it feels arbitrary as to why some companies have many so many reports and others have none. I also went to colleagues at work and asked as many people for references of good companies, and I cross referenced those with Angie's List. I ended up getting 4 quotes total, as I disregarded the first one - and you'll quickly see why.

When I met with the first contractor who I found from Angie's List (who had about 50 reviews with an A rating), I figured out how they have SO many ratings - not only does this company give a discount for Angie's List members, they told me (1) a good review was written in as part of my price negotiation process, and (2) I shouldn't put EXACTLY what I paid for my system on Angie's List but instead inflate it by $1000. What's funny is that their reviews sound a lot like my experience - "I called because I thought i had a problem, they told me I did and suggested a new system, the project manager came right away and got me all squared away."  Well, this company's Project Manager was extremely pushy and wanted me to make a decision immediately. I had to tell him 3 times that I wasn't going to agree to a price and schedule installation that night before he would leave my house. He told me all sorts of personal information as he tried to convince me that his company was the best, and even tried to explain that I should sign an agreement so he doesn't have to come back out to my house. Once I got him out of my house and talked to other companies over the next week, I realized a few problems with his quote:

-He didn't do a load calculation - didn't do ANY calculation! He should have measured my house, my windows, my duct work, and taken many notes - which he didn't really do. He basically said my old system was the right size for my house, without taking any of his own measurements. The industry calls this a "Manual J" load calculation which is recommended. Other contractors took many measurements (in varying amounts) and taught me a lot about my system -- ie. my return air ducts are 12 inches wide and could be larger, but work fine as they are.
-Didn't look at my circuit breaker for my house or my thermostat to know if either of those needed to change with a new system using different wattage. All three other contractors went to look at my circuit breaker for the house in my garage and showed me what they were looking for.
-Wanted me to sign something scratched out on paper, without even giving me the model number of the unit - and when I asked for it, he texted it to me with a typo so I couldn't even find it! Other contractors wrote down model numbers and pricing, either in email or on paper.

sketchy... in more ways than 1

This first project manager then called me the next day, didn't answer my email which I did want him to answer, sent me 26 texts, and has called or emailed me every other day since then.  Needless to say, I will not be selecting that company, and I do plan on writing an appropriate review of the work they did.

HVAC drama

This post is brought to you by my friend, Kelli, a homeowner in the state to the south :) This is her first of 3 blog posts about her learning experiences with HVAC systems. This is useful information that I wouldn't have been able to share with you b/c I have a furnace/AC set-up, which Kelli describes below.

In the past few weeks, I've discovered that I have severely neglected one of the largest and most expensive parts of my home - my HVAC system, made of a heat pump and an air handler, or what is called a split system. For those of you who don't know, a heat pump is a machine that heats your house in the winter and cools it in the summer.  The air is pushed through the ducts and through an air handler, which cools or heats the air as it goes over a compressor coil ( aka the big expensive part). (Some of you may have furnaces which run on gas - you'd know this because you get a separate bill for gas from your electric bill. You also were probably warned about it from your home inspector.)

As a new home owner, I sort of knew I was supposed to change the filters in my house - I knew these were done when I moved in - but had no idea that otherwise my system needed to be inspected twice per year by HVAC specialists! In part, I didn't know this because my dad is my go-to handyman and he takes care of a lot of that stuff himself, and we never talked about it. Even when my sister mentioned having her system inspected recently, it just didn't click that I needed to do that, too! Silly me.

Two questions for you homeowners:
1) When is the last time you had someone provide regular maintenance and cleaning of your HVAC system? If you don't remember, schedule a tune up! Its much like getting an oil change on your car in terms of preventative maintenance! I haven't done this at all in my house and have no idea when it was done last, and now I have a leak in my system which could have been prevented or detected earlier if I'd had the "check up" done. More on that in a later post!
2)  When is the last time you changed your air filters in your return air handlers? (Most people have these unless they have a fancy filter like a media filter or an electrostatic filter inside/connected to their air handler - which requires some different maintenance.) It's recommended that you change these monthly or bimonthly so you keep good indoor air quality that you're breathing in, and you keep dust and other particles out of the HVAC system so it stays clean!

Here's what my air filters looked like after (gasp!) a year of not being changed:

What once was white...

It was super easy for me to change them. I went to Lowe's since it is right next door and bought 2 for $16 total. I purchased the mid-grade of filters (not the $1 ones but not the $16 each ones either) which have a semi-pleated look. My dad suggested that size, and the contractors I've spoken to says its the best plan. The $16 ones don't really do much more than the $8 ones (even though they claim to help with allergies) but instead can actually limit the air circulating through your house and make it work harder. The $1 do help, but don't filter out the smaller particles that the mid-range ones can catch. One contractor I've spoken to says buy these in bulk and change them monthly to help keep your system working well. Others say every 2 months or even every 3 months.  My return air handlers and my vents are all on the ceilings, which is good news in that dust and dog hair don't get as easily into those systems as if they were on the floor. Just a few things to keep in mind.