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Originally Posted by masraum

When we bought the house, the seller said "I used to work in AC. I've got some R22 and top it up once a year." I'm not sure if I believe him or not, but it was working last Sep, and it was not working when I kicked the AC on yesterday. I was able to get a recommendation last night via FB, the guy came out and put 9# of R22 in the system. It works now. If it lasted 9 months that would be great, but I would be very surprised.

The key is that it works now since I'm heading out to get my mom in 25 mins and we have a wedding here this weekend.

I asked the guy about an estimate to replace the system like for like (heat pump and electric heat) and also converting to propane for heat.

He said that most manufacturers don't make air handlers that will fit in the spot that ours is in (ours was installed in 1991). He said most air handlers are much longer, but that Rheem/Ruud makes systems with shorter air handlers. He primarily uses American Standard, Armstrong Air, Bryant and Mitsubishi. His recommendation was to consider going ductless. His pitch was that it was much more efficient, generator friendly (soft start compressors), easier to heat/cool in zones since you'd have multiple units.

Our air handler is 55" long, 28" wide and 25" tall not counting the duct that is attached to one end and the opening for the filter at the other end. I didn't measure the duct, but it's probably 24x26x18-ish. There's not really any room for anything else, but we could extend the wall at the filter end out to create more space. We could probably manage 24-30" extra if necessary.

So, anyone have any thoughts in general and thoughts on ductless specifically?

What

He's correct to a certain extend on the ductless. Its easier to install but you get to look at the ugly outlet unit that's on the wall. Sam Sung makes a ceiling outlet vents that may work for your application if space is limited. Good thing about that is different zones can be turned on of off. Depending on the size of the house, I don't think I would not install ductless hvac only. How about installing a combo unit on top of the roof? How old are the ducts? On a big home, I always ask for two air returns.