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Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Houston, Tejas
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dad911 View Post
Why when the ducts are there. Hang 3' wide units in each room, and multiple outside units? Perhaps if you just want to do 1 room or office.

Zeke's got it right. If it's a relatively new unit the ducts should be fine, maybe add a few, or make some high/low on the wall to circulate air better in the summer. Get a pro to look at it, you should be fine.
You can get systems with a single outdoor unit which handles three or four indoor units. These units also use variable frequency drive technology which ramp the outdoor unit up and down with need. Each indoor unit has an indivdual control, so you only cool where you need at the time you need. And many of the better units have SEER rating of 24 or better.

Mike, how much cooling do you need? How "hot" did it get in the summer? My Parents installed a 3 ton A/C unit in upstate NY which was fine for 2800 sq feet. I have 3300-3400 here in Houston and 7 tons of cooling with 2 separate A/C units.

A good professional A/C person will evaluate your insulation, cooling requirements, etc. I would get a few people too look.

In Texas, the price of electricity means the super-duper efficient units won't pay back enough in energy savings. California, with the much higher price of electricity, you will need to evaluate the operational costs vs. installed cost.
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Old 09-16-2012, 03:36 PM
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