Any HVAC people on the forum, come hither!

[wu501 10+ year member]

a lot of the townhouse condo projects we do designs on use Goodman furnaces and heat pumps. They seem to work okay and are less expensive than some of the larger companies.

http://www.goodmanmfg.com/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx

 

[DBfan187 5,000+ posts]

My guestimation: $8K-13K

 

[TSGP]

We own a heating and air business.

Its hard to do one unit and heat and cool both the upstairs and the downstairs real well because of where the return will have to be located.

Depending if you go with a cheap unit or a nice unit...if the holes are already cut and the boots are already put in, there are a few other factors too.

I'd say anywhere between 8k-12k without seeing the house

 

[TSGP]

a lot of the townhouse condo projects we do designs on use Goodman furnaces and heat pumps. They seem to work okay and are less expensive than some of the larger companies.
http://www.goodmanmfg.com/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx

Goodman is junk though

Rheem/Ruud (both the same company with different names) or Trane are the more efficient nice units. Might cost you around a grand more up front but will save you money because of efficiency in the long run

Also the lowest efficiency you can get now is a 13 seer (seasonal energy efficiency rating) its how well they control humidity and how efficient they control the air in the house. So you are better off spending the money to get a higher SEER rating unit

We use Goodman for apartment complexes we get because they want budget units just to get by

 

[wu501 10+ year member]

Goodman is junk though
Rheem/Ruud (both the same company with different names) or Trane are the more efficient nice units. Might cost you around a grand more up front but will save you money because of efficiency in the long run

Also the lowest efficiency you can get now is a 13 seer (seasonal energy efficiency rating) its how well they control humidity and how efficient they control the air in the house. So you are better off spending the money to get a higher SEER rating unit

We use Goodman for apartment complexes we get because they want budget units just to get by

I agree..trane or carrier or something would be alot better in the long run but Goodman are a good amount cheaper. The townhouse and condo places use them to save money. But then again they cheap out on alot of stuff but most people wouldn't be able to tell.

 

[TSGP]

exactly.

We have alot of people that build these GIGANTIC houses and spend all this money on eye candy, only to skimp out on heating and air and insulation. The things they use everyday to stay comfortable is the things they skimp on. And then get mad when they don't control humidity in the house like they should.

I look at things at alot differently them most though because of us doing HVAC, I'm 23 and been working with dad since I was 13.

Goodman is basically the power acoustik of heating and air. It will do the same thing as a Zapco or a ARC amp. But it won't do it as efficiently, or as well. Also IIRC Goodman doesn't even give you a factory warranty, maybe 6 months I think just to weed out factory defects.

Make sure whoever you get to install gives you a year gurantee of labor, so if a compressor or coil goes out you are just out for the parts, not the labor

 

[SVT03L 10+ year member]

Are you set on a central system? If not I would look into a multi spit DX system. Individual control for each space. Whats the house construction? Is the house insulated at all? What’s the R value? Would need more info in order to size the system properly.

 

[TSGP]

You can size the unit just on the size of the house, also depends on the number of rooms in the house.

you can move between 1000 and 1100 CFM per ton, and each boot uses ~100cfm

I'd almost gurantee a 2-2.5 ton unit would be plenty for his living space....UNLESS its impractical to use one unit for upstairs and down because in the summer its always gonna be hotter upstairs even if you do 2 seperate returns, its almost impossible to keep the temperature the same upstairs and down.

Might look at using 1 or 2 motel units upstairs (can be had installed for less then 1000 dollars each) and could use a smaller unit downstairs

 

[SVT03L 10+ year member]

You can size it based on rule of thumb basics as you mentioned but Id prefer a little more info to base my sizing. One thing I didnt even look at was location. Im not familliar with heating systems much as we dont need it here in Hawaii //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[SethPhillips 5,000+ posts]

thanks for the info.. ive got over 15 company's that are local comeing in the next few weeks to give me quotes...

thanks fro the input yall.