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Summer Heat = Air Conditioning Trouble
Does your house seem warmer than it should? Several Orchid Hill homes have recently experienced A/C failures.
by OrchidHill.org
Despite a mild spring, some homeowners may now find themselves starting to sweat more. Warmer summer-like temps can expose weakness in your air conditioning system.
While Orchid Hill is still a relatively new neighborhood, some of the A/C systems that were originally installed may be coming to the end of their servicable lives. Several Orchid Hill homeowners have reported needing to have partial or complete A/C replacements in the past year.
"Ours was pretty much on it's last leg," says Suzie Hinkle, who lives on Golden Leaf Court. "It ran constantly, especially upstairs, but we couldn't get the house any cooler than about 80 degrees."
The Hinkle's experience is typical of what a homeowner might see in a failing system.
"We had somebody come out and look at it, and they told us both our upstairs and downstairs systems were leaking from about every possible spot they could leak."
So what can you expect to spend if your A/C fails?. It depends on several factors. Larger homes may have two separate systems cooling both upstairs and downstairs, which means replacing two complete systems should both fail.
Another factor is what you choose as your new system. Different air conditioning systems have different life expectancies, and the price can vary accordingly. You will need to make a judgement call based on how long you plan to remain in your house.
To replace a single system with a low range replacement could be done for as little as $2000, depending on sales and incentives that a dealer may offer. To replace two systems would obviously be roughly twice that, with premium quality long-life compressors and condensors costing more.
"We plan on staying a long time," says Ms. Hinkle. "The service company could have kept coming out and recharging our systems, but that would have just been throwing good money after bad. When it was all done, we paid around $7700, and they credited back the cost of the original service calls.
"The house is nice and cool now, and the A/C only runs periodically, so we see a big difference in our power bill."
Posted: 6/6/2006
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