Have you ever studied up on something, and the more information you got, the more confused you became? That's where I am on an air conditioning problem I have. Here's the story:

We recently bought an eleven year old home we plan to stay in the rest of our lives (20 years or more). This past weekend, the A/C (11 year old, 5 ton Trane SEER 12) developed a major leak in the A-coil (once filled, it stops working within six hours). I've had two companies look at it, and here's what they tell me:

Replace the A-coil for $1500. It fixes the problem, but does it make sense to spend $1500 on a 11 year old system. The A/C guy says that if I need to replace the outside unit later it will be compatible.

Replace the whole A/C unit for $4300 for a SEER 13 unit. While that gives a little better efficiency, it's not a lot, and it's just an A/C unit, not a heat pump. If I'm going to spend that much money, why not go for a heat pump?

Replace the unit with a SEER 13 heat pump for $5300. A heat pump which will help in winter (I currently heat with propane), but a SEER 13 isn't real efficient, and not a lot more efficient than my current A/C that I can just repair for only $1500.

Go for a truly high efficient heat pump (SEER 19). The cost there goes up a lot (to about $9000). If the payback really there?

Or for only ~$13,000 I could go with a SEER 19 ground source unit. Really efficient, but there's a big difference between $1,500 and $13,000.

A little more information: I'm in the KC area, so it can get cold here in the winter and hot in the summer, but electricity is pretty cheap.. . Around 0.07/kwh.

Any suggestions would be nice to have at this point.

--------------------------------------------------
Always Carry a Spoon -- You never know when someone is going to offer ice cream!

First off the coil replacement price is to high. Usually they can be done for 750.00 to 1000.00 and they are still making good $$$. Usually they give you a high ball price to get you to by new.

This is the most important thing you need to know about HVAC.
Find a company that really knows what they are doing. It is not so much the cost of the job but can install it correctly and fix it when it breaks down.
Check with friends etc. to find a good company.

Heat pumps do save money so that will be a good option

HVAC1000,

Thanks for the response, and you're right. The coil is way overpriced. I got two more estimates, one for $780 and another for $816!

I'm still thinking of changing out the unit for a heat pump (although, based on the price quotes I got, I don't think ground source will ever pay back). One of the guys who gave me an estimate told me that he had worked on the unit at least twice before (he called the previous owner by name) and he said if it were his, he wouldn't put too much more money in it.

If you've spent money in an 11 year old house, to live in, your best deal is to fix your actual a/c, and keep on using the house as you bought it.