calls answered within 5 seconds (during working hours) Your Cooling Requirements Are Too Big! How Much Does it Cost to Install a New HVAC System? We're asking readers to share how much they spent on a given item, project, or upgrade in the home. We hope this information proves helpful to anyone needing to get a basic sense of how much something costs, and how much you can expect to pay to hire someone. How much did it cost to buy & install your HVAC system? If you can, let us know the type of system you chose, how large your space is, and specify materials vs. hired labor if needed. Since costs vary, your region of the country is always helpful too!Summer is here, which means for many of us, thoughts are turning to air conditioning. Let’s face it—central air conditioning will change your life. No more sweaty nights tossing and turning because you haven’t installed the window units yet. For that matter, no more installing the window units—or bashing your knuckles carrying them up and down the basement stairs each spring and fall.

If you’re thinking about upgrading to central air, be prepared to spend between $6,000 and $15,000, depending on the size and complexity of the job. Installation usually takes several days, and the new system will increase your property value by as much as 10%, according to Twin Cities appraiser Alan Hummel. Here’s what else you need to know.air conditioner outdoor unit cost Air conditioning is measured by the ton, which is the cooling energy released by a one-ton block of ice melting over the course of a day. central air conditioning parts listYou’ll pay about $2,000 to $4,000 per ton, and a typical two-story, 2,000-square-foot house might require 3 to 3.5 tons of air conditioning—but getting the tonnage exactly right is essential. water under air conditioner unit outside

An oversized system will cool the house so quickly it doesn’t effectively dehumidify the air (a major key to comfort), and if it’s too small it will run almost constantly, increasing your energy bills and prematurely wearing out the equipment. The contractor should show you a printout of a heat-load calculation for your house, which factors in such things as your home’s location, cubic feet of living space, number and size of windows, and orientation to the sun. In general, today’s systems must be 14 SEER—which stands for Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio and is a measure of how much cooling you get for each watt of power used—or about 40% more efficient than the 10 SEER standard that was in place until 2006. Given that your old system isn’t running at peak efficiency anymore, your cooling bills should drop by about half. Or you can opt for even higher efficiency, all the way up to 24 SEER. A 16 SEER system, for example, might add about $2,000 in upfront costs—or perhaps just $500 if your state offers an energy incentive program (you can find a list here)—and will reduce your cooling costs by another 14% a year.

If you have an old central air system or forced air heat, your contractor can connect new AC equipment to the ducts that already exist inside the walls and floors of your home. Old ducts aren’t necessarily good ducts, however. If they’re leaky, you could lose 20% of your cooled (and heated) air into your attic and basement, says physicist Max Sherman, of the Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory. So have the ducts checked, and if necessary sealed. That will add another $1,000 to $3,000 to your costs. If you don’t have ducts, or the old ones are super inefficient, you have two choices: A contractor can install new ducts in the attic and or basement—and run between-floor connections through closets—for the cost of about $4,000 to $5,000. Or you can opt for ductless air conditioning: Unlike central air conditioning, which has one or two central blower units (usually in the attic) that push air through ducts, these systems have individual blower units that usually get installed on the house’s perimeter walls.

You need one unit for each conditioned space, and therefore you have multiple zones throughout your house that can be more efficient than the all-or-nothing approach you get with central air conditioning. Not everyone likes the look of the blower units hanging on the walls, however, and ductless equipment will cost about 30% more for the system than for connecting new central air to existing ductwork. Do not install central air conditioning without adding a high-efficiency filter to the system. By cleaning the air as it moves through the system, it will reduce pollen and dust in the air inside your house—and it will help keep the inner workings of your AC equipment clean and efficient. A system with a “media filter” with a MERV (minimum efficiency reporting value) rating of 12 will add $500 to $1,000 to installation costs but reduce your maintenance costs by about $500 every two years, says Wes Davis, of the Air Conditioning Contractors of America, a trade organization. Like shopping for a flat-screen TV the week after the Super Bowl or a 2015 model year car after the 2016s hit the lot, timing your air conditioning purchase right can save you big.

“In the spring and summer, our phones are ringing off the hook,” says Robert Wilkos, of Roussos Air Conditioning in Panama City, Fla. In the winter, contractors are trying to find enough work to keep their crews busy, he says, so they typically knock 10% to 20% off their bids. Farther north, fall and spring offer similar off-season pricing and milder weather for doing the installation.Unless you have a zoned system, a single AC unit can have you changing the thermostat constantly. It can be challenging to maintain a comfortable temperature in an older two-story home with only one central air-conditioning unit. Using two systems has many advantages over a single unit, but it is not always the best choice. The age and design of your house may affect your decision, along with the costs of purchasing and running a second central air-conditioning unit. Cost Considerations Purchasing two central air-conditioning units can be more expensive initially than purchasing a single unit, but the cost difference may not be as much as you think.

You need either two smaller units or one larger unit to run the entire house. The added cost of the second unit may be offset by the energy savings. Much depends on your house and how you use the air conditioner. Temperature Balance In many older homes, it is difficult to keep the entire house at the same temperature. The second floor is often much warmer than the first, so one area of the house often seems too hot or two cold. Using separate central air-conditioning units for each floor allows you to maintain a comfortable temperature throughout the entire house. Energy Savings A single non-zoned central air-conditioning unit requires you to keep all areas cool, even when some are not in use. In many homes, the first floor can be cooled during the daytime and turned off at night, while the upstairs bedrooms may only need to be cooled at night. In this situation, separate central air-conditioning units can result in significant energy savings. This situation can also be solved with a zoned air-conditioning unit.

System Failure If one of the central air-conditioning units goes out, you may be able to keep the house cool enough with the other unit until repairs are made, though this is only important in areas where summer temperatures are extreme. Having two units also doubles the chance of system failure and increases the cost of repairs overall. Advantages of a Zoned System It is possible to install a single central air-conditioning unit, with two or more thermostats, that can cool the house evenly. A zoned system includes dampers within the ductwork that open and close to regulate the flow of air and temperature in each zone. A regular central air-conditioning system, by contrast, pushes cool air to all parts of the house. A single zoned system has many of the advantages of a two-unit system: The house is divided into two or more zones -- in this case, upstairs and downstairs. Each zone of the house can be turned down or closed off to save energy. The thermostat in each zone controls the temperature in the zone.