Last Thursday, I was wondering why the upstairs was so hot. I mean, 85 degrees Fahrenheit hot. To my surprise, the AC was running, but there was no cold air.
Crap.
We’ve had two HVAC technicians come out, and they both say the condenser fan outside is shot. We’re looking at anywhere between $700 – $1000, but those companies (and online advice) recommends that you don’t plunk down $1000 on a 19 year old system.
It’s been a week now, and we’re looking at various scenarios:
- The Cheapest Solution – break fix repair, hope nothing else breaks down for a while, kick the can down the road.
- The Semi-Expensive Solution – replace the equipment serving the upstairs for $7000 – $12,000, hope nothing in the downstairs system breaks.
- The Expensive Long-Term Solution – yup, you guessed it, replace both systems simultaneously.
I would either prefer the break fix (it’s the cheapest), or the total two system replacement. Is it weird that I would prefer the cheapest or most expensive options? I do, though. if we can reasonably finance it, we’ll be set with more efficient systems for the next 15 years.
At the moment, we’ve requested pricing, and hope to find financing for the total replacement. If not, break fix and fingers crossed.
Should know what we’re doing later this week. In the meantime, we’re huddle downstairs, kids slept in the basement, we have lots of fans running.