switching to central air

yummymummy

Sun, May 30 2010, 9:53 pm

Has anyone here converted from wall/window air conditioner units to central air? I was hoping to get a feeling for the cost before I get some proffesional estimates.

Also, if you encountered any problems converting to central air and wouldn't mind sharing that would be great. Any comments or advice would be appreciated.

Lastly, did you switch to forced air heating at the same time?

Thanks in advance!

tziviakayla

Sun, May 30 2010, 11:04 pm

We already had a forced heating system in place, so we were all set when we decided to put in central ac. From what we were told it is very costly to change over, so we were very fortunate. However, a number of mistakes were made. We were given the name of a guy who could do it "cheap". The unit lasted a year. Then, we found another guy to put in a new one. Something malfunctioned in that system and there was no safety valve put in to catch it, so it broke. So, round 3...we put in another unit, put in the safety valve, had everything checked, etc. THEN, there was some sort fo crazy power surge in the town. The surge hit our a/c unit because it was the largest user of electricity in the house. However, we should have been fine. We weren't because no one had EVER bothered to check to see if we actually had enough "juice" in the first place. We didn't.

SO, now we have upped the electricity, and are getting estimates for a 4TH unit.

A few things:

-Ask around for a good ac guy
-Get estimates
-Make sure all safely features are in place
-Make sure you have enough electricity to cover the unit.