Unexpected Bills

[Black Label Society]

so all is well here on sunday, sitting here with the family enjoying a day off and BOOM lightning hits nearby. house shakes. no big deal. happens a lot.

2 hours later i notice my downstairs AC is not running. try all the normal fixes....its out. its an 11 year old model that costs me 500-1200 each year to keep it limping along. the lighting put me out of my misery....or caused it.

so now i have had 5 AC companies out to give estimates and after much research and debate and vetting of the right company, i have made a decision.

so now i got handed a $19,500 bill. thats right. 20K for AIR. granted, i have a 10 year warranty on parts and labor and a lifetime warranty on the compressor, i get back $1500 in Elec company rebates and my elec bill will go down about 20%. thats all great. but i am paying 20K for AIR.

I could have gone cheaper....i went with a premium set up....but even a cheap option would have set me back 13-14K.

I'm having a hard time with this. i always wanted a house. now that i have one, i want to burn it the hell down.

 

[Shawpaw]

AC units are so very expensive. The next time I buy a house, I'm making sure that AC is brand new

 

[Mr. Green]

Good thing Mr. Green use small AC, on the window. Still running after 15 years. Sure they make some noise sometimes. But easily replaceable and cheap.

 

[Black Label Society]

Good thing Mr. Green use small AC, on the window. Still running after 15 years. Sure they make some noise sometimes. But easily replaceable and cheap.

yeah, when i was renting i had 2 or 3 and they were fine. but once i got a new house it came with AC obviously. to make it worse for the pockets, i have 2 units. an upstairs and downstairs. so what normal homes pay, i pay double. it had its definite benefits, but now look. double the bill.

i miss my window units.

 

[Bjjer]

I have a window unit and renting. Im currently looking to buy but the S.Cali market is brutal. Sometimes I wish I lived in the midwest where houses are cheap.

 

[DinoDB1975]

I was going to ask that when I read your original post and you referenced "downstairs AC". Is your down stairs below ground, or ground level? Any chance you could have waited on fixing the AC?

I understand your concern, but as a fairly "new" homeowner myself (bought our first house four years ago), I would never go back to renting. Homeownership is the quickest way to increasing one's wealth. Sure, when you take a $20K hit it doesn't seem like it, but every payment you make is putting money in your pocket in terms of equity. When renting, all you're doing is putting that equity in someone else's pocket.

I know it seems like there can be runs of bad luck, but things even out in the end. We had to have our AC unit repaired twice in the four years we've been in the house; luckily, when we bought the house the previous owners had replaced the unit a year or two before we bought it so all parts were under warranty and we only had to pay for labor ("only" was still like $500 each time).

Just part of life, man. Keep your head up. It's human nature to get down. Heck, it happens to me sometimes. From time to time I wonder if there will ever be a day when my family will be so comfortable that we don't have to worry about finances. But I have a supportive wife, and three beautiful daughters. And it could be a lot worse. We don't have new cars, we can't take fancy vacations such as cruises, etc., but my kids have a roof over their heads, have enough to eat, and are in a good school system.

It's funny how age gives you perspective. Growing up, I was the oldest of three brothers, and we always had cousins from overseas who would stay with as my parents would sponsor them into the country. I never had my own room until I was 17 or so. I never had "nice" things that other, more affluent kids at my school did. But my parents did the best they could, and as a father now, I appreciate what they did for us now, while at the time I couldn't. That's what perspective gives you.

Sorry for going off topic/hijacking the thread. I just can sympathize with what you're going through/been through.

 

[Shawpaw]

I have a window unit and renting. Im currently looking to buy but the S.Cali market is brutal. Sometimes I wish I lived in the midwest where houses are cheap.

One of perks on living in OK is getting a 5 bedroom house that is 3000 square feet and it only costs $189000 LOL. Like in really new condition too.

 

[crows]

Good thing Mr. Green use small AC, on the window. Still running after 15 years. Sure they make some noise sometimes. But easily replaceable and cheap.

The only reason i hate those is because bugs and roaches from outside will enter through the corners

 

[Black Label Society]

replying to DinoDB1975 -yeah im not that bummed. i financed the 18K over 5 years at 0% so its not earth shattering, plus we have 2 incomes. its just a nut shot.

i have a regular 2 story home. its very common here in NC to have dual units, 1 for each floor. it gets WAY hot here in the summer so the upstairs would be a fire pit if not for the separate units.

i could have waited. yes. but when is it s good time to spend money? i just dealt with it now. this way i won't be hemmoraging money every summer to get them running after they leaked refrigerant all winter. plus its an old unit that uses r22 refrigerant. they stopped making it so its like $189 a pound now and climbing. soon, it will be tantamount to acquiring plutonium. thats not a joke. they are forcing everyone to switch to eco friendly refrigerants. it will be next to impossible to acquire r22 in about 3-4 years.

i just never thought id be hit with a bill like this. home ownership is great, but man...when it goes bad it goes.

 

[The Ween]

Wow! I can't tell you exactly what it is for central air unit here, but it's not that much!

 

[Mr. Green]

The only reason i hate those is because bugs and roaches from outside will enter through the corners

Never have problems with outside coming in. He use foam, placed outside and on left and right, for insulation. The unit itself is actually sealed off from outside. There is an option of allowing air, from outside, to come in but that would be silly and defeats the purpose, imo. Even sealed the top and bottom so not much space for critters to come in. Guess one have to live in a really wild environment for something to come in. Mr. Green do see ants once in awhile but who knows where they come from.

Mr. Green even have a bucket outside to collect condensation to water the garden, hehe.

 

[Black Label Society]

Wow! I can't tell you exactly what it is for central air unit here, but it's not that much!

yes it is. trust me.

remember i have 2 units. so its doubled. you could get a sloppy job and a crap unit for 6K. the lowest price i got was about 13K. but that was from a piker. some guy and his uncle type.

if going to spend this money i do it right so i do it once. these units will last long time. not like the crap my builder put in. plus i have extra work that needs to be to the faulty improper duct work so that adds to it, plus i opted for the top of the line stuff. the numbers add up.

i have a close friend in Philly who owns an HVAC co. and all the numbers i gave him he assured me was correct. he can't help because you have to be licensed by state. so all he can do by law is give me advice. this business is highly tightly regulated.

its amazing the crap you end up learning about when you don't want to learn about it.

 

[The Ween]

​Well, that makes more sense with it being two units. Hope they do a good job for you at that price.

 

[Shawpaw]

yes it is. trust me.

remember i have 2 units. so its doubled. you could get a sloppy job and a crap unit for 6K. the lowest price i got was about 13K. but that was from a piker. some guy and his uncle type.

if going to spend this money i do it right so i do it once. these units will last long time. not like the crap my builder put in. plus i have extra work that needs to be to the faulty improper duct work so that adds to it, plus i opted for the top of the line stuff. the numbers add up.

i have a close friend in Philly who owns an HVAC co. and all the numbers i gave him he assured me was correct. he can't help because you have to be licensed by state. so all he can do by law is give me advice. this business is highly tightly regulated.

its amazing the crap you end up learning about when you don't want to learn about it.

Could he not hook it up as a family member and not as a professional? That sucks man.

We had a new Carrier AC unit that was the best we've ever had. It lasted forever and cooled the house down instantly.

 

[hockeyflow33]

Did you compare prices from a few different places? That seems to be double what it should cost if they're just replacing the condenser.

 

[TurdFurgusonsHat]

Seriously, I can't be the only one who finds mr. Green's couple posts in this thread hilarious. I'm dying here.

 

[Black Label Society]

Did you compare prices from a few different places? That seems to be double what it should cost if they're just replacing the condenser.

They are putting in new and proper duct work along with complete systems. The whole deal. Everything is getting yanked out and replaced with new equipment. I had 5 compnies here for estimates. Ranged from 13k to 17k. I made last minute addition to top of the line that added the other 2k.

Shawpaw- you cant do anything in other state unless you are licensed. He cant even buy the parts. After install its inspected, all state operated. They dont mess around with hvac. No licenses, no touching anything.

 

[TurdFurgusonsHat]

Feel bad for you black label, 20k is a grown up kick in the nuts. I've owned my condo for years now but have been looking at houses. Stuff like your situation make me reluctant to pull the trigger. Only thing worse relatively speaking are boats.

 

[DinoDB1975]

replying to DinoDB1975 -yeah im not that bummed. i financed the 18K over 5 years at 0% so its not earth shattering, plus we have 2 incomes. its just a nut shot.

i have a regular 2 story home. its very common here in NC to have dual units, 1 for each floor. it gets WAY hot here in the summer so the upstairs would be a fire pit if not for the separate units.

i could have waited. yes. but when is it s good time to spend money? i just dealt with it now. this way i won't be hemmoraging money every summer to get them running after they leaked refrigerant all winter. plus its an old unit that uses r22 refrigerant. they stopped making it so its like $189 a pound now and climbing. soon, it will be tantamount to acquiring plutonium. thats not a joke. they are forcing everyone to switch to eco friendly refrigerants. it will be next to impossible to acquire r22 in about 3-4 years.

i just never thought id be hit with a bill like this. home ownership is great, but man...when it goes bad it goes.

I hear you. I'm one state above you in Northern Virginia...the summers with the heat and humidity can be ridiculous. I've got a decent sized townhouse with only one AC unit...but it sucks because my below ground level (with egress, not fully underground) is cold, my ground level is comfortable, and my upper level is still semi-warm...good thing I have ceiling fans in the upper level. Dual AC units would be perfect, actually.

RE the cost, the $18K at 0% over five years is pretty damn good...from your initial post it wasn't clear how hard you were being hit financially, thus my query if you could postpone it. And two incomes helps a lot. I'm the only one that works in my family of five, but it makes more sense for my wife to stay home and take care of the kids as child care costs are ridiculous.