A/C air handler - evaporator coil advice?

[warmastoast]

Not really a diy question but I need some advice please.

The previous owners of my house replaced almost all the components of the a/c in 2009.  Everything except the airhandler located in the attic space for the upstairs a/c.  This unit  now has a leaking evaporator coil and it's 30 years old. I'm a bit fed-up (understatement of the year!!) that they used R22 a/c units. 
The a/c guy who came out has just quoted me $3750 just to replace the evaporator coil with another R22 one which seems pretty hefty to me.  He has quoted me $7500 to replace it with a new cased evaporator coil.  Ouch.  He is also saying that getting R22 in the future is going to be very difficult and expensive. 
Any advice would be much appreciated.
thank you

[ncornilsen]

Find a difference vendor.

How hard will it be to get the evaporator coil out? You can replace just that section, generally, and run a new lineset out to a new compressor/condenser, and be done with it.

[lthenderson]

I paid about $5k for an entire airconditioning and heating system a few years back. I think I would get another quote from somebody else.

[warmastoast]

I have arranged for a couple of other companies to come and take a look and give me quotes.  They are all peddling the "no more R22 after 2020" line but surely that's only an issue if they start leaking?   Considering that the current air handler/evaporator is 35 years old, I reckon I've probably got quite a few more years before worrying about that. 

The original a/c guy told me that leaking refrigerant may have caused damage to the outside compressor unit so I should think about replacing the whole lot.  This sounds a lot like scaremongering to me, but does anyone know any better?

[robartsd]

The original a/c guy told me that leaking refrigerant may have caused damage to the outside compressor unit so I should think about replacing the whole lot.  This sounds a lot like scaremongering to me, but does anyone know any better?

The loss of refrigerant would make the system less efficient. This would require the outside compressor to work harder and longer. That stress certainly could reduce the life of the compressor if you continued to run the system in this condition. If you noticed the reduced efficentcy of the system early and have not run the system in much in the current state, the risk of damage should be considerably less.

[warmastoast]

Yes, I noticed it early - the first time I ran it this year when it was giving me warm air....
The unit has been serviced every 6 months and the last time was in January.  It is an a/c unit with heat strips for heating so the outside compressor hasn't been used since October.

[KarefulKactus15]

So the outside unit is Brand new Circa 2009? but your inside unit is 30 Years old with a leaky coil using R22?  I wanna make sure I got my facts straight......

More quotes,  also your in a tight spot lol.   I wanna kick the old owner for going R22 system in 2009, and Im not even the one footing the bill.   Also all the HVAC guys telling you R22 is going to be hard to get soon, I genuinely believe they are looking out for your best interest. 

Again more quotes. At some point (when we have more quotes) we can do a real cost evaluation of replacing a single component on a 30 year old system VS updating  to supported technology.   

[warmastoast]

I've had 3 companies give me quotes so far.

all three say that replacing the evaporator coil only is a waste of money. It's a special order since the air handler is so old.  Quotes were $2800 - $3500 for this alone.

Replacing the air handler for one that will take R22 now and convert to R410a at a later date:
American Standard 2.5 ton $3500.  They said that it will need a new valve (txv?) when I convert over to R410a and the costs of converting will be about $500.

Trane XR13 $2000  - actually they don't specifically state that I can use this with R22 now and convert later so I need to check. This could be for a unit that is installed with a new outside compressor unit and only takes R410a.
Another company just told me it's not possible to convert and it would be $7500 (!!!) for a new air handler alone that would take only R22.  This older guy got pretty pissy with me when I started asking questions and he will not be getting my business.

Replacing whole system.
Only 1 company has given me a definitive quote for this so far, they were very straightforward about it and were able to do it after one visit.  The guy was great at handling my questions.  The other company seem to need to do all kinds of tests before they can give me a price. Which after the visit with the other company just seems to be trying to convince me to spend more than 30% extra with them based on the cost of the air handlers alone.

So far:
trane xr15 heat pump $4500 with $400 rebate from government.
I am expecting the 2nd quote to be considerably higher based on cost of air handler alone.

My initial thoughts on all this so far:
I could just spend $2k now, replace just the air handler and get a system that may well be ok for at least another 5 years.
pros: the unit outside is only 6 years old, serviced every 6 months and seems fine.
cons: it's an a/c unit not a heat pump and runs on R22.  I would have to buy an airhandler which can convert at a later stage.  My cooling/heating costs will be lower with a heatpump. Since this concerns only the upper floor of my house, not the first floor,  then I might save an average of ?$50 a month.  I have managed to get my electricity bill right down to a reasonable level since last October but have yet to get through a summer season.  My highest electricity bill last air conditioning season (I live in Austin, Tx) $318.

I am also fairly keen to get ductless mini-splits with ceiling cassettes and branch ducts.  So far I have been unable to get anyone to give me a quote for this.  It doesn't appear to be a texan thing at all.

[KarefulKactus15]

I wouldn't do a mini split since you have support for Central air.  (http://livingstingy.blogspot.com/2016/05/mini-split-system-hvac.html )

Replacing the air handler now alone seems reasonable.    Worst case scenario, when your system has catastrophic failure again, you just replace the whole system.

Its a gamble that it will last,    Id personally take that bet and say youll get another 8 years with adequate maintenance.      R22 is gone by 2020, but there is speculation that "reclaimed" R22 can be recycled up to 2030.


I wish an HVAC tech would pop their head in with an opinion, maybe thats the one trade not represented by mustachians? lol

[warmastoast]

I asked on a subreddit and one of the guys ( a contractor) on there told me I could just replace the airhandler too.  I'll clear up the question of expansion valves and future costs of changing and probably that is the way to go until the outside unit packs up.

I appreciate you putting in the link to the guy's blogpost - which I read thanks.

I think 1 compressor outside linked to 4 zones inside with branches going to bathrooms would be great.  The lines outside won't be great but on the other hand if/when I switch to heat pump outside I'm going to have to do that anyway because of the electrical wiring needed.

[warmastoast]

New air handler and heat pump being installed today.

The difference in the quotes was bigger than I thought it would be $4700 - $7900.

The most useful tool was this https://www.ahridirectory.org/ahridirectory/pages/ac/defaultSearch.aspx

where I entered the units which the different companies were recommending and I was able to confirm the rating.
The most expensive quote for carrier models got the best rating but the annual difference in costs didn't justify the extra money.
The middle quote units got a worse rating than the cheaper quotes - ie they would be more expensive to buy and to run.

I've improved the weather stripping on the door from the house to the garage and I'm waiting for a chimney pillow to install since these were the only 2 areas that were shown to be leaking.
Apart from the improperly installed return air duct to the badly working air handler - it wasn't connected and so that will the subject of a complaint to the better business bureau.

[lthenderson]

This winter you will be living up to your username!