My wife and I are starting to look for another house. A lot of the homes we’ve looked at are older, NEw England Colonials with baseboard heat and no duct work. We’re big fans of CAC so that would have to be installed very soon after we buy the house.
I’m concerned that installing the ductwork in a house for CAC could be very expensive. Can anyone provide a “ballpark” figure for what it would cost in the Northeast? I’m looking for high-side estimates to be safe. I know the numbers I get will be guesses but I need a starting point.
Thanks.
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I have to admit that I checked in here to find out what CAC is.
still haen't got it from context.
Are your basebord heaters electric or hydronic from a boiler?
If hydronic, you already have a far better system than a ducted.
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My guess from the original post would be that CAC is Central Air Conditioning.
We only run our window AC three days a year so I wouldn't have thought of that.
But what I do think of is that chopping up a cape for ducting could present some real strong structural and vapour/condensation problems.
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Well, a high-side estimate would be $10,000 per ton, and a typical NE cape would need 3-4 tons of cooling, so the high-side total would be $30-40k (I think you're "safe" with that number....lol).
There's too many variables to really know what the system might cost. Do you have an unfinished attic to run the ductwork through, or do you want to set the unit in the basement? Is the basement finished? Is there headroom for ductwork? What's the overall insulation in the house like? Does it have single-pane or insulated glass windows? Are you planning to have a forced-air furnace for heat using the same ductwork?
You didn't mention the size of the the house, but if it's a "typical Cape" without a 2nd story, you'll probably want 3-4 tons of cooling. An "approximate, high-side estimate" for the work, sight unseen? $12-15k.
Bob
Ron-
I did just what you're talking about to a 2000 sq ft Connecticut colonial about 8 years ago.
Here's what was involved:
Condensor unit was installed in attic. A main trunk in the attic supplied branch ducts that were popped into the ceilings of the upstairs bedrooms.
We also dropped 2 ducts through 2nd floor closets to supply the first floor. Single return was installed in 2nd floor hallway.
We only did one zone for whole house. Now wish we had done two, but the HVAC guys at the time said the operating savings from zones would never pay for the extra installation cost. (Thermostat is upstairs, so sunny rooms downstairs sometime warm up even when the t-stat says it's 68°)
I don't know tonnage, etc. I'd have to check my files.
The whole project ran around $6500.
Hope this helps.
-Rick
Be sure to look into the type of CAC that uses small pipe ducts with high speed air. Much easier on a retrofit like yours.
But where I live, practically no one has CAC. Have you considered a wall or window unit in just your MBR?
If you don't have room for standard duct check out a high velocity system like Unico.
I ended up using 2 14000 BTU in the wall air conditioners for my main floor. Built a box around them with cabinet doors to cover them when not in use. They were $800 each with 10 year in home service contract. Other than the noise they work great.
I just finished a third floor on a house with a Unico and when that turned on it was almost as loud as a wall unit & $16,000.00 installed at 4 tons.
As for variables in size and pricing, especially with a cape, make sure you tell HVAC guy if you plan to add on or punch out a dormer so the system is big enough and you also dont have to move any pipes or mechanical, both were a problem on this job
size of house? finished basement? lots of glass? how many floors? finished attic? well insulated?
I looked into Unico high velocity system for my 1400SF 2 story gambrel in coastal CT, and was quoted ~$12-13k - for one system in basement supplying 1st floor, 2nd system in attic supplying 2nd floor. Too rich for my blood, so now I have a couple window units, but I'm only out $650.. mortgage in this neck of the woods is bad enough!
Look into Unico or spacepak for remodel situations where there is no existing ductwork.
Figure $3000-$3500 per ton of cooling, and one ton of cooling per 500-600 square feet of conditioned space.
Lots of variables, but that's ballpark.
I've started considering this for a 1929 Tudor/Colonial mongrel in NJ. I've heard neighbors quoted $5500 for a single-floor system, $14K for whole house.
I've got one estimate, $11K for a system that handles the whole house. Both HVAC people who've been out said the house was too small for a 2-floor system (they estimate about 3 tons for our house). Both advise against Unico or Spacepak: flexible hose is not as efficient as metal duct because of friction, so more vents are required for each room. Both plan on putting the air handler in the attic, which I read is now standard HVAC practice. Both will insulate duct in the attic but do not mention insulating duct in the envelope. Neither mention insulating the handler in the attic. There are some variations on how they plan to run the ducts down to the first floor, and Trane vs Amana, but otherwise it looks like price and quality of workmanship will be the only thing separating them.
As for whether CAC is a good idea in our case: In current climate, we can cope with a godawful ugly wall AC. If you take global warming seriously, it's a no-brainer (we want to do this before we insulate the attic, and not have to come back and rip apart the insulation in a few years). I've also heard that CAC is more efficient than a bunch of wall and window units, we are looking at SEER ratings of 12-15 depending on which setup we chose. We plan to keep an existing attic fan for days when temperatures just go into the 80s.
As a PS: One guy said that if he estimated the house as X tons, he liked to add 0.5 tons "to be safe." I dunno, does this sound right? He was a bit more careful than the other HVAC guy in planning the ducting.