SEER number

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Jim W in Tampa

Jim W in Tampa

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Tampa Florida
Do any of our members that do both AC and electric work able to give me any real numbers as to savings from a 10 seer to the new 13 seer.I am tempted to buy a new 3 1/2 ton but would like to know how long it would take to make this pay off.What would the amperage be on a 13, it is 21.2 on my 10
 
ron said:
SEER is cooling output divided by the power input for a hypothetical average U.S. climate. So if the SEER is higher, and the cooling is the same, then the power must be lower.
http://www.aceee.org/consumerguide/topcac.htm
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Yes i know it will be lower,but when i call mr ac i get told savings from 10% to 50% depending on who i call.Way i am seeing this if my rla would drop to 10 or 11 amps from 21.2 i will order it in the morning,but if all it does is drop to lets say 18 then it will take long time to pay for the extra $600 it costs.
 
10 to 15 % is a "Real World" number. After present stock of 11 seer runs out, you will ony be able to buy the 13 seer.
 
tufts46argled said:
It's all 13 seer now. There aren't even any 10 seer replacement units left in my area!
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Are a few seer 10's still around but that would seem foolish till needed.Like allways they use numbers that indicate very little to the average guy.
 
Jim W in Tampa said:
Do any of our members that do both AC and electric work able to give me any real numbers as to savings from a 10 seer to the new 13 seer.I am tempted to buy a new 3 1/2 ton but would like to know how long it would take to make this pay off.What would the amperage be on a 13, it is 21.2 on my 10
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I think the pay off is pretty far out. I just replaced a 10 with a 13. It is a pretty expensive process. I might save $50 a month on power bills. At that rate I should have it paid off in 90 months or so. You would do better to hoard gas.

I think the pay off looks better when you are in a situation where you have you replace the old unit. Then savings only has to cover the extra cost of the 13 seer.

Also, It is not as simple as looking at the change in RLA to determine the savings. If it never turns off, it can have a RLA of 10 amps and still cost you more per month. Don't assume that since both units are 3.5 tons they will have the same duty cycle. If they dont have the same discharge air temp and flow, they will not have the same duty cycle.
 
I just installed a 10 SEER in my house. The supply houses here have been out of 10 SEER's since late winter. They held a 10 for me, and my rep kept one for himself. There's no sense replacing a perfectly good 10 with a 13. By the way, the 13 SEER's resemble a small dumpster in size.

John
 
Something to be on alert for is kids stealing freon for a high.They will open the valves if they can or cut the lines.Yes its fatal but its real.My ac man told me they are putting paint on the caps so if opened it breaks the seal.Mostly he says its in the low income areas.
 
sceepe said:
I think the pay off is pretty far out. I just replaced a 10 with a 13. It is a pretty expensive process. I might save $50 a month on power bills. At that rate I should have it paid off in 90 months or so. You would do better to hoard gas.

I think the pay off looks better when you are in a situation where you have you replace the old unit. Then savings only has to cover the extra cost of the 13 seer.

Also, It is not as simple as looking at the change in RLA to determine the savings. If it never turns off, it can have a RLA of 10 amps and still cost you more per month. Don't assume that since both units are 3.5 tons they will have the same duty cycle. If they dont have the same discharge air temp and flow, they will not have the same duty cycle.
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Could you give me the tonage and the rla.
Being i am in tampa and need cooling 10 months out of year $50 month +$500 a year.5 years and its payed for and if you look at the cost differance from 10 to 13 it would only take a year.My concern is that the savings would be this high.Will be adding another 1,000 sq ft under air in a few months (private bar club) so will be needing even more tonage.Open to all ideas to cut cost down.
 
it depends where you live as to the payback period. my own experiance has opened my eyes to more than my power bill!! the comfort level due to the increased air movement and the quietness of the air handler is well worth the cost of the change. this is a four ton reem unit and it draws about 19 amps -- but it runs less time than my old unit which was a two speed engineering nightmare. yes it had two speeds --- but 95 per cent of the time it ran on high speed drawing about 28 amps and ran twice as long as my new unit. it's hard to judge the payback period with all the rate changes -- but i'm guessing two to three years........... i have a heat recovery unit which saves about 40 bucks a month ten months out of the year on my gas bill and at the same time reduces the head pressure and power usage of my a/c system. at todays power rates the payback keeps getting shorter.........
 
Well my old unit needed minor fix and was sucked down and recharged.We have the new digital meters so logging its number every morning and so far total electric bill costing about $6 a day.I can live with that.We have light switches that seem stuck in on position and 4 tv's that dont seem to ever go off plus 5 computers,one of them runs 24/7 so really not to bad of a bill.My head pressure is bit high at 325 low side 70.3 1/2 ton carrier unit.Nice and cold in house now.
 
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