Gas Air Conditioning or Solar?

Today I had a call asking if we install Gas Air Conditioning systems and how much to convert a customers eight year old A/C system to a natural gas system.

I told the prospective customer that if any systems are currently available I would not recommend doing them, the customer asked of course, why?

Well Several reasons, first the cost of the conversion, (entails installing an entire new system) is not cost effective. It is a much costlier installation then simply changing equipment as you have to add a natural gas line, and water exchange lines to a water source evaporator coil. Etc.

Second, who is going to repair the thing when it breaks? These are rare animals so your average A/C service company has no idea on how to work on the thing. This leaves you stuck with the company that installed it to repair it. Now that's ok until you decide you don't like that company (or its prices) or worse yet, they decide they no longer service these units or go out of business.

Third, I dare you to find someone who had a Gas Air conditioner on there home (they were available in the 60's) that thought that they actually worked well!

So why do you want a "gas Air Conditioner" I asked the prospective customer? (All ready knowing the answer he was going to give.) I want to lower my cooling bill, he replied.

I asked how old his current Heat & A/C system is, he replied 8 years old.

Well at 8 years, a well maintained properly sized and installed system (and I do not know if it was) can be replaced with a more efficient system, but I would assume that the eight year old system is probably not terribly inefficient with a SEER rating of between 10-12 (as compared to 15+ year old systems of less then 10 SEER). I do not believe that the return on investment would be worth while of replacing that 8 year old system.

So what is my thought on getting the Cooling Bill lower? First the simplest and over looked thing... Keep your system MAINTAINED PROPERLY and MAKE SURE YOU HAVE PROPER HOME INSULATION!

Next I suggest a FREE ESTIMATE from All Home Comfort 800-708-4828, for adding a Solar Power System to your home. Take the money that he was willing to invest into the Gas System and use it towards Solar Power. Now your 8 year old A/C system can run for nearly free (not to mention your lights, computer, refrigerator, micro wave Etc. Best yet with current California energy incentives and The Federal economic stimulus plan approximately 50% of the cost of the system can be picked up. If you are interested on owing your Electricity instead of renting it, call me at 800-708-4828.