Craig's List + Help from a Buddy = major savings$

So our all in one Heater/AC unit Stoped working at the lake house this winter. We have a wood burning fire so it was no rush to hurry up and get a new one. Yea it was no fun waking up or comming home to a freezing house during winter and collecting fire wood. So the search has been on since winter time. What I found out is a Deliverd unit would be between 3-5k + install. With all the projects I have going on I just didn't have the $. So I started scouring Craig's list for Used AC units. As soon as I found somthing that look 1/2 way decent I forwarded it over to a buddy who does HVAC for a living. I found a used unit not to far away for $1000. Just before I went to go pick it up the sell called and said their was additional things wrong with it and he would sell it for $250 if I just came and got it. So Not wanting to drive 1 hr and pay $250
To buy what could amount to a huge paper weight I had my buddy call the sell and shake him down.
My buddy said after talking with the seller "it sounds legit" so I headed to Lodi and loaded up my new AC unit. The seller was a super cool down to earth handy man. He just wanted it off his farm.
He fired up "Betsy the tractor and loaded it in my truck"

So I get it home and seeing how easy it loaded with a tractor, I called another buddy who has a tractor and he came and removed my old unit.

So we took the old unit out and placed it out by the street with in a day a guy was knocking on the door asking if he could have it. B4 i could get my shoes on to go help him load it he and his wife had it in the back of their truck LOL. By By

So I had a little sheet metal work to do to get the vents to line up.

AND ?? How does it work ??

I quickly learned Sheet metal work sucks!!!!
But I got it hammered out and the vent working perfect

So with the count down to HEAT WAVE coming this thing needed to work & FAST. it was supposed to be 106 over the weekend. My buddy showed up Sat Morning like a HVAC Super Hero, R-22 refrigerant in hand and a bunch of fancy gauges that looked like a scuba regulator. He charged the unit with new Refrigerant and fired that bad boy up and b4 up know it, BLAMMMO! The house was Cold Chilling! Ahhhhhh 74 inside and 90 outside WOW! This 5 ton monster gets after it! My old beat down unit was 30 years old and Tired! This thing is a 2006 model and a 13 seer. WOW what a difference! When it was all said and done parts and labor I had a replacement unit installed for just under $1000.

Thank's Homeboy!

I had never thought to look for one that was used. What a deal!

30 years! That old unit was a trooper.

This is a good idea, I don't have central air in my house and a packaged unit would work perfectly. Wish I could find a unit to install at those prices.

I love craigslist

When I was looking I found 2 units. I found a 5 Ton Bryant for $950 the guy said he tested and ran it b4 he took it out. And the 2nd on was the Broken York I ended up with. (Need'd a blower motor)
So if you start keeping a eye out pretty sure you will come across one. Like many things on c list u might not find it the first time and u have to keep checking back.

Excellent Find.... Now you can spend the cash you saved on gas and beer!

damn good deal Grant. great thread, great idea. Thank god you had it up and running for the scorcher...until the delta breeze lowered the temp from 10? in a few hours back down to 77...what a relief.

^^^^Andy ; last weekend it was 106 and 90 at 9:00 at night(look at time time and temp from my phone pic) it didn't cool down till the next day.
We got the unit hooked up just in time.
With all the good info out on Whole House Fans. I think this is going to be next upgrade. Down side is "Quiet" whole house fans are NOT cheep. Over a $1000 for the one I would need + install.

York is not a bad unit. Price of R-22 is getting high per pound now. I have security cameras at our lake house luckily. Went down one weekend and the compressor wouldn't kick on. Thought I had a leak. Nope some kids huffed the freon out. It depletes oxygen and caused them to pass out for a minute. If I didn't have it on video I wouldn't have believed they did it. To bad it wasn't 410A so their sorry behinds would have been still laying there'd when I got there.

I will try to put up the video.

Grant,

next time call me playa. I am in ripon and we scrap about 5-10 AC units a week here.

Originally Posted by buffalow

Grant,

next time call me playa. I am in ripon and we scrap about 5-10 AC units a week here.

Um, I know you don't know me, but if you come across a 3.5-4 ton packaged unit I'd be interested.

Jason: what is it that you do? And what would they give you for a unit like my old one?

MIk - For your house? 208/1 Phase? Heat pump or gas?

G - I run a large HVAC commercial business servicing the state of California. We go through about 20-40 units a month which the old ones mostly end up at the scrap. I think going rate right now is .22/lb and that old unit was probably 400 lbs or so - so like under $90. The key for us is that we do not have to pay to take the refrigerant out which cost me money. Also if I have a big job, like I am doing 24 units on thursday, they show up with their dumpsters or trucks and handle the whole thing for me. Also they pay in greenbacks, which is always good.

Jason; do you sell or can you get Whole House Fans?
Looking at getting a whole house fan. The nice ones are not cheep.
Www.quietcool.com are the ones I was looking at

Funny thing is I can get them. So When I got my new house I went and got the highest tech/energy efficient fan made. Retail the thing was like $1500. We hate it and it does not work well. I went to home depot and grabbed the biggest fan they have for like $100 and put it in. We use is 80% of the year instead of the AC. It works perfectly. So based on my house (2 story - 4000 sf) this works much better.

The simple version of these thing is that the more air you can move through the air and force out of the attic, the better. I would always go at least one size bigger than the mfg recommends.

Originally Posted by buffalow

MIk - For your house? 208/1 Phase? Heat pump or gas?

Jason, for my house 208/1phase, gas. If you come across anything I'd appreciate it!

[QUOTE=buffalow;1828720I went to home depot and grabbed the biggest fan they have for like $100 and put it in. We use is 80% of the year instead of the AC. It works perfectly. So based on my house (2 story - 4000 sf) this works much better.

The simple version of these thing is that the more air you can move through the air and force out of the attic, the better. I would always go at least one size bigger than the mfg recommends.[/QUOTE]

This is a great thread. Guess I know the next weekend project to tackle. I'm is the number and letters in Sac so right between the two rivers. Whole house fan in the afternoons when the delta breeze is cooling things off would be pretty efficient.

Jason: That's good info so help me further if you will
#1 Do you have a Quiet Cool in your house if so what one do you have?
it sounded like you had one but were not happy with it and you opted for the more industrial approach.

The people selling the high end brushless motor whole house fans like Quite Cool will have you believe that" industrial style fans" like the ones you find at home depot will annoy you and keep you up at night because they are so noisy ect.

Their sales pitch is that you will not notice they are on and you will use them more often ect. As apposed to the industrial style fans they are loud and keep you up at night so you will not turn them on Bla Bla Bla.

Just looking for some honest info. Hey if you need to drop $1000+ dollars thats fine I know how that go's but the LAST thing I would want to do is pay $1500 for a High End unit and find out a $250 unit at home depot will blow this thing away