I just bought a new house, and the master bedroom (highest point in the house) is getting insufficient cooling. After talking with some of my neighbors I found out that that is typically the way our houses work, and that the best solution is to install a split A/C unit in the wall.

My next door neighbor said that a 10,000 BTU unit is what he thinks is best, and that one should run around $1000 (which seems right from what I have seen. However, he said that installation should be around $3000 which seems a bit high based on how simple a ductless split unit seems to be.

Can anyone out there provide a rough estimate of what they feel the cost would be? I know it's hard (sight unseen) but I just think that $3000 may be too high.

Thanks!

Hey Bill,
I'm in HVAC and depending on what system your looking at that price seems pretty good. We get about $5000 for a single head system. Fujitsu has the best system and you could attach 1-4 heads to 1 condensor.
About $11,000 for a four head system. These units are heat pumps as well, so they will heat your room if thats an issue as well.
Mike

What type of A/C system is in the house now, and can you get access to the ductwork? If you have enough capacity in the A/C system, and can get to the ductwork the cheapest fix would be to install an inline booster fan in the duct going to the bedroom to increase the airflow to the room.

Where is the new house????

Hey Bill,
I'm in HVAC and depending on what system your looking at that price seems pretty good. We get about $5000 for a single head system. Fujitsu has the best system and you could attach 1-4 heads to 1 condensor.
About $11,000 for a four head system. These units are heat pumps as well, so they will heat your room if thats an issue as well.
Mike

Thanks Mike. It would just be a 1 head system for the one room. I'm curious as to what makes the installation of the system so expensive?


Mark C: It has a Lennox central AC system in it now. The problem is that the ductwork is in the ceiling of the family room and installing a booster would involve opening it up (which isn't that big a deal) but there just may not be enough capacity to get up there and cool. As it is now the house has electric zone dampers in it that serve almost no purpose since the one room is so much hotter than others on the same zone. I'm thinking of trying one of those boosters that go right over the vent, but I think that that may be an exercise in futility.

Bonzo- Raritan NJ, over by Duke Island park.

If it is a newly constructed house, I'd go back to the builder and submit a problem. The HVAC company should have designed the system to cool every room in the house evenly since it has electric dampers.

HVAC installer(s) hopefully used a large box with a manometer to measure every room input of air from the vent. As the day progresses, the dampers control the duct air to the rooms needing the cool air the most, the sunny side of the house. As the day progresses, the air is shifted to other rooms as they become the sunny side rooms in the afternoon.

One thing not helping you is there is probably no trees to shade the house. The house is being heated by the sun, extra heat load. Plant a pinoak and in 20 years, there will be more shade than you can shake a stick at. you might venture into having an attic fan/vent added. This will remove a tremendous amount of heat and will help your A/C if the air handler is in the attic. Sometimes a simple 20" box fan in another room to blow in cooler air will help.

Window units aren't over a $1K. I believe a 10K unit would be more than enough. I used to cool a 2000 sq. ft. ranch with a 30K BTU window unit. And some of my neighbors add an additional 5K-7.5K unit to their hot room.

These are just my thoughts.

Wildbillyt I am a custom home builder in flemington also. I have a great HVAC contractor if you need one. He is the type of guy that will come at first and see what you have going on and thn make recomendations from there. He does not charge for a servie call just to take a look. PM me if you want his info. GOOD LUCK.

Everett is right on, I added a attic fan with a thermastat and dampers, pulls all that hot air in the summer easy, makes a big diff if you have the attic above you, solar gain on the roof is hard to control and your roof is probably dark in color adding to the problem.

B.

Also you say the the Master Bedroom is the highest point of the house, Where is the Return air grille located ?, Im guessing that the supply air is in Floor Register's so if the Return is down low in the room its just going to pull air acrossed the floor.

Idealy the return should be up high so that it will pull the cold air up off the floor and also get the heat out of the ceilings. If there is no Return air in that room thats basicly 80% of the room staying hot issue.

Also you say the the Master Bedroom is the highest point of the house, Where is the Return air grille located ?, Im guessing that the supply air is in Floor Register's so if the Return is down low in the room its just going to pull air acrossed the floor.

Idealy the return should be up high so that it will pull the cold air up off the floor and also get the heat out of the ceilings. If there is no Return air in that room thats basicly 80% of the room staying hot issue.

You are correct, the return is on the floor. I was thinking it may be best to move it to the ceiling or significantly higher on the wall.

I've already got an attic fan on a thermostat, and it seems to pull well.

Thanks for the info guys, this really helps!:hurray: