As I mentioned in my "I hate summer" post, our a/c chugs along all day and can't keep up. Our house was built in the 70s and our outside a/c unit is at least 25 years old. We had a home warranty for 3 years and prayed for our a/c to die during that time so we could get it replaced for "free". No dice. The internal part in our attic did die and has been replaced. With level pay billing our electric bill is $290/month, mostly due to our a/c which runs 10 months a year. We have to bite the bullet and get a new air conditioning unit. Does anyone have a ballpark of how much it may cost..like $500 or $2000. I'm just trying to prepare for the idea of several hundred versus a couple of thousand before I call for estimates. Our house is one level and about 1900 Sq Ft with one central a/c unit. I hate spending so much money on boring stuff like a/c, but I know that we'd make they money back that we spend on it in 1-2 years from the $$ we'll save on utlities. We need to get a new hot water heater too. Ugh!

By Kaye on Sunday, June 12, 2005 - 11:49 pm:

I know you can get a new top of the line hot water heater installed for less that 800

I am not sure but I think a new ac unit runs about 1500 dollars.

In texas I understand your pain. Our electric bill runs about 400 in the three hot months!

By Kernkate on Monday, June 13, 2005 - 12:00 am:

Wow I am totally amazed by all your electric bills!!
Mine runs $55 a month! But I guess I make up for it with heating bills from Oct-April when it runs $400-$500 a month. I am not even going to consider AC for 3 months I need it. I will sweat it out with the fans

By Karen~moderator on Monday, June 13, 2005 - 07:58 am:

Pam, we replaced our entire central air and heat unit, including the blower and compressor, 6 or 7 years ago, and it was over $4000.

By Karen~moderator on Monday, June 13, 2005 - 07:59 am:

OH - and my gripe about my high utility bills on the other thread? I haven't had bills this high since BEFORE we replaced our unit. They were running close to $300 in the summer and for that one month in the winter where we actully use the heat. When we replaced our unit, we had a drastic reduction in our power bill.

By Claire on Monday, June 13, 2005 - 09:01 am:

We replaced ours last November and it ran close to 5000.00 and that was with a discount because it was "off season"

By Pamt on Monday, June 13, 2005 - 09:11 am:

Karen and Claire, this is NOT what I was wanting to hear . Actually the blower and compressor in the attic was replaced 2 years ago, so it's just the outside unit that needs to be replaced. I also need to have the ductwork cleaned out.

By Debbie on Monday, June 13, 2005 - 10:16 am:

I know my parents put in a new ac unit last year and it was around $2,000. Like you Pam, they only needed the outside unit. Their house is about the same sq. ft that yours is.

Kaye, we can trade places. I would love to move back to Texas. We don't have high ac bills, but my gas bill was $500.00 for the months of Dec., Jan, and Feb. So, I guess it all evens out where ever you live. You either pay high in the summer or the winter.

By Kaye on Monday, June 13, 2005 - 10:21 am:

LOL Debbie! When we lived in ohio I was afraid of the same thing, but we lived in cinci which is pretty mild, so our monthly bills stayed pretty even, we had a small spike for the month of january and the month of august (i like my house cool).

I will say that as much as I hate spending this much on cold air, the rest of the cost in texas are so cheap it doesn't make sense to live anywhere else

By Yjja123 on Monday, June 13, 2005 - 10:34 am:

We replaced ours 3 years ago and it was $5000
It definitely lowered our AC bills!

By Missmudd on Monday, June 13, 2005 - 05:38 pm:

Our summer bills are about $60 and our winter at it's worst was $290 and I FREAKED. I guess I should count my blessings . I also need to replace my furnace, the quotes are not filling me full of happiness

By Karen~moderator on Monday, June 13, 2005 - 05:46 pm:

Like Claire, ours was at a discount, being off-season - it was the first/second week in January when ours bit the dust. Thankfully, it wasn't a cold January that year! I slept with the windows open and I was comfortable. LOL And come to think of it, ours was more like $4500 or $4600, not *just* $4000.....

By Reds9298 on Monday, June 13, 2005 - 08:41 pm:

We just put in a water heater last summer, top of the line installed for $350. Just installed new A/C and furnace (ours was working just like yours Pamt, about 25 yrs. old) for around $4200 (went through Sears, they had the best deal). We are LOVING it! Can't believe how cool our house is now! I'm looking forward (I hope) to those utilities being down this year. My heat before in the winter was aroun $200+/mth. and A/C before was around $165/mth and it was HOT in here.