A/C unit in FLA.

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WallyGater

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My mothers AC unit just broke. She called the "air" guy from her old folks community that she lives in. The "guy" comes and charged up the unit. It is working now but he says it needs a coil. This unit is both ac and heat. it is about 11 years old. my mom says there is no name on it anywhere? she found the book, and it says PA55/PAPA SERIES SINGLE PACKAGE AIR CONDITIONER ELECTRIC COOL/ELEC NO NAME.....JUST A MODEL #NPA5536AKA1TRIC HEAT
The "air guy" wants 800 dollars for the part installed.
Does that seem like a reasonable price for a new coil, installed?
I understand that my description is not much to go on, but based on a typical coil install, does that price seem fair? It must be a very small hole because its been 24 hours and the charge is still holding. Is it a possibility to repair an old coil? and would that be a good idea?
 

NHmaster

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Who knows. The price depends on any number of factors. If she can wait, she should get a couple more estimates.
 

Jadnashua

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I thought it was illegal to recharge an a/c system with a known leak. The EPA might be all over this!
 

Jimbo

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A new R410 package unit installed...probably add a zero to the $800, so if you think her guy is reliable and competent, that $$800 bucks is probably an investment to get her a few more years out of her system.
 

Thatguy

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I'm tempted to try to bribe Terry into changing your name....Rain Man would fit. :D
Re: Rainman, I always wondered why that girl
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valeria_Golino
in the movie wanted to kiss him. I think they were in an elevator.
Maybe in the culture of her movie character, people like him are considered to be touched by God, or some such superstition.

I have to use a calculator, so I don't really qualify. . .:(

The lifetimes of WHs and HVAC stuff I picked up from several different forums; it comes in handy for a repair/replace decision.

If you want to see a real numbers guy, watch the movie "Pi" (as in 3.1416). . .a very disturbing flick.
 
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http://icpindexing.mqgroup.com/documents/086477/42651100102.pdf

This looks like the unit, 3 ton, 10 SEER. For $800 I imagine he believes it is just an evaporator coil leak. The coil replacement might have to be done by year's end, my understanding is that some of the old refrigerant type gear replacement parts can not be sold next year. I was considering an AC coil replacement this year on an older unit to remove a flow bottleneck (right size coil is in there, but wrong frame aperture for the application.)

He may have determined it is leaking based on charging it or some such so I doubt he did anything wrong. There used to be a certain leak rate defined that determined the point at which something could no longer be charged (something like 1/2 charge per year or whatnot.) That might be outdated though.
 

WallyGater

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thank you for all the replies. I found out that it is a "Tempstar". I tried to google the condenser coil to see what the part cost. I was unable to find it but it seems like the ones that I did find all cost about 800 bucks. Some were more. I guess that 800. bucks is a pretty good deal installed.
 
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