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cwit001

Three A/C units?!?

cwit001
11 years ago

We are looking to Purchase a home in the Houston area. It is ~3200 sqft. The house has three central A/C units. Is this normal? Is it gonna cost more electricity to have these running in our hit summers? Or will they work together towards efficiency. Our current 2 story home has 2 units and 3000sqft

Comments (5)

  • ionized_gw
    11 years ago

    No, it will cost less than if you have one if you use them wisely. Get good thermostats or a control system and program with some planning. Something that you can control remotely might be nice depending on your lifestyle. Cool or heat the areas you are using at a particular time and close the doors leading to the other areas so you are not conditioning the whole house.

    I have a 2000 sq foot house with 7 rooms. There are 3 systems with a total of 7 zones between them.

  • energy_rater_la
    11 years ago

    it depends.
    what size are the units
    what age are they
    what is layout of the house

    I would be concerned with dehumidification
    & short cycling of units. short run times
    don't allow for dehumidification which is
    a big issue in our climate.

    some companies 'zone' with multiple units.
    tell you that if one goes out, you'll still
    have a cool place to go...???..

    other companies zone with one unit and
    multiple t-stats. this is a true zoned system
    motorized dampers, multiple t-stats and a control
    board.

    I see existing homes with 3 units sometimes
    one for main part of house
    another for master bedroom suite & other bedrooms
    and quite often a seperate unit for a room
    over a garage.
    it just depends on the layout of the house
    the homeowner's specific needs and
    how many units the hvac company wants to sell you.

    have a few companies look at your existing hvac systems
    and ductwork. they should give you information you need
    to make a good decision.

    several good people on this forum will help
    once there is more information.

    do you have any model numbers?
    is the house all electric or gas furnaces?
    are the utility rates high?

    ionized..I just don't know what to say...
    do you have 3 one ton units?

    best of luck OP.

  • ionized_gw
    11 years ago

    Ductless mini-splits:

    Indoor: 3 x 9000 BTU and 4 x 6000 BTU

    Outdoor: 1 x 22,000 BTU and 2 x 18,000 BTU

    ;-)

  • cwit001
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Its a two story home. living, dining, kitchen, master bedroom and a guest bedroom down. Upstairs are two bedrooms and a bathroom with a central gameroom/loft. there are two attics that are entered via normal doors. (I guess you'd call it a texas-basement...) One of them is enormous inside. Looks like you could ad another room or two in there. It has a functional window too - but it's up high. Almost looks like if you built up a subfloor and small stariway you could conceal the hvac systems and ducts and still have some new rooms. So, I dunno if the A/C plan is designed to allow for this potential expansion.
    I only remember seeing two return ducts. Maybe the third is in the master. or hall near master. I'd have to take another look.

  • david_cary
    11 years ago

    3 units isn't necessarily a problem.

    Maybe somebody had a deal on 2 ton units or too many of them and the load calc suggested 5 tons of cooling. So they put in 3 - if they are sized ok, then you are fine.

    Mind you, if you can figure a way to just have 1 run most of the time, you will get better dehumidification and lower running costs.

    Now you do run into higher maintenance costs and replacement costs over time...

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