I have just gone through a round of trying to get CAC installed, and the process has left me very disillusioned. The HVAC people I trusted to do the installation, won’t install the size unit I want. The ones I agree with on the size of the unit, I wouldn’t trust to do the installation. And now of course we’re in the crazy season for installing AC, it’s going to be impossible to talk to anyone else.
So now I’m looking for a Plan B. I found out today about Panasonic’s split air conditioners. Does anyone know anything about this? Is it any good? Reliable? Quiet a step down from the high-end high-SEER compressors I was looking at earlier, but it would be nice to sit in my dining room without a sound like a passing train beside me. Please tell me I can install this myself and won’t have to go looking for a HVAC contractor again.
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are you talking about the system that has a condensing unit outside ,then a unit that goes on the wall that is totally self contained? i've never installed one ,but i would guess they come pre charged, i'm not sure if the lines have to be silver soldered or they are flare type fitting-either way shouldn't be a big deal once you locate power to the condensor and place indoor unit. check ebay for one ,i see them all the time. you might search for the seller " bighvac" i've bought a half a dozen systems from him, he's a good guy to deal with . larry
Thanks, that's the one. And I see that there are other manufacturers as well. This has definite advantages over retrofitting CAC in a house that currently does not have the ducts. My biggest fear with the latter has been letting in the wrecking crew. And there is the issue of R-6 ducts in the attic, air handler in the attic, etc. One of these could handle the ground floor of my house, have another for upstairs for when people are asleep. I guess the disadvantage is that the cold air is not distributed uniformly through the rooms, but ceiling fans might mitigate this somewhat. Another thing is that it would be good to mount these in the ceiling but that does not appear to be an option.
I'd welcome any recommendations on which models I could trust here. I'd also like to try doing the calculations to figure out the real energy savings since these units have somewhat lower SEER ratings than the CAC units I was looking at. If anyone has pointers on how to do that, I'd be grateful.