Cost of Central Air

Has anyone had central air installed in their homes? If so can you give me an idea of costs.

The house we have placed an offer on is over 100 years old and would require duct work. We are just trying to get an idea of what we are in for regarding central air costs.

TIA!

Re: Cost of Central Air

The duct work is the real expense, my house already had central air when I purchased it but I've had many friends install it. The number I've repeatedly heard is $10,000 (this will vary will the size and type of house of course). However, in a house as old as yours, I would be concerned about the electrical system. Hopefully, it has been updated.

HTH

Re: Cost of Central Air

We were told $10,000 also and we have a 3 bedroom house split level. The problem though is that they wanted to use one of our closets to go from the basement to the bedrooms (duct work) and we had just redid all our closets using huntington closet. In addition it would have taken our closet space out of the bedroom. We thought it wouldn't be worth it and decided to put in wall units.

Re: Cost of Central Air

If you do a search, there were some threads last year at this time (we were in the planning stages and had it installed last March). We have duct work in place because of our central heating system, but it was not recommended by several contractors we got estimates from to use them (because they are low on the wall as opposed to high up for optimal AC).

Anyway, several contractors did say they would install using our heating ducts. Prices we got for our hi-ranch ranged from $5500 (using existing ductwork) to nearly $12,000 for putting in new ductowrk.

Re: Cost of Central Air

It depends what they are doing. We have no existing ductwork and we are adding a floor to the house. We are getting quotes for two zones, two units and anywhere from a 10 SEER and up (the higher the SEER, the higher the price). Also, if it's a name brand it costs more. The least expensive price we've gotten is $10k, most (for a high SEER brand name) was about $16k. We are still getting estimates.

Re: Cost of Central Air

This is what I posted last year.
Keep in mind we had out CAC installed off season (Dec 05), the house was empty, many walls were already opened and we negotiated for cash.

Who did you use?
Tom from National Air Conditioning. Dix Hills is not reputable IMO AND completely overcharges. We dealt with owner/operator. Sears did come and they sent a salesman who couldn't answer any of our questions. Many of the larger companies only send salespeople and if you have special requests, etc. or questions about how the job is done, equipment whatever they can't answer them

What style house do you have?
Colonial.

Do you have ductwork in place already?
No but if you have the ductwork the job and cost is much less for them.

What is your house's electricity?
200amp. Our electrician ran the lines for the CAC unit up to the attic. It needs at least one designated curcuit.

Where did they put the big unit?
On the side of the house closest to the side of the attic where the attic unit is.

Do you have a service contract?
No, not yet. We will sign with a major company for that but wanted a smaller company to do the install.

What type of heat do you have?
Oil

How long was it before they could install, and how long did it take them to install?
We had ours done in November and the house was empty (We had to have A LOT of work done to our house. It took about 5 weeks but keep in mind this was also his off season. I'm sure most companiies are booked up for longer as we head into spring..

How much did you pay?

I think the entire job was 7K. We had to have ducts installed through the walls and a few more vents due to cathedral ceilings. Many of the walls were already opened for him and we negotiated for cash.

HTH.

Re: Cost of Central Air

Re: Cost of Central Air

We installed CAC into our 98 year old house. Unfortunately we don't have many closets and it would have been nearly impossible to run ductwork, so we just had it installed in the upstairs rooms with a vent at the top of our stairwell which blows into our LR.

We just did construction and dropped a duct down into the kitchen which I'm thrilled about because it was getting very hot in the Summer. We have a wrap-around porch which has kept the LR and DR in shade and very cool over the last two Summers, so I think we have sufficient air now.

The total cost for the first installation and the duct for the kitchen was about $4,700.

Re: Cost of Central Air

our friends just had it installed in their seaford split i think they said it was about $4k

Re: Cost of Central Air

Thank you all for the information....it is REALLY helpful!!!

Re: Cost of Central Air

I used Slomins. I have a 4 bedroom cape and I got a 16 seer model. They did an amazing job and I got 0% for 24 months. I think I paid 9,500. I also got it during the summer.