RFD Home Owners, please help! A few Q's from a home owner noob.

[plisk3n]

Greeting Fellow RFDers,

Me and my brother bought a new home which closed on Friday! Hooray for us! But I have a few questions and was wondering if anyone could kindly give us some direction.

We didn't bother getting the central air conditioning from the builder as their prices were outrageous. We planned on getting it after the house closes and saving ourselves a few grand.

Anyways, we goto several heating/cooling stores and most of the sales folk definitely recommended that we get a humidifier along with an air purifier attached to our furnace as well as the central air. I'm wondering if this is a good suggestion as it will be an additional $1,000 to the cost.

Any recommendations, suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[sankou]

adding a humidifier and purifier will be a good investment for your health and your hardwood floors. it gets really dry inside the house during the winter months because of artificial heating, and over time this can cause little gaps in your hardwood floors and be bad for your health (breathing). ideally, the humidity in your home should be about 40-50% so a humidifier will help maintain those levels in the winter months.

[gman]

Anyways, we goto several heating/cooling stores and most of the sales folk definitely recommended that we get a humidifier along with an air purifier attached to our furnace as well as the central air. I'm wondering if this is a good suggestion as it will be an additional $1,000 to the cost.


Good idea but $1000 is not. I think you can do that with less but ... I am not in the market looking for those stuff though. So, my sense of the price may be off.

[chestnut]

$1000?? Wow you are getting ripped. Last time I got a humidifier quoted one for $450 (or something like that). How much is your air conditioner? Just got a York 2ton for $1800 (everything included tax, bracket, installation, digital thermostat). It's one of the quiestest air conditioneers I've heard.

I've held off on the humidifier. I don't find much of a difference (we have hardwood throughout the house). This really depends on where you live though. You can ALWAYS get it at a later time.

I would tend to oversize the airconditioner.. price difference is marginal (1.5 ton was actually $50 less.. ).

HINT: The placement is very important. Make sure the install a bracket to lift if off the ground (you will thank me later when it snows and garbage collects around it). Make sure it's not under open windows, vents, or water drains. Walk around your neighbourhood to give you an idea of good and bad. If they refuse to locate it (within reason of course), it's because they are lazy and don't want to run wire and piping (or they don't have licenses to do so).

[gman]

$1000?? Wow you are getting ripped. Last time I got a humidifier quoted one for $450 (or something like that). How much is your air conditioner? Just got a York 2ton for $1800 (everything included tax, bracket, installation, digital thermostat). It's one of the quiestest air conditioneers I've heard.

I've held off on the humidifier. I don't find much of a difference (we have hardwood throughout the house). This really depends on where you live though. You can ALWAYS get it at a later time.

I would tend to oversize the airconditioner.. price difference is marginal (1.5 ton was actually $50 less.. ).

It is "humidifier along with an air purifier".

[synaptech]

I've live in both, house with and house without, and it is much more comfortable in the winter with a humidifier. As for oversizing, won't this cause the machine to cycle excessively (on, off, on, off)...?

[chestnut]

I've live in both, house with and house without, and it is much more comfortable in the winter with a humidifier. As for oversizing, won't this cause the machine to cycle excessively (on, off, on, off)...?

No, actually the air condtioner works less when oversized. It also cools the house much faster. The guy next to me has a VERY undersized air conditioner, and its on ALL the time. It is stressed like crazy. If you think about it it takes the SAME amount of time for the house to get hot again regardless of how fast the aircon cools the house down. A more powerful air cond will just cool the house in a shorter period of time. So its actually "on" less. But the cycles would be the same (unless its really undersized and is ON constantly).

How many square feet is your house? Rule of thumb is 1 tonne for every 1000 sq feet. (I would go for a min 2 tonne since price difference in minimal)

It is "humidifier along with an air purifier".
Do your research, I heard it is pretty useless since your VAC has a filter already for dust. What does the air purifier do? I've heard it doesn't do much... but I could be wrong.

[Jetran]

Congratulations on the new home!

If it is a new home and you have hardwood floors you MAY need to get a DEhumidifier. I needed to do this last year as I also moved to a new home. Even with the heating on and ventilation fans going we needed a dehumidifer during the winter. Go get a thermometer that also checks the humidity level.

My basement was really damp and without a dehumidifier the moisture would warp/cusp my hardwood floors. I recall it was quite hard to find a dehumidifier during the winter months :)

Don't forget to do the 30-day form! I recently did the 1 year form. Also make sure you get your ducts professionally cleaned quickly. Lots of dust/debris/junk in them. We found water/beer bottles and even chicken bones :confused:

[plisk3n]

Thanks for the responses everyone! Ok I was quoted the following:

2.0 Ton Carrier Air Conditioning Unit for $1800 installed. I think it was rated 10 seer or something like that. I was thinking about getting a 2.5 ton, but I'm not sure if that's over doing it? The house is 1700 SF.

And if I wanted to get the humidifier and air filter, it would be the additional $1000 or so.

The floors will be hardwood, and yeah I've heard the wood reacts differently depending on the seasons and stuff.

Jetran: thanks about mentioning the duct cleaning service, I will definitely do that because I can already see a lot of junk there.

chesnut: yeah the AC will have to be located off the ground as it's a new area and the ground hasn't settled yet. No choice there! Thanks for the suggestion. Appreciated!

[Capt. Canada]

I wanted to re-open this thread since I just bought a new house and will need central air soon.

Has anyone got any good prices on a York unit with the different colour options?

Also, is it cheaper to wait till the colder months to get AC?

Chestnut, what company did you go with to get your AC installed?

Thanks all for any new info!

[Bullseye]

Capt Canada - yes, you'll get a better deal on a unit at the end of the season, but not a whole lot, usually.

I know this post is old, but I wanted to mention for anyone else reading this...new homes do NOT need humidifiers! New construction codes means well sealed houses, your problem will likely be excess moisture year round, not lack of it. Ever notice all the newer homes with water running down the windows in winter?

Putting a humidifier in a new home is just asking for air quality and mold problems.

[sunnybono]

Capt Canada - yes, you'll get a better deal on a unit at the end of the season, but not a whole lot, usually.

I know this post is old, but I wanted to mention for anyone else reading this...new homes do NOT need humidifiers! New construction codes means well sealed houses, your problem will likely be excess moisture year round, not lack of it. Ever notice all the newer homes with water running down the windows in winter?

Putting a humidifier in a new home is just asking for air quality and mold problems.

:arrowu: :arrowu: :arrowu: :arrowu: :arrowu: is correct in stating that new homes don't require a humidifier right away. I would put off on the humidifier until you notice that the air is getting dryer in the house. Secondly if this is still a brand new subdivision, you may want to consider the cheap air filters for the time being as no matter what you do, you will have tonnes of dust in the house. the cheap filters should be changed every month. When your ready to purchase the air purifier I would only consider a HEPA filtration system. The electronic air cleaners are garbage!!!!

sk :)

[Bullseye]

New homes are especially wet when brand new, because construction materials are still drying out, but even when they are, a humidifier is probably not needed. With newer houses being so sealed up, just living in the house, showering, cooking, breathing, it produces more than enough humidity.

The reason older houses need them is because they are full of air leaks, so all that dry winter air gets in all the moist indoor air gets out.

[redsilk]

since we are somewhat on the topic (sorry if i'm stealign the post), but i'm in the midst of constructing my first home. I've decided not to have central heating/air for now, but is it cheaper in the long run for me to have the vents/piping put in now, or wait until the future when i'm ready to have central system?

[plymouthhater]

No, actually the air condtioner works less when oversized. It also cools the house much faster. The guy next to me has a VERY undersized air conditioner, and its on ALL the time. It is stressed like crazy. If you think about it it takes the SAME amount of time for the house to get hot again regardless of how fast the aircon cools the house down. A more powerful air cond will just cool the house in a shorter period of time. So its actually "on" less. But the cycles would be the same (unless its really undersized and is ON constantly).

Actually, the guy with the undersized air conditioner will have a cooler feeling house than you will. An oversized air conditioner will cool the house too quickly and will not have enough time to remove the humidity from the house. So you will end up with a cool DAMP house. The higher the humidity, the warmer the house feels.

[gman]

New homes are especially wet when brand new, because construction materials are still drying out, but even when they are, a humidifier is probably not needed. With newer houses being so sealed up, just living in the house, showering, cooking, breathing, it produces more than enough humidity.

The reason older houses need them is because they are full of air leaks, so all that dry winter air gets in all the moist indoor air gets out.

Having central humidifier does not mean it will be turned on all the time. A central humidifier is not expensive. The installation may be expensive though. Since one is installing an A/C, one can make them to throw in installing an humidifier. I guess if it is more cost effective to install the humidifier with the A/C, it can save money to do that with AC instead of later.

[stevethewheel]

since we are somewhat on the topic (sorry if i'm stealign the post), but i'm in the midst of constructing my first home. I've decided not to have central heating/air for now, but is it cheaper in the long run for me to have the vents/piping put in now, or wait until the future when i'm ready to have central system?

It's much cheaper to have the vents done now. Running vents later will mean busting up walls etc, and trust me you don't want to pay for that. And I just have to ask if you don't have central heating what kind of heating are you thinking of?

Other comments on the thread. Both a furnace and an air conditioner should be 'right-sized' for your house or you are wasting energy. Ideally your furnace runs 24 hrs. a day on the coldest day of the year. Think about it like your car - the most economical is the one that will only go as fast as 120 km/h, and only slowly....of course we all want to zip to 120, and have room to spare, but at the same time we're paying through the nose for the bigger engine that we're not really using. There is nothing sexy about a furnace no matter how many NOX stickers you put on it and adding an apple juice exhaust will only make the neighbours wonder about you.

Humidifier - good idea, a house feels warmer in the winter if the humidity is up a bit. DO NOT under any circumstances buy the 'drum' type, you will totally regret it later.

Air purifier - not sure what exactly you are thinking of, are you talking about getting the house to HEPA standards, or is that just a fancy name for an electrostatic or folded paper filter. A real purifier is a waste in my mind, but a good electrostatic or folded paper filter is a plus....should cost about $200-$300 installed.

[redsilk]

[QUOTE=stevethewheel]It's much cheaper to have the vents done now. Running vents later will mean busting up walls etc, and trust me you don't want to pay for that. And I just have to ask if you don't have central heating what kind of heating are you thinking of?

i'm gettign electrical baseboards

[Capt. Canada]

I appreciate all the discussion on this topic... keep the info coming guys :)

[stevethewheel]

It's much cheaper to have the vents done now. Running vents later will mean busting up walls etc, and trust me you don't want to pay for that. And I just have to ask if you don't have central heating what kind of heating are you thinking of?

i'm gettign electrical baseboards

Wow. Electric is very expensive heat, unless you seriously plan on having a woodstove or two and only using electric as a supplement. If you have natural gas in your area change your plans RIGHT NOW.