When should you replace your central air conditioner units?

[Tom M King]

How about 15 gallons of gasoline? They use Butane in other countries.

[Mike Henderson]

I dunno, I'm thinking butane or propane is just a wee bit too EXPLOSIVE for my taste

So how/why does ammonia work in RV refrigerators? (something I've never researched)

See here for an explanation of how those refrigerators work.

Mike

[Paul F Franklin]

We just had our approximately 25 year old furnace and A/C replaced, even though it was working fine and we haven't spent more than a couple hundred on repairs (which I did myself). My thinking: I wanted to replace them with equipment I picked (vs. what was readily available at the time of failure), on my schedule, and using the contractor I wanted, not one who was available on short notice. This also let me get multiple quotes and interview several contractors, all of which is hard to do when you are without heat in winter or A/C in a heat wave. Add on top of that knowing that equipment availability is variable and uncertain these days due to supply chain issues and high demand from the areas of the country that are getting boiled. I already had a 90% furnace, so don't expect much saving on heat bills going to a 96%, but should see some saving on cooling cost going from a 10 seer unit to an 18 seer unit. The most noticeable difference so far has been the improvement in comfort and reduction in noise, that's a bonus.

[Michael Weber]

Hard pass on any Ammonia systems. A father of a friend was burned severely all over his body when a leak happened while he was working on an industrial system. He was lucky to live.

[Jerome Stanek]

I worked for a crop service and my first job there was filling Ammonia tanks Think 1000 gallon propane tanks. after you fill them you have to bleed the fittings and they ice up also you don't want to get a splatter on you skin as it will burn you actually it freezes your skin

[Rick Potter]

Good timing for me too. Last evening about dinner time I got a call that the brand new AC in my rental stopped working. I went right over there and determined the thermostat was working, and the breaker and fuses were not popped, which reached the end of my AC repair ability.

I called the AC guy I have used a few times, and got lucky. He was on his way home and the repair was nearby, so he stopped there and found an unusual problem. He says the breaker was working, but not flowing enough juice (I forget the amps he mentioned) to start the compressor. Fortunately, there was a 40A 220 breaker in the panel that was no longer being used, so he hooked the AC up to that breaker, and that fixed it.

Next week he is coming back to replace all the breakers in the panel, just in case.

Getting back to the question of replacement....I only replace when they are not worth fixing. BUT..my policy is based on having an AC tech I trust, who is not trying to sell me a new unit before he even checks out the old. I am extremely fortunate in having two very good techs in my rolodex. This one has a bonus coming.

[Bill Dufour]

Hire an actuary to tell you to replace it one day before it fails.
Bill D

[Mike Henderson]

Hire an actuary to tell you to replace it one day before it fails.
Bill D

That guy is no longer available. Since he could predict the future, he went into investing in the market and is now rich and living in the Caribbean

Mike