we put in a carrier weathermaker (I think...it's their top-of-the-line,
most expensive, etc.). highest seer they carry, though I've forgotten what
that is now. two-stage, scroll case, blah, blah, blah.
maybe, *maybe* I'd do it again. we had nightmares with it because the
moron installer (a client) was totally freaked out by the thing from day
one. had to order it, didn't know how to set it up, took about four times
longer than it should've, etc. having since taked to other a/c guys, it
shouldn't have been any more difficult than any other setup, with the only
added wrinkle being the humidistat and outside temp setup. it isn't
installed anyway (he couldn't figure it out and I told him to get lost).
anyhow, it is quiet. it is also efficient. we live in tallahassee, which
has more or less perpetual 100% humidity, and our house gets a good sun
soaking, and we have vaulted ceilings, so the a/c has to be up to the task
(that was my thinking for getting this one).
unfortunately, I can't tell you how much more efficient or quiet mine is
than the old one because the old one died right after we moved in and I
never used it. but our electric bills are about half my mom's and she's
got a seer 12.x unit, and we have an electric water heater, she doesn't.
it's fairly quiet in absolute terms, but don't expect miracles - the best
noise solution is put it on the other side of the garage or away from where
you sleep, or behind bushes, or something. I half-expected not be able to
hear mine and I can. it just kicked on, as a matter of fact. now it's not
bothersome at all, but it isn't totally *silent*. maybe I should find a db
meter and I could get absolute numbers for you. and, it's located about
four feet behind my head right now, and the wall's a 2x4 (not x6) wall, and
there's a honkin' great window in it right in front of the a/c as
well. but not bad.
and, even under the best projections, the system will only break even in
terms of money saved, and that's not factoring in the time value of
money. so you're paying for quiet.
so if you want advice: 1) be willing to accept that it'll cost more, 2)
only use an installer that doesn't bat an eye, and says, "yeah, we do a lot
of those" (everybody I talked to tried to talk me out of buying one), and
3) if you have a choice, locate it away from the areas you want quiet,
and/or put something(s) big and thick between you and it if you can't move
it. ours will to move for the porch, and I'm going to move it around the
corner if I can, and see if I can't get an additional wall between it and
the house.
At 06:00 AM 8/1/2004 -0700, Derek wrote:
>Thx Dave
>I got info on both std and hi-efficiency untis. For $750/$800 more the
>EnerGuide rating improves from 10.0 to 10.2. Big deal. Don't know how those
>compare with my 10 year old one but even if I assumed I'd save 15% in
>electricity charges it would take me 26 years to pay for it.
>
>New question - the high efficiency unit uses a "compliant scroll compressor" -
>is that good, bad or what? One that we went to look at in the neighborhood
>didn't seem significantly quieter.
>
>Back to my main question - are there any quiet units out there - 2.5 ton size?
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