$1800 for a heat pump compressor? Seriously?

[George]

Nonsense, service rates for HVAC and automotive are comparable.

[George]

Thats what fans are for...

[HeyBub]

Here's a different tactic:

Call a wholesaler or nationwide retailer. Here's one:

Partsguy.com Inc.

121 S. Spruce St., Traverse City MI 49684 Toll Free [phone] - Voice [phone] - Fax [phone]

Ask 'em if they have a replacement for your model.

Assume they do, and you can get it for, say, $500. ( I have no real idea what these things cost).

You have now reduced the problem to one of swapping out the part.

[AZ Nomad]

gotta love those weird measurements.

Allen Bradley, a maker of industrial computer control systems, was measuring memory in 'feet' well into the 90's. The unit 'feet' was a reference to the equivelent length of paper tape for program storage.

[AZ Nomad]

If you can do it for less, then do it. You're perfectly free to apprentice for a year, spend forty thousand dollars worth of tools, and then charge the equivelent of a salary of $10,000 a year. I'm sure you'll impress everybody with your professional conduct riding up to a jobsite with your tools in a shopping cart being pulled by a bicycle.

You'll be the only AC tech living with four immigrant families in a 300 square foot apartment with roaches crawling around.

[AZ Nomad]

It's a 24 hours period, you incredible asshole.

From wikipedia, since you seem to need it spelled out for you: Air conditioner equipment power in the U.S. is often described in terms of "tons of refrigeration". A "ton of refrigeration" is defined as the cooling power of one short ton (2000 pounds or 907 kilograms) of ice melting in a 24-hour period. This is equal to 12,000 BTU per hour, or 3517 watts

Residential "central air" systems are usually from 1 to 5 tons (3 to 20 kW) in capacity.

[SteveB]

"clifto" wrote

Have you been to the store in the last year? EVERYTHING is getting expensive.

Steve

[George]

For sure, and a lot of people may not realize why. Big box thinking which resulted in gutting industry has enabled the next dominant world power. China has been buying commodities (metals, oil, cement etc) like mad and we need to compete with them.

[AZ Nomad]

It won't happen as long as we have environmental laws, they don't, and we reward american companies who operate overseas to bypass the costs of our environmental laws.

[SteveB]

So, realistically, it won't happen. You're an adult. Cope.

This is not Utopia, and you're not Pollyanna. The real world is ugly, and it's about to become unbearable.

We are standing on the brink of the precipice we have created.

For spiritual types, there is the comfort of the afterlife. For the deep thinking realists, we're just a social experiment run amok.

Enjoy.

Steve

[George]

I didn't mean the overused and ridiculous "we need to compete with them on price...". My comment regards that we need to compete with them on the world market for commodities.

[SteveB]

That's good. But how do you compete with dishonest people who don't even recognize common laws re: trademarks, copyrights, intellectual property or ASCAP?

Answer: You don't.

Steve

[CJT]

... as a predictable result of the Iraq war being waged in order to eliminate WMDs from that country that were never there.

[CJT]

Those "common" laws aren't immutable, nor even common. And don't get me started on ASCAP.

[SteveB]

And after the towers were dropped by explosives planted by the CIA, right. Everyone knows fire cannot melt steel, as Rosie says.

And the cost of everything has nothing to do with rising oil prices, rising minimum wage, increased benefits to illegal aliens, etc, etc, etc.

I'm so glad you explained these things so clearly.

plonk

Steve

[CJT]

Why do you suppose the price of oil is going up?

And what are these "increased benefits to illegal aliens?"

And please remember that Saddam had nothing to do with the twin towers. In fact, most of the perps were from Saudi, as I recall.

BTW, the minimum wage hasn't kept up with inflation.

[Dave Martindale]

The science fiction book "The Difference Engine" imagines a world where Babbage succeeded in building his mechanical Analytical Engine, starting the computer revolution during the age of steam. In the story, the power of computers is measured in "gear yardage" instead of megahertz or RPM or megabytes.

It sort of makes sense for the time.

Dave

[Stormin Mormon]

Didn't think you knew. Glad you can look up data.

[AZ Nomad]

What the f*ck did you think, that a measurement of power could be the mere existance of a pile of ice? The units for power is energy over time. The ice melting is the energy involved, changing phase from solid to liquid.

[trbo20]

This is a follow-up to my original post.

The HVAC guys are down in my basement right now pulling out my old system and installing the new one. When they pulled the cover off the unit, the technician noticed right away that the previous installer rigged the evaporator coil with a side intake.

The way he had it going, only one half of the coil ever saw any use. This is evident by the amount of dust that collected on one side of the coil. That means my compressor had to work twice as hard to heat and cool my home over the last 10 years which is probably why it failed when it did. Frankly, I'm surprised it even lasted that long.

This experience reinforces what in the alt.HAVC group said about finding the right guys for the job. I can only wonder how many dollars the previous home owner wasted heating and cooling this place because the HVAC guys that put this system in either weren't qualified to do their jobs or just didn't care.

Thanks everyone for all of your input.