Bought a house built in 2003 a few years about a decade ago, has an older Water Furnace Premier 56 system. Recently noticed a spike in my electric bills, turns out there's a leak in the evaporator coil. $2060 to replace the coil with a new aluminum one. However, the repairman made a good case that with R22 phasing out, the 30% tax credit, and the new models having double the efficiency of my old one I'd be better served to replace with a newer model. Company specializes in geothermal. House is a 2733 sqft ranch in Cleveland, Ohio, horizontal ground loop. I'm leaning toward the replacement options he quoted, but he gave a few options which I don't entirely understand: First is to put in a 5ton Water Furnace 5 series dual capacity with hot water assist, 20KW aux heater, digital thermostat. Reuse the existing two-pump pressureless flow center. $14,000 ($9800 after tax credit) Second is to do the same but replace the pressureless flow center for an additional $1900. Third option is to put in a 5ton Water Furnace 7 series with hot water assist. Comes with a touchscreen thermostat and variable speed dual pump flow center. $18600 (13,020 after tax credit) I think I understand the tradeoffs between the 5 vs 7 series (quieter, more efficient) but it seems unlikely I'd break even on the $3200 cost difference. On the other hand, I have a 16 year old flow center which I assume has a limited life span, and the additional cost of replacing that brings the costs a lot closer together. Did they suggest replacing the flow center as an option because it has a limited lifespan? What are your thoughts on these options?
Hi and welcome! 5K for a pressure less flow center feels high to me. That flow center would be 30% of the proposed cost of replacement. Usually only the pumps go bad and can be replaced in your existing housing. Ask them to quote pump replacement in your cabinet and see what happens. Eric
Thanks for the response, but I think you misread. The bigger price difference ($14K vs $18600) is the difference between a 5 series and a 7 series system, they quoted replacing the flow center included in the 7 series price, but not in the 5 series price. After rebate the difference would be $3220 between the 5 series and 7 series, not replacing the flow center for the 5 series quote but replacing it for the 7 series. For an extra $1900 they said they could replace the flow center with the 5 series for a total of $15900 (but maybe even $1900 is high?). So if I replace the flow center with the 5 series it's only a $1890 price difference after rebate versus the 7 series. I'm trying to understand whether replacing the flow center is a good idea, i.e. will it fail with age eventually (it's already 16 years old) or is there an advantage to replacing it.
If you go with the 7 series, which I highly recommend, you must go with the variable speed flow center. The 7 series runs 3 times as long as the 5 series, make sure that it is wired so the variable speed pump comes on first, and the constant speed pump (the second pump on the flow center) comes on second. Otherwise it is a very inefficient pumping setup.
