Central Air: 2 x 3 Tons or 6 Tons?

[snake11]

potential derail aside...

im in the same boat to some extent. though not my house...
its a very labor intensive issue to solve, but in case you are interested, id suggest looking into whats involved in retrofit air sealing. if you dont mind crawling around in a hot attic, it can be a very rewarding return on your invested labor.

if you can solve the air infiltration( and verify with a blower door), you can then justify a whole house dehuy like an april air 70h. they are like a grand, but they can make a big difference in these in between months. if you have some airflow over your skin, 76 at less than 50% rh should feel like low 70's at 70% rh.

The average house looses 30% of its thermal energy through leaky ductworks. Duct sealing is always a good idea!!!

 

[queequeg152]

Good advice to everyone on the manual j load calcs. This is the right way to do things and will save lots of money in the long run over improperly sized equipment. The company I used to work for would not sell a new system without doing one.

god is wish more companies would do that... i cant tell you how many 1200 sqft. homes here in houston have 4 ton and 5 ton air handlers...

whats really sad though is they still probably need like a 2.5 ton unit owing to how HORRIBLE homes are built in houston. and in the south in general. they still build homes down here like its the late 70's... 4 sud corners... non insulated headers... VERY POOR air sealing, old school 16" OC framing... its all just so awful.

with that said... cities like austin are finally embracing the 2011 codes... manditory blower doors are a huge deal imo.

yes ducting is huge, you are right there.
if anyone is looking to replace duct work... id highly reccomend r8 duct board. fiberglas sounds bad right? but matt faced ductboard is a great value these days... and can be made more air tight than insulated steel duct.
that being said though... a well thought out and well built steel duct system will be worth every penny provided you are living there for like 20 years.

 

[queequeg152]

Permabanned maybe. Or he started handing out acid to hitchhikers again and had to close up shop (again). Burn me once, shame on you, burn me twice...

lol again? is he one of those rainbow gathering dudes?