Thursday and Friday were both very hot and humid days for Buffalo in the high 80's. We had lots of fans going throughout the house. Sean, Ashley and the baby arrived Friday afternoon and it was a little rough on them because they are so used to having air conditioning but everyone got through the night ok. Saturday and Sunday were both relatively cool days and the a/c wasn't missed as much as it could have been had it been warmer.
I researched quite a few heating and cooling companies serving Western New York and narrowed down my list to six companies. I then eventually selected three to call for estimates. They were Zenner & Ritter who had installed our current system, Sullivan and Central that both had good recommendations and reviews.
I spent a lot of time over the weekend going online and researching the actual new heating and cooling systems. Sean and Ashley were out of the house most of Saturday so I had that time to explore our options. I also found out that most HVAC systems are not designed to last more than 12 to 15 years. Ours was installed in 2006 so we were due for a new system.
I set up our cabana sunroom in the backyard as an office for the company reps to go over their estimates with us. It worked out very well.
On Monday we had the sales rep from Zenner & Ritter who went over our options for replacing our furnace and central air. He gave us three options... good, better and best which ranged in price from about $8,100 to over $14,000. If we were to go with them I was looking at the middle system at about $8,900. He emailed me the estimates. He gave me 4 estimates. Three from Lenox and one from Heil.
Tuesday I had two companies scheduled to give me estimates. The first in the morning was Sullivan Heating and Cooling and I was surprised that he was only able to get us estimates on the high end Heil and the low end Heil because his company had supply chain problems with both furnaces and air conditioners. Their prices were not bad but they just didn't have a lot of product and we are not in a condition to wait. He could not give us a timeline for when they would have a complete line of furnaces available. Didn't give us a lot of confidence.
The third company was Central Heating and Cooling and the rep gave us a lot more to think about then just products and prices. He suggested that we apply for the New York State Residential Home Performance Energy STAR program that if we qualified would pay for 50% of our furnace and would also include energy inspections and evaluations. His company Central was one of the few heating and cooling companies participating in the program which was primarily focused on low income residents and targeted communities. The program was just recently expanded to include senior citizens on fixed incomes and he thought we may qualify if our sole income was social security. He was also the first rep to emphasize the federal tax credits and fuel company rebates that would impact our final costs.
If we were accepted into the state program then we would get an energy evaluation that would not cost us anything. This rep was also the only one to talk about actually measuring the house to ensure the equipment would effectively heat and cool our home. So he gave us the options of a single stage, double stage and modulated furnaces and technological equivalent cooling systems. The prices ranged from about $9,000 to $15,000 but the state grant would not $3,000 to $4,000 off that amount and along with the rebates and tax credits would substantially lower the costs. If we got the grant. It would probably take a week or so to process the grant and he felt that he could fix our a/c enough to hold us over while the process occurred and we would get the new equipment installed. He sent the three estimates and info to my email.
He offered to come by the next morning at 8am to get the a/c running and to fill out the paperwork necessary to apply for the grant. We said OK and this morning he came by and replaced a part that would fix the a/c for now but of course there was still a problem with the furnace. At least we would have air during the time we were waiting to hear about the grant. Last night I spent some time researching the state program and grant and downloaded the necessary forms. It gave me a better understanding of what this program was all about. He had also talked with us about another option to add an air filtration device to the system which would also have been covered by the grant at 50%.
This morning he came by at 8 am and had the a/c running in about 20 minutes. He probably would have had it fixed sooner if I hadn't been talking with him the whole time but he was quick and effective although a real character.
I had let him know right away that we were interested in the medium costs system and then he surprised me with still another option which was to keep the high end better furnace which would be used nine months out of the year and then cut back on the model of the air conditioner so he essentially then gave us a 4th option and estimate which was actually quite attractive and very reasonable. It would only be about a thousand more than the middle option and two grand less than the original high option.
Then we sat down in the kitchen and filled out the online grant application form that included several pieces of paperwork from utilities and social security that needed to be scanned into the program. It took about a half hour to complete the form with a little help from his office staff on the phone. I signed the grant forms and the latest estimate so that they knew at the office which one of the several ones we were interested in as long as we got the grant. There was a moment when the rep and the office staff thought we might not be eligible but our income paperwork indicated that we probably could get the grant. We would definitely not be eligible by December when I am required to start drawing income from other sources when I turn 70.
He was gone by 9:30 and I was dazed but the air conditioner was running nicely, our grant application was sent in and we had a nice option on the table. The rep is traveling for a week and then we are going to Cleveland so the next time we can actually get together to start the process assuming we get the grant will be the morning of September 13th. If we don't get the grant all bets are off and we would probably downgrade the system.
This evening I got an email from the state indicating that the application has been received and should be processed in 2 to 3 business days.
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