Sorry this is a bit long. I need some expert opinions. My house was built in 1963 without AC. 17 years ago, I had a central unit installed on the second floor, as there was no way to drop enough ducts to the main level. Over the last 10 years, it would stop working, a tech would come, sometimes do a dye pack because he suspected leak (nothing ever came of that), but they would just charge it with some gas and all would be OK for a while. Usually a few seasons.
My unit stopped working on Friday. Tech came out on Saturday and told me that the reason they never found a leak was that a certain fitting that was used during installation was a compression fitting and not a sweat fitting. He suspected it was sucking air into the system causing it to stop working. He said it was "causing a restriction from the metering device resulting in a half frost pattern."
He said to fix it would involve a new this and a new that. He was thinking around $3000+. He didn't bother to write me up an estimate as he thought it was a total waste of money and didn't want to leave me with a "franken-unit" and that I needed to set up a time with the sales department to replace the whole system.
What bothers me the most is that he was going to just leave me without AC all together. I asked him why if we were getting a few seasons out of the current unit when the techs would charge the system would he not even do that? He balked at the idea, but when pressed, he relented and put 2 pounds of gas in ($242 total). Unit is now working.
Should I just ride this out? Is 17 years for a central AC unit a decent working life? or should it last much longer? FWIW, I'm in central NJ about 5 miles from the ocean, and I have my second floor very well insulated. My roof is sprayed with closed cell foam and my attic stays pretty comfortable even on very hot days. Thanks for any help anyone can give me. I don't want to be pressured into a bad decision.
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