Spacepak A/C - Need to Replace

16 years ago

Hello,

I live in Richmond, VA and have a 1500 square foot house built in 1942. About 14 years ago central air was installed via a Spacepak system (high-pressure, very narrow ducts). It has a 10 Seer Rheem (again, around 14 years old).

While the AC runs electric, I have a gas fired boiler for my heat (my preference would be to continue to keep these separate).

The ductwork has some leaks, which have been taped up. The air handler is in the attic, which is poorly insulated (i will look to tackle this later in the fall).

Am thinking about replacing the unit to take advantage of the tax credit. Any of you guys ever work on/have suggestions for a spacepak system? Would appreciate any advice you could offer. Off the top of your head, what would be the ball park price to test/repair the ducts, replace the a/c and air handler to a high efficiency unit?

Lastly, not sure if it would fit, but would it make sense to relocate the air handler out of the very hot attic and move it to the crawl space? perhaps this is a naive question, bit figured some experts out there could weigh in.

Thanks in advance,

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Comments (4)

brickeyee
16 years ago
"replace the a/c and air handler to a high efficiency unit?"

I do no thing Spacepak or Unico are in the 'high efficiency' game.

They are in the 'at least you can have AC game.'

Relocating the air handler would be about as much labor as it took to install the existing system.

You could make a rough room in the attic to contain the air handler with light construction and foam insulation panels.

If you then remove all the ceiling insulation inside the 'room' it becomes at least partly conditioned space.

Other than that or adding more insulation to the air handler and ducts (hopefully you do NOT metal ducts but ductboard) there is not much that can be done.
baldloonie
16 years ago
yea, high velocity and high efficiency seem to be mutually exclusive. So odds of finding a match with a Space Pak that get the tax credit are probably about nil.
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wisehvac
16 years ago
Space Pac has a new ducting system almost like PVC but made out of different material. Go with a high eff unit. They do have matching condensers to get better eff out of the unit. The machine is much better r now then it was 10 years ago......... I would call space Pac and get one of their local techs to do the job. Getting back to the duct work, with the duct work they actually drill a 2 inch whole into it, there are collars that fit into the duct work that fits nice and tight so there is "0" duct loss and all cooling goes into the room.
MonMull Shop
4 years ago
I have a more recent Space Pac heat pump and I love it. I do not have the new ductwork. Maybe in the near future. Chris Blontz was my installer and he is one of the few mechanics in the Richmond area who know this system well. Here is his number: 804-356-3477. My elec bills went down significantly when I installed this system!