I have a 1300 sq ft 2 story home. Let me first say I love my house, it is in excellent condition and has been well cared for. Built in 1906 with lathe boards and plaster, no insulation in the walls.

I'm on the fence what to do with the central air conditioning system. It crapped out on me earlier this year, fortunately it was about middle of Sept. when this happened so no big deal.

Would you install dual systems(air handler in the attic) for each floor or throw in some window units? Mini splits are out of the question. I'm trying to improve on cooling down the upstairs better than what I have now. The ductwork upstairs is mediocre at best.

 

I love that my package unit is all on the ground on the side of my house. Easy to work on, no crane necessary to put something on the roof or laying in an attic working on the air handler. And no chance of condensation dripping through my ceiling.

But a couple of window units would definitely be cheaper and easier to install.

 

Another vote for side of house unit.

 

Seems I would have to cut up the walls for the additional ductwork to be installed in the attic correct?

The furnace is only 7 years old and the evap. coil is 3. I'd like to stay with the current gas forced split system.

 

I'm sure that window units would be a cheaper option, but there is yet another.

My neighbor has electric heat, and he was going to bite the bullet and get ducts put in for central air. The contractor offered a heat pump option that works with no ducts (which made it a LOT cheaper in his case).

Don't know the details, but they had to dig a hole for part of it with the rest in the house. It's supposed to be very quiet.

He does use a couple of fans to get more even cooling, but he 's happy with it.

Don't know if it's practical in your situation, but it doesn't cost anything to ask

hj

 

I'm assuming your gas furnace is in the basement, right? So ductwork has to go from basement up to the second floor, and return air from the second floor needs to get back to the furnace-A/C in basement. That is a tall order for A/C. Around here, just about all two story houses have 2 furnace-A/C setups, one for each floor. The second floor A/C is a much bigger unit than the first floor.

Another option for you... fix/replace your existing A/C, even down-size it, tonnage-wise. Close dampers/vents on this system to the second floor in the summer.
Install a second A/C-only setup, with fan coil in attic, for the second floor only. Install ceiling registers in the second floor ceilings, and a few air returns in the ceiling. Insulated flexible ductwork to/from the attic fan coil. Easy to do.
So you have a totally separate second floor system for A/C only.

For A/C, ceiling registers and ceiling returns work GREAT! The cool air naturally sinks, the warm air naturally rises to get pulled out via the returns.

For winter, close all the second floor ceiling registers, and close/block off the ceiling returns. Open up the old registers for heat, from the existing gas furnace.

I'm an ex-Northerner, ceiling registers and ceiling returns work great for A/C here. For heating, not so much. But you just need the separate cooling for the second floor.
Our Cooling season usually runs from about late March through early November, heating from late November through late February, but most winter days are sunny. So heating here is secondary in design... but A/C better be reeeeel good!

Earlier two-story houses here, with big "open" designs, balconies, big open stairways, etc. were a disaster for single-unit A/C. All the heat concentrated on the second floor, the first floor was freezing while the second floor was baking. The touted "solution" was to run the blower on highest speed 24/7, 365 days a year, to constantly mix the air. Imagine the constant noise, and the big electric bill! It was Form over Function home design.

Additional attic info - We have a large single-story house, in the attic have two gas furnaces with A/C evaporators on them. The original furnaces were purpose-built horizontals, with flat-coil evaps. They sat on cork pads on top of 4 x 4s that spanned the joists. Did get some blower motor hum/vibration through the ceilings below the units. When I replaced them both, the way to do horizontals was now using a basement upflow unit, laying on its side. The Evap is an A-coil unit, attached just like a basement upflow, but the condensate drain pan was moved to the new bottom side. I hung them up by four corners using doubled pipe strap up to the rafters. Absolutely no sound transmitted through the ceiling now.
A fan coil could likewise be suspended.

 

ford2go- a mini split system sounds what your neighbor has. I do like them but $9100(quote from the company) to do my house, I don't think so.

Torky2- Yes furnace is in basement. I don't have a return upstairs, all supply.
I've tried playing around with closing off vents downstairs amongst other things I've tried, doesn't help. I think after reading your post, I'm down to 2 options. Either throw in some window units or install something in the attic.

 

the ductless system is the way to go. i put a 3 zone unit in back in june.
cost me $4,200.
2 9,000 BTU units downstairs and one 12,000BTU unit upstairs.
one 32k BTU unit outside.
the fans never ever came off lowest setting and they kept the interior of the house at 70 degrees.
plus power bill was cut in half compared to the 15k btu and 12k btu window units i used to have.
the hardest part of the installation was running the 220 power lines across the house from the panel to where the compressor is.

 

Window units look horrendous and the cost a ton to operate plus you have the constant vibration. To me, it's an option that should be explored when there are no better choices.

New a/c systems are using R410A which has a 50% higher operating pressure and cools much more quickly than the R22 that the older systems are using. Additionally there are new sizing charts on line that have changed t he size of the systems. This is mainly dependent on local humidity levels, proximity to water, etc.

As an example, my house, a 2 story 1900 s/f called for a 3 ton unit when it was installed in 1998. My house now calls for a 3.5 ton unit.

Additionally, I've considered looking into a system much like the ones that Mitsubishi sells where you have a separate head unit in each room and a common outside unit to provide the compression.

Just some things to consider.

 

that is considered a ductless system, Tim. also known as a mini split.
my house is 89 years old, and the ductless was the best addition i have done to the place in the 24 years i have been here.