PTAC Heating and Cooling?
I’m looking at new development condos which all have electric PTAC A/C and heating. My research shows the electric bills with these can be exhorbitant and inefficient for cold climates. Does anyone know how much heating and cooling will cost per month? Also, not sure how much they cost to maintain and how long they…
I’m looking at new development condos which all have electric PTAC A/C and heating. My research shows the electric bills with these can be exhorbitant and inefficient for cold climates. Does anyone know how much heating and cooling will cost per month? Also, not sure how much they cost to maintain and how long they last. Advice is much appreciated!
For example’s sake, one apt I’m particularly interested in is a 725 SF 1 and a half bedroom, which has a Friedrich Smart Center unit in the living room (open plan kitchen/living room) and another in the bedroom. Living room and bedroom both have large sliding glass doors onto 320 SF terrace. The second “bedroom” only has a skylight window and no wall window and no heating/cooling unit at all. I’d want to use it as a real bedroom though. This seems like it is probably a deal breaker, since I’d have to come up with a heating/cooling solution for this room without making a hole in the wall.
Love the layout, building and the huge terrace, but the HVAC seems like it will add a lot of costs on to the monthly payment.
Thanks so much for the info. so it sounds like the PTAC is there primarily for cooling and extra heat if needed. I’ll confirm how it’s set up. And also, if there’s one room with no PTAC unit, it will be very warm in summer as there’s no A/C. I may be able to live with that – I used my A/C only 5 days this summer. But does the heating run through the walls throughout the apt, or just above where the wall unit is actually placed?
Bohuma, what condos do you live in, if you don’t mind me asking?
Yes make absolutely sure the PTAC is not a heat pump providing sole heat in winter, that will make your a/c bills look tame.
JB>We have 4400 sf and are putting in two units. The estimate we got was about $5000
That seems very low to me…heat/cool for 4400 sqft?! 5 tons? Where do you live?
I’d imagine the set up Bohuma has is the same as yours. A hot water loop provides the heat not electricity. The fan, which you can turn on or not, is electrically driven. If you choose not to run the fan it effectively becomes a convector. In summer the ac will be electric hence the higher cost. A long time ago PTACs could be all electric but current rules require greater efficiency than those provide.
Our condo has these units. The heating in winter is provided by hot water circulating through a heating element above the actual PTAC unit. You can run the PTAC in winter to boost the heating, but we haven’t found it necessary. The hot water heating is included in our monthly maintenance. Our usual winter electricity bill is around $80 per month for 1083 square feet. Summer is another story, this past summer, with the repeated heat waves, we ran the a/c cycle virtually constantly from Memorial Day to Labor Day and our bills averaged $500 per month. Fortunately, once you’ve got a year of payment history ConEd will let you use an equal payment each month of the year.
If you decide to buy this condo, have an inspection done and ask the inspector to check the installation of the PTAC’s and make sure they’re properly insulated. Also check the condo board minutes to see if there have been any issues with the a/c.
As part of an unfortunate sewer line repair, we’re going to be fixing the sidewalk in front of our house. Our plan is to restore it to 100% bluestone (and widen the tree bed a bit in the process). We’re looking for a few good pieces of bluestone (ideally at least 2′ x 2′), so if anyone has any spares lying around, we’d love to take them off your hands. You’d have our undying gratitude, and be helping out with so
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motorhome-insurance-quote
electric ptac units are absurd for use in a new york city climate and ill be extremely expensive to run in winter…it is indicative of the seriously shoddy quality of the condo, run, dont walk away