> Last winter the compressor circuit board malfunctioned and cost $5k to fix.
Ok, so it sounds like you got scammed. HVAC circuit boards cost $100.
> Two years ago it was another issue entirely.
Which was?
> All of our savings have been lost to service calls. I'm not super price sensitive
Yeah, obviously, if you're willing to spend $5k on a service call.
> If we ever have to replace it, we're going to have to rip open half of the house to remove the heating lines.
Heat Pump units can just go in place of a regular AC unit. They can use existing ductwork and coolant lines. Not sure why you ran heating lines everywhere? Do you have a mini-split unit per room or something?
I’m going to second that one, that seems mind-bogglingly expensive. Definitely seems like a major rip-off. I can even buy a whole 14 kW Daikin ducted system for under US$4K here (outdoor unit and one air handler) in my country!
I recently did some research on ducted Daikin systems in the Seattle area, and estimates were all in the $20K range, for full installation. The equipment itself may be ~$6K or so (not sure exactly), but it's the labor that costs a lot.
I’m just taking equipment cost here, this is in Australia (Air conditioning is extremely common here, and basically every unit is a reverse cycle heat pump too, so installation also seems very cheap compared to the US).
Just saying if the equipment cost of the whole system is well under $5K, it shouldn’t cost anything like that to replace a circuit board (which as others have said, the part probably costs $100 wholesale to the technician).
Ok, so it sounds like you got scammed. HVAC circuit boards cost $100.
> Two years ago it was another issue entirely.
Which was?
> All of our savings have been lost to service calls. I'm not super price sensitive
Yeah, obviously, if you're willing to spend $5k on a service call.
> If we ever have to replace it, we're going to have to rip open half of the house to remove the heating lines.
Heat Pump units can just go in place of a regular AC unit. They can use existing ductwork and coolant lines. Not sure why you ran heating lines everywhere? Do you have a mini-split unit per room or something?