You have to buy an air handler and condenser in a pair so you’re not mixing coolant from the old one with the coolant from the new system
From early spring to late summer, my area is slammed with severe thunderstorms, hail, tornados, and flash floods. We live in the foothills of a larger mountain range, so many of the neighborhoods are built up into slowly ascending hills. When you reach the top, you can see the town in the valley below and it’s an amazing view. Even though it’s still too low to be considered a mountain, the elevation is conducive for avoiding flooding and for being more guarded from tornados. Still, we get some of the worst lightning strikes because we are so much closer to the storm clouds. There was an insane storm last week that had me scrambling to get my dogs and cats in the back door before the sky went black and the pouring rains began. An hour into the madness, I heard an unbelievably loud lightning strike that echoed into my living room like an explosion. Then I heard a loud creaking noise followed by another crash, this time accompanied with the sound of mangled metal like a car collision. Branches had slid down the side of my house, but thankfully nothing punctured the outside wall. Instead, my expensive heating and cooling condenser had been destroyed. This was no simple repair or replacement job, I was going to need a brand new heating and cooling system because condensers cannot be bought separately. You have to buy an air handler and condenser in a pair so you’re not mixing coolant from the old one with the coolant from the new system. From a single lightning strike, I am looking at $7,000 for a new air conditioning system. I have to keep reminding myself that I’m lucky the tree didn’t go through my house.