Why variable speed AC rarely pays off

Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered! · Jun 26, 2026 · 22m · transcript

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HOST A: A customer in Edmond gets three bids for a new AC. Bid one is for a single-stage unit at 8500. Bid two is for a two-stage at 10500. Bid three is for a variable-speed at 14500. All three salesmen tell him the more expensive one is better. Which one does he actually need. HOST B: Depends on the house. Depends on the runtime. Depends on what he cares about. The salesman is not lying. The salesman is also not necessarily right.

I'm Dave Hartzell at Hartzell's Heat & Air in Kingfisher, Oklahoma. 45 years in the trade, Master HVAC license. On Cool Talk I cover the stuff…