Hawthorne, Campville, Orange Heights and Windsor: a package unit on Clay Electric, from the quote to the first August
A 2001 package unit on a block house near Lochloosa Lake, one owner, one decision. Here's the whole job, start to finish, and what it says about the east side of the county.
The house and the question
Picture a single-story block house from the 1970s on a pine lot off SR 20 outside Hawthorne, within a few minutes of Lochloosa Lake. The air conditioning is a package unit from 2001 sitting on a cracked pad at the gable end, with the duct running under the floor through a crawlspace. The owner’s question in June was the one we hear across this corner of the county: fix the compressor that just failed, or replace the whole thing?
Hawthorne is a city of about fifteen hundred at the junction of US 301 and SR 20 southeast of Gainesville, surrounded by lakes, pine flatwoods and the trailhead of the Gainesville-Hawthorne rail trail. Campville, the old sawmill settlement, sits a few miles north on 301; Orange Heights is the crossroads where 301 meets SR 26 a few miles beyond that; and Windsor, the 1840s citrus settlement on the east side of Newnans Lake, rounds out the corner. The housing is block and frame from the 1950s through the 1980s, a lot of manufactured homes on acreage, and almost all of it on Clay Electric with private wells.
The recommendation
On a 24-year-old package unit, a failed compressor is the end. The refrigerant was the older type, the cabinet was rusting through at the base, and the repair would have cost a large share of a new unit with a short remaining life afterward. We said so, and we priced two paths in writing: a new package unit on a new pad, or a split system with an air handler in the utility room. The owner chose the package unit for simplicity and cost. We agreed, with one condition: the under-floor duct had to be sealed first, because the old system had been feeding the crawlspace for years.
Clay Electric’s Energy Smart program offered a rebate on a qualifying high-efficiency unit and a free energy survey, and the owner used both. Whether a given rebate pays through the installer or the member, and what enrollment it requires, is something we confirm for each account. [[CONFIRM WITH JERRY]]
Install day
The crew left the Palm Coast headquarters at 37 Fairmont Ln before seven and was in the driveway by about half past eight; Hawthorne is the closest part of this market to the shop, since SR 20 brings us straight to it. The morning went to the crawlspace: every trunk joint and boot sealed with mastic, two collapsed sections of flex replaced, a fresh connection collar at the unit end. Then the old unit was pumped down, the refrigerant recovered, and the cabinet loaded on the trailer.
The new pad went in a few inches higher than the old one, because this lot holds water in a heavy summer rain and the old cabinet had been sitting in it. The new unit was set, the duct connected, the electrical rebuilt with a new disconnect and a whole-house surge protector added at the panel, since the open flatwoods around Hawthorne take their share of lightning. The thermostat was replaced with one that reports run time. The system was charged to the manufacturer’s chart, run through a full cooling cycle, and the airflow at every register checked against the pre-install numbers. The crew was gone by mid-afternoon.
Living with it
The owner’s first August bill from Clay was noticeably lower than the previous summer’s, which had been inflated by a dying compressor and a leaking duct. The house held its setpoint through the afternoon for the first time in years, and the back bedroom, which had never cooled, cooled. Two things we asked the owner to do: rinse the outdoor coil of pine needles and pollen every couple of months, because a package unit under pines eats debris, and book a maintenance visit each spring and fall, when we check the pad, the drain and the strip heat before the freeze window.
What the job says about this corner
Nearly every replacement we do in Hawthorne, Campville, Orange Heights and Windsor has the same shape: equipment that was never the real problem, a duct that was, a utility rebate that helps, and a lot that floods or a lake that keeps the air wet. The lesson is to look under the floor before you look at the catalog, and to put the new unit higher than the old one.
Dispatch at 866-266-5709 answers around the clock, and because this corridor is the first stop on the drive in from the headquarters, a morning call here is usually an afternoon visit. No evening or weekend premium applies.
East Alachua County callers ask
Orange Heights is just a crossroads. Does your route really include it?
It’s practically on the route. Orange Heights sits where US 301 meets SR 26, and Campville is a few minutes south of it on 301. Both are between Hawthorne and the road we drive in on, so they’re among the quickest addresses we reach anywhere around Gainesville, about an hour and a half from the headquarters.
Windsor is on the lake side with a lot of old citrus-era houses. What do you see there?
Older frame and block houses east of Gainesville near Newnans Lake, a lot of them with systems added long after the house was built and ducts that were never right. Lake-side humidity and heavy shade make coil cleaning and drain care more important than usual. Many of them are good candidates for a ductless system at the next replacement.
Can a package unit be replaced with a split system on a block house like ours?
If there’s room for an air handler inside, in a closet or utility room, and the duct can be reconnected to it, yes. The split is usually quieter and a little more efficient; the package unit is simpler and keeps all the mechanical outside. We quote both when the house allows it and let the owner pick.
What happens to the old unit?
We recover the refrigerant legally, disconnect it, load it and haul it off the same day. The pad is cleaned or replaced, and nothing is left in the yard.
Hawthorne and the 301 corridor, nearest stop on the map
Closest to the shop, same price as everywhere. Call any hour.