Written October 2026 from our own condo jobs and price book, with First Co’s spec sheets, DOE, AHRI, the CPSC and Arlington County read at the source the same week.
First Co is the Dallas company behind the through-the-wall condensers and wall-recessed air handlers in a lot of Northern Virginia’s garden condos and townhouse condos. Replacing a First Co system as a matched pair, the outdoor condenser and the indoor air handler together, runs $7,900 to $12,500 installed. From about $132 a month at 0% APR for 60 months, the whole price financed, on approved credit. Condo jobs book on our condo HVAC replacement page, or call (703) 997-9757. If yours quit outright, run the five checks further down first. If the heat just runs lukewarm and the air handler heats off your water heater, start with the water heater’s dial.
Most of the First Co systems we replace are in garden and townhouse condos in Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax, then Woodbridge and Reston. They come in three setups, and which one you have decides both the fix and the price.
What replacing a First Company HVAC system costs
Our prices for First Co work, built from our own sold condo jobs. Where you land in a range comes down to the size, the setup, and what the closet and the wall turn up once the old unit is out.
| What gets replaced | Monthly | Installed |
|---|---|---|
| Fan coil or air handler only, when the outdoor half still has years left | $75/mo at 0% APR for 60 months | $4,500 to $5,100 |
| Through-the-wall AC and its coil, when the air handler is young enough to keep | $102/mo at 0% APR for 60 months | $6,100 to $8,000 |
| First Co system, the matched pair: condenser and air handler | $132/mo at 0% APR for 60 months | $7,900 to $12,500 |
| Hydro-air system: the AC and a water-coil air handler that heats off your water heater | $183/mo at 0% APR for 60 months | $11,000 to $14,000 |
| System plus the water heater in the same closet | $200/mo at 0% APR for 60 months | $12,000 to $16,000 |
Monthly figures: 60mo @ 0% APR on each starting price, the whole price financed, on approved credit. Longer plans lower the payment and cost more in total. The lender sets the final terms. How the plan works is on our financing page, and whatever we’re running this month is on our offers page.
MagicPaks, water source heat pumps and PTACs are priced on the same condo HVAC page, and the first two have posts of their own: the MagicPak and the water source heat pump.
First Co HVAC setups, and how to tell which one you have
Every First Co condo system is a split: an outdoor half that dumps the heat in summer, and an indoor air handler that blows air across a coil. What differs is where the outdoor half sits and where the winter heat comes from.
- A through-the-wall condenser and a recessed air handler. The outdoor half sits in a sleeve in the building’s outside wall, on your floor, behind a louver. First Co designed these for apartments and condos to keep the refrigerant lines and the wiring short. Inside, the air handler is recessed into a hallway wall behind a louvered panel, or stands in a closet, and pulls its air in through the front.
- Hydro-air. Same cooling, but the heat comes from your water heater: a pump in the air handler circulates hot water from the tank through a second coil. Look for two extra copper lines teed into the pipes on top of the water heater and running to the air handler.
- Electric heat, or a heat pump. No water lines. The air handler carries electric heat strips, and the outdoor half is an AC or a through-the-wall heat pump.
Plenty have already been half replaced, so the outdoor unit may be a Rheem, a Carrier or a Trane on the roof or a balcony, matched to a First Co air handler inside. We see that mix a lot.
Read the plate. Set the thermostat to off, lift off the louvered panel or open the closet, and find the rating plate on the cabinet. On First Co’s own sheets, a Q in the series letters marks a built-in pump, which means the unit heats off a water heater.
| On the plate | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| The first two digits: 18, 24, 30 or 36 | The size, in thousands of BTU an hour. 18 is a ton and a half, 24 is two tons, 30 is two and a half, 36 is three |
| WCU or WCX, and WCX2 or WCR2 on new ones | A through-the-wall condensing unit, the outdoor half. The originals ran on R-22. WCX2 runs on R-454B, WCR2 on R-32 |
| RAQ | An upflow air handler made to recess into a wall or stand in a closet, cooling plus hot water heat from a built-in pump. First Co now lists it as discontinued |
| HCX with a Q after it (HCXQ) | The newer multi-position air handler with a hot water coil and a built-in pump: hydro-air. A W in place of the Q is a hot water coil with no pump of its own |
| HCX followed by two digits, like 05 or 10 | Electric heat, in kilowatts: 05 is 5 kW, 10 is 10 kW |
| RME, RHE, RVT or UC | A recessed or closet air handler with electric heat |
| A B, C or Z late in a new model number | The refrigerant: R-454B, R-32, or set up to take either |
Plate missing or painted over? The pipes tell you: two insulated copper lines to the top of the water heater mean hydro-air, none means electric heat or a heat pump. Either way, a photo of the plate answers most of what a quote needs.
The system we put in first
Built to take a beating. Put in by our crew.
Heat lamps, snow and rain on one outdoor unit: that’s Trane’s own film. We’re a Trane Comfort Specialist, on Trane’s own dealer locator, and when you pick a Trane, our crew puts it in.
Films: Trane’s own.
The First Company fan coil: replace the half or the matched pair?
On paper you can replace one half. Since the refrigerant change, it rarely works out that way.
First Co’s current through-the-wall condensers run on R-454B or R-32, and its spec sheet for them spells out what that means for a replacement. The lubricant that runs with the new refrigerants doesn’t mix with the kind in an R-410A or R-22 system, so one of these on an old system takes a new indoor coil with a matching expansion valve and flushed refrigerant lines. The same sheet says they’re sold only for air handlers with ECM motors, while an original RAQ lists a 120-volt motor that runs one speed, high, for heat and cool, per its own sheet. A new outdoor unit on an old First Co air handler usually means new indoor equipment too.
The rating belongs to the pair as well. In the words of AHRI, the industry body that lists these ratings, “For split systems, AHRI certifies the performance of the system and not the individual units.” First Co’s air handler page says to check the match with the factory.
First Co’s current through-the-wall condenser rates 11.7 SEER2, where a regular split AC installed in Virginia has to reach 14.3. That’s no loophole: small through-the-wall units sit in a federal class of their own, space-constrained products, with an 11.7 minimum, because the cabinet has to fit the opening that’s already in the wall.
Half replacements still happen, and the table prices both: the through-the-wall AC and its coil when the air handler is young, the fan coil alone when the outdoor half is. First Co still builds R-410A versions of its air handlers for servicing existing equipment, so a like-for-like half on the old refrigerant can be done.
What we’d do in your shoes: if the outdoor unit has died and the First Co air handler is past about fifteen years, replace both. You’re buying new indoor equipment either way, and the pair comes as one rated match instead of a new condenser tied to an old blower. What an air handler costs on its own is in air handler replacement cost.
The hydro air system: a hydronic fan coil that heats off your water heater
A hydronic fan coil is an air handler with a hot water coil in it. In a big building the water can come from a central boiler or chiller loop; in a garden condo with hydro-air, it comes from your own water heater. First Co calls its version the Aquatherm, or the combo air handler.
On a call for heat, a pump in the air handler pulls hot water from the tank through the coil, and First Co’s sheet puts the air coming off it at 105 to 110 degrees. The water loses only about 15 degrees passing through and goes back to the tank. The blower waits about 45 seconds for the coil to warm, and every six hours the pump runs for a minute on its own so the water in the coil doesn’t sit.
Why the heat goes lukewarm. Almost always it’s the water, not the air handler.
- The tank got turned down. The coil wants water around 140 degrees going in, and First Co’s newer manual says to set the water heater so it gets there. At 120 the coil loses close to a third of its heat: First Co’s table for a 2-ton RAQ shows about 29,000 BTU an hour with 140-degree water and about 20,700 with 120.
- The tank can’t keep up. The coil can’t put out more heat than the water heater makes, so a tank sized for showers alone runs short on a cold morning when the heat and the showers want it at once.
- Air in the loop. If the pump hums and the coil stays cool, trapped air is the first thing First Co’s manual has a technician check. That one’s ours to vent; the water in the loop is hot.
- The pump or the filter. A stopped pump means cool air however hot the tank is, and a clogged filter starves the coil.
The scald side. The CPSC urges water heaters set to 120 degrees, and its scald sheet says “Burns will also occur with a six-second exposure to 140 degree water”. The coil wants 140. A thermostatic mixing valve settles it: the tank stays hot enough to heat the condo, and the valve blends cold water into what goes to your taps. First Co’s manual calls for an anti-scald mixing valve where codes require one, and it’s a line item on our hydro-air quotes. No mixing valve, and somebody turned the tank down to stop the scalding? That’s your lukewarm heat.
Sizing the replacement tank is the other half. First Co says a water heater doing both jobs generally needs more gallons and a bigger burner, so size it from the air handler’s heating output and the household’s hot water use, not from the old tank’s label. Water heater prices on their own are on our water heaters page.
Closet clearance, the return grille and the drain pan over your neighbor’s ceiling
Condo closets are tight, and these units were built to fit them. That’s also how they get starved of air, and how they leak into the unit below.
- Keep the front clear. A recessed or closet First Co pulls its return air in through the front panel or the closet’s grille, so boxes stacked against it, or a louvered closet door swapped for a solid one, choke it. First Co’s current manual asks for 24 inches clear in front for service.
- The filter is an odd size. First Co’s sheet lists 16 by 20 by 1 for a 1.5 or 2 ton RAQ and 20 by 24 by 1 for the 2.5 and 3 ton. Read the frame of the old one before you buy.
- Keep the door on. With a water heater in the closet, the air handler’s service door is part of the safety: the RAQ has a switch that won’t let the blower run with the door off, so flue gas can’t be pulled into the ducts.
- The drain pan sits over someone’s ceiling. First Co’s manual calls for a trap on the drain, a check of the pan, trap and piping every three months, and allows an overflow switch in place of a backup drain line where code permits. In a condo, make the backup a float switch that shuts the system off when the pan fills.
Getting a new one in is its own job. A recessed cabinet sometimes needs the drywall around it cut and patched (we leave it ready for paint), and in many of these closets the water heater has to be disconnected and moved out to reach the air handler, then set back. Both go on the written quote.
What your condo association and management office will want
Your condo documents decide who owns what. The equipment serving only your unit is often yours; the outside wall, the louver in it and the roof are often the association’s, which is why the management office wants to hear about anything that changes outside. Check before you sign a quote.
What offices usually ask for:
- The dates, the work hours, and whether the crew needs the elevator, parking or a roof key.
- Proof the contractor carries insurance, on file before work starts.
- A replacement that looks the same from outside. A through-the-wall condenser goes back into the wall sleeve, and First Co’s manual requires one of its approved sleeves.
- A crane date, when the condensers sit on the roof. On a four-story building the new unit goes up by crane: a day the association has to approve, and a cost that belongs on the quote before the work.
Permits depend on the county. Arlington County says a swap of the same type, size and location needs no mechanical permit unless the equipment is fueled by gas, which takes a plumbing and gas permit, so a hydro-air job that replaces the gas water heater too falls under that one. It also says some residential properties count as commercial under the Building Code. When you book, tell the office who manages your building and what its rules are, and the job gets scheduled around them.
Before you call: five checks for a First Co system that quit
- The thermostat. Set to heat or cool, set past the room temperature, fresh batteries if it takes them.
- Two breakers. The air handler and the outdoor unit are on separate breakers. Check both, and the switch beside the air handler if there is one.
- The float switch. If the drain pan filled, the switch shuts everything off on purpose. Water in the pan or on the closet floor means a clogged drain, and that’s a call, not a reset.
- The filter. A blocked filter can freeze the coil in summer and starve the heat in winter.
- On hydro-air, the water heater. Is there hot water at the tap? A kitchen thermometer under the hot tap, the CPSC’s own trick, shows what the tank is really making. No hot water: it’s the water heater, not the air handler. Hot water but no heat: listen at the air handler for the pump when the heat comes on.
Outside, make sure nothing is stacked against the condenser’s louver; First Co’s manual wants it as open as possible. Still dead after all five? A service call is $99, heat or AC, and the repair is priced in writing before any work starts.
First Co HVAC questions, answered straight
What is a First Co HVAC system?
Equipment from First Co, a family-owned Dallas manufacturer that has built heating and cooling for apartments, condos and other multi-unit buildings since 1966. Around here that’s mostly through-the-wall condensers and wall-recessed or closet air handlers, some of them heating off the water heater. The labels say First Co, First Company or Aquatherm.
What is a hydro air system?
A forced-air system that heats with hot water: a pump sends water from a water heater or a boiler through a coil in the air handler, and the blower carries the heat through the ducts. The cooling side is a normal split AC. In Northern Virginia condos the water usually comes from the unit’s own gas water heater.
What is a First Company fan coil?
First Co’s name for its air handlers, the indoor half with the blower and the coil. A hydronic one adds a hot water coil, and the hydro-air models add a built-in pump: look for a Q in the series letters, as in RAQ or HCXQ.
Why is my hydro air heat not hot enough?
Start with the water heater: its setting (the coil wants water near 140 degrees), whether it keeps up when the showers run at the same time, and whether there’s hot water at the tap at all. Then the filter. If the pump runs and the coil stays cool, there’s likely air in the loop, and that’s ours to vent.
Can I replace just the outdoor unit on a First Co system?
Sometimes. A new R-454B or R-32 outdoor unit needs a new indoor coil with a matching expansion valve and flushed lines, and First Co sells its current through-the-wall condensers only for air handlers with ECM motors. On an older First Co air handler, that usually adds up to new indoor equipment too. When the air handler is young enough to keep, the through-the-wall AC and its coil run $6,100 to $8,000. From about $102 a month at 0% APR for 60 months, the whole price financed, on approved credit.
What size water heater do I need for a hydro air system?
Bigger than for hot water alone. First Co says a water heater doing both jobs generally needs more gallons and a bigger burner, and the coil can’t make more heat than the tank does. Size it from the air handler’s heating output and your household’s hot water use, with a thermostatic mixing valve on the line to the taps.
Can I replace a hydro air system with a heat pump?
Usually, yes: a through-the-wall heat pump (First Co makes one, the WHHP) or a regular heat pump where the building allows an outdoor unit, with electric backup heat in the air handler. The water heater goes back to making hot water only. We’ll price it beside a like-for-like hydro-air replacement. For a house rather than a condo, see heat pump replacement.
Do I need my condo association’s approval to replace my HVAC?
Check your condo documents, and expect the management office to want the dates, the work hours, proof of the contractor’s insurance and a say in anything that changes outside. Permits are separate and set by the county.
How much does it cost to replace a First Co system?
With us, $7,900 to $12,500 installed for the condenser and the air handler as a matched pair. From about $132 a month at 0% APR for 60 months, the whole price financed, on approved credit. A hydro-air system runs $11,000 to $14,000, and the system plus the water heater in the same closet runs $12,000 to $16,000.
Book First Co HVAC replacement in Northern Virginia
Book it on our condo HVAC replacement page, call (703) 997-9757, or send the form at the top of this page and the office calls or texts you back. Have a photo of the plate and the name of your management company handy.
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing replaces and services condo heating and cooling across Northern Virginia, First Co systems, MagicPaks and water source heat pumps among them, from Chantilly and Ashburn, with a dedicated HVAC team and a separate plumbing team for the water heater side. Trane Comfort Specialist, Rheem Pro Partner, Carrier experts and Mitsubishi Electric Diamond Contractor. Family owned, BBB Accredited with an A rating, 24/7 emergency service, Virginia Class A contractor license 2705192276, and rated 5.0 stars across 1,132 reviews on Google, Angi, Yelp, the BBB and Facebook. Read the reviews.
