Home HVAC advice?

Ed_Flecko

Ed_Flecko

Joined
Dec 1, 2014
Messages
1,201
Location
California
The HVAC unit at my house (Sacramento, CA) is a Carrier, and it's about 13 years old with "Puron". My Wife is thinking about buying a new HVAC system (more efficient, etc.) and I'm hoping for some advice? smile Is Carrier a good brand? Should I look at another brand? I do NOT want a "smart" (I.P.) enabled unit, or any "whistles or bells"...just a solid unit that will heat and cool the house! Do you have any suggestions on where/how/when to shop to get a "fair" price? What about Home Depot, Costco, etc.? I welcome your thoughts and suggestions. Ed
 
I bought Goodman about three years ago. It was the lowest rated but cheapest brand. Why? Because you or I could go down today to a warehouse and declare ourselves a Goodman dealer. In reality it's largely the same as Amana, maybe identical. Had to move fast cause it was 100 degrees out and trusted the HVAC guy who I'd worked with on several rental properties. Had a bunch of Bryant/Carrier stuff and was not impressed. Do I know enough about HVAC or have I bought enough to be anything but dangerous in my advice? Probably not.
 
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Purchase through a reputable HVAC dealer/contractor. They will do the calculations to make sure that you get a proper sized system. I've had good luck with Rheem/Ruud products. Bryant and Trane are some other good brands.
 
My younger sister had an American Standard furnace and AC installed last year. It is made in the USA by Trane and the same exact system minus her outdoor unit not having a sound blanket vs the same Trane unit having one. The installer offered to install a sound blanket for $100, she declined. Keep in mind many HVAC companies use the same manufacture for the AC compressor. The install is more important than Carrier vs Trane, Lennox vs Goettl.. . I will add my brother is a refrigeration mechanic for a grocery chain and he lived in so-cal. He worked for Goettl and said they do things right. Airquest is a brand by Carrier. Look at the prices and you'll be shocked how much profit there is. https://hvacdirect.com/air-conditioning-systems/filter/manufacturer/airquest.html
 
My house was built in 1970. We bought it in 1994 and the old Carrier was still running great but we needed to replace the old electric forced air furnace so we put in a Trane natural gas furnace and a Trane A/C unit. The A/C unit has never been touched in 26 years until I replaced the start capacitor a few months ago. In 50 years my house has had only 1 replacement furnace and A/C unit.They don't make them like they used to and at only 13 years old, your old Carrier most likely has a decade of life left, plus it would take longer than a decade to be in the black, savings wise, on a new more efficient model. Personally I wouldn't consider any other makes other than a Carrier or a Trane going strictly on my experiences with both makes.
 
Have had good luck with Rheem/Ruud. My mom's house had a Rheem AC put in in summer of 1979 and 30 years later when she sold the house it was still running strong. It had maybe 4 service calls over the years for minor repairs. My house is going quickly closing in on 20 years with a Rheem AC/gas furnace system and I've only needed 2 service calls. One was for a bad expansion valve and the other was for a bad thermostat. Expansion valve was covered under warranty, and the thermostat and service call cost me $120. Not too bad in my opinion. Has not needed any refrigerant added in 17 years.
 
My old Carrier was much quieter than the Trane i replaced it with ~2 yrs ago. I believe carrier moved production outside US a couple years back. AC is not rocket science, A compressor, some heat transfer coils, a few sensors and contactor/s so the hardwares are similar made in CH or MX... +1 Get a good installer, In humid area you do not want AC to be a more costly oversized unit. it needs to be smallish and higher duty cycle to remove humidity.
 
We have an extended family member that owns his own HVAC business; we just replaced a 19 year old, 13 SEER Carrier Heat Pump system 2 weeks ago. Texas climate is probably a little different, but, the industry basic recommendation here is 14 SEER now. We talked at length about the 17 SEER and above systems with 2 and 3 stage compressors, multi speed blowers, etc. In the end, we followed his advice on our unit. We stayed in the single stage compressor family, but installed a properly sized system, 5 ton, 16 SEER Bryant system vs the old 4 ton unit. Why? We now have a very efficient single stage system, and if parts are needed, they can be easily obtained. He has been doing HVAC for a very long time and while the upper level efficiency unit will ultimately save a little more money, it will be many years for you to see the savings. With the more efficient single stage systems, parts are readily available, not only from him, but from any vendor in town; if there is a malfunction, it can be fixed in hours vs. days or weeks. The exotic systems have many specialized parts that must be special ordered if they malfunction. Just my thoughts and experience.
 
TempStar made by Carrier, but can be installed by contractors that are not Carrier certified. TempStar has a premium and economy series.
 
Carrier is Ok. I got 18 years out of the builder-spec equipment that came with my house. Trane also seems to be popular. Be cautious of the off-brands that are "made by" a company like Carrier - they seem to throw the HVAC guys for a loop when service time comes. Mom has TempStar equipment that falls in that category and when we needed a repair 2 winters ago, the service guys sent out were baffled. York, at least according to those same HVAC guys should be avoided at all cost.
 
Had a Trane furnace and central air installed at my first house, no complaints. Went through Home Depot's referral program where they hooked me up with a local contractor who sized up the correct furnace and central air. Had it all done within a day. Old furnace was probably 40 years old and was on its last legs. Got a fairly new Trane variable speed furnace and a much older Carrier AC unit now, and the AC unit has been fine despite that it had been neglected for years and filled with leaves and oak flowers. Not so sure about the variable speed fan on the furnace, I've heard the variable speed drives can be problematic, but no complaints other than it takes some getting used to that even when it's not heating or cooling the fan is still running slowly. Didn't seem to have any trouble when I had to put the generator into service to run the furnace one winter when we had a 24 hours with no power, although I wouldn't be surprised if dirty power from the generator might be problematic for a variable speed drive compared to a plain old induction motor.
 
We had replaced our old system with an American Standard in our Austin home. It was quite a bit cheaper than Trane and had all Trane branded parts inside. New house has builder grade Lennox, been fine so far.
 
Goodman makes most brands out there, Amana, as mentioned, Bryant and several others. Not terrible stuff, just average, maybe slightly above depending on branding requirements. If you want the best get a Lennox or Trane.
 
Originally Posted by 86cutlass307
We have an extended family member that owns his own HVAC business; we just replaced a 19 year old, 13 SEER Carrier Heat Pump system 2 weeks ago. Texas climate is probably a little different, but, the industry basic recommendation here is 14 SEER now. We talked at length about the 17 SEER and above systems with 2 and 3 stage compressors, multi speed blowers, etc. In the end, we followed his advice on our unit. We stayed in the single stage compressor family, but installed a properly sized system, 5 ton, 16 SEER Bryant system vs the old 4 ton unit. Why? We now have a very efficient single stage system, and if parts are needed, they can be easily obtained. He has been doing HVAC for a very long time and while the upper level efficiency unit will ultimately save a little more money, it will be many years for you to see the savings. With the more efficient single stage systems, parts are readily available, not only from him, but from any vendor in town; if there is a malfunction, it can be fixed in hours vs. days or weeks. The exotic systems have many specialized parts that must be special ordered if they malfunction. Just my thoughts and experience.
Good chance those specialized parts will be EXPENSIVE !
 
In many parts of the country your local power company will do a free load calculation + give you some pointers on energy saving improvements. The correct size of a HVAC system in very important.
 
Had a Bryant (Carrier clone) HVAC system with the Puron refrigerant in my house and it made it twelve years before the indoor condenser died. Replaced with an American Standard system. Most important advice is to find a local installer. Look online at the reputation of your local installers. As long as it is a major brand (I would avoid York products) I'd go where the local installer's reputation and money lead you. Good luck.
 
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