Air Conditioning - Brand wars!

Witch one do you like better and why! Both varible speed air handlers and both top of the line heat pumps! Between LENNOX or TRANE!

Both are good.

Go with a dealer who you are comfrotable with.

Make sure you have a dealer who will stand behind thier workmemship/warranity.

Dealer who does Manaual J and Manaul D to make sure everything is sized for your home/duct work.. As I said on one of your post, DO NOT go with a dealer who does not do the above and only goes by rule of thumb.

Go with a dealer who has parts on stock, or will not have problems getting parts on holidays/weekends when it's a urgant need.

I went with Trane cuz there is a wholesaler right here in town, and parts is needed, they can get it right away.

Lennox has left a sour taste in my mouth when I used to be in service.. Parts was REALLY hard to get.. It took 5 days to get it for a customer.

When installing units for the home owner I try to install units which any supply house would carry the parts. Go to the supply house near you find out if he will open on a sunday for your Contactor? Talk to your Contractor and find what he will do for you on a 95 degee saturday night when you need a fan motor that is only available from the factory. Maybe he carries them on his truck. I would want know ahead of time.

Pete

Just had a bid done from a local trane dealer. XL14i 3.5 ton and the varible speed air handler with FREE 5in media filter installed and FREE 803 t-com stat. Installed for 6,700. Does that price sound good? :eek:

803 stat? Not sure what one that is..

Price sounds right..


Did he doe a heat gain (Manual J) on the home?

Any rebates from Trane or your power company?

Just had a bid done from a local trane dealer. XL14i 3.5 ton and the varible speed air handler with FREE 5in media filter installed and FREE 803 t-com stat. Installed for 6,700. Does that price sound good? :eek:

that's funny....FREE ;) nothing is FREE.

OK since this is in my area of expertise, since I have put in every type of A/C known to this area of the country from chillers to sub-temp freezers and I service them all, I'll give you the low down on the units.

First of all any A/C shop can get parts to any air conditioner out there, the ymay just have to order them. But you *shouldn't* be able to go in a parts house and buy a compressor or fan motor anyways unless you have a contractors license, so what does it matter if its local or not.

Next, and this is the most important step of them all. It's not so much the unit as it is HOW WELL IT IS INSTALLED. Make sure they install the correct tonage, the correct seer if matching a split system. Make SURE they pull the linesets into a deep vaccum. Make sure they mastic all duct repairs. A correct install of a lesser brand A/C will perform better than a crappy install of a Leading brand A/C.

Now to the brands. American Standard and Trane are the same thing. In my opinion they are the best but you are going to pay more for it too. Goodman, Janitrol, Carrier, Bryant - all are crap. They will look 10 years old in 5 years and they are very poorly made. Lennox and York are good units but if you want my opinion the best units for the buck are Ruud/Rheem (same company). You get 10 years on the compressor warranty, 5 on other parts and labor, and they do a great job and last long. Ruud/Rheem has come a long way in the last few years.

Ultimately its up to you and every tech has their preferences so everything is biased. If you have the money Trane/American Standard is the best made unit, but Ruud/Rheem has the best warranty and alot cheaper for the same size unit. Either way just MAKE SURE THEY INSTALL IT CORRECTLY.

Bloodstone posted very good advice. Get several bids and request a Manual J to be performed by each bidder.

orlando

Absolutely agree with Bloodstone. I would add that making certain that your ductwork is up to snuff in size, overall condition,insulation properties, etc is important.

Good equipment, good install, and good ductwork = a satisfied customer.

My opinion.

I also think Trane's the best, but carrier is trying again. Trane has a 10 year parts and laber warrenty. You have to buy it. We half the cost when we install. Another post was mad about how much it cost to replace awarrenty Lennox compressor.

Try Amana, Its goodmans/junkatrols top of the line which has one of the best warranties in the buisness. Amana will give you lifetime compressor, 10 year parts outdoor unit, 10 year coils, 5 year parts on the indoor unit. They also offer a service assurance plan which runs anywhere from 350-500 for 10 year parts and labor on the whole system. So total with extra warranty on averge is about $6,800 for a 14 seer and the variable air handler bumps the efficiency up to almost a 15 seer. :wall: Think about that

What's Manual D and Manual J ?.

What's Manual D and Manual J ?.


Manual D is a program/Calc to use to size the ductwork to carry the propper CFM to each area/room..


Manual J is a program to figure total BTU lost/gain on a home. That way you can find the furnace and A/C size for the home.

manual j is a load calc
manual d is used to size ductwork