Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire HVAC opinions

In the house I'm remodeling, I installed a Rheem ac unit and nat. gas heater.

We use Goodman at work. They seem to be, well good.

They are all about the same. Carrier, Trane, Heil, Ruud, Rheem, Bryant, American Standard. As others have said Carrier and Bryant are, or where last I checked owned by the same company and have similar components. Trane and American Standard were at one time own by the same but I am not sure they are still associated with each other. Ruud and Rheem are the same product with a different label on them.

My suggestion is to find a dealer who you can trust and will give you good service if needed. Then purchase a mid level product from whoever you purchase it from, and I would also suggest purchasing the minimum SEER rating, or very close to it, that will meet the state building codes. Your dealer will know what the code requirements are and greatly exceeding them in your purchase will give you diminishing returns.

I installed a Goodman 3 ton heat pump 5 years ago. changed over from a package unit to a split as we remodeled/added on and moved the unit to a different area. No problems at all and works great. Had about a 40 ft. electrical and copper run to make plus break out a new return duct and insulate all. Have a co-worker that is an HVAC guy and he got me the unit at cost . Installed it all myself and saved a couple of grand. Only thing I need to add to it to make it almost totally care free is an external temp switch to automatically swap from heat pump to strip at lower temps, it rarely gets real cold here though and we just swap it manually at the control....

Me too. It's 10 years old and has survived some pretty tough summers with only one capacitor failure.

Carrier is a POS... the quality control went to hell.

things to ask..

Warranty - 10 year Parts, or Parts and Labor...

My son works in HVAC and he has seen Carrier heat exchanges go bad in 1.5 years... if you have a 1 year warranty you are screwd !

I was an estimator, and new install supervisor for a Bryant dealer.
Bryant/Carrier are very good.
Trane residential condenser out door unit is way beyond better than anybody else.
They bought that fuzzstick design from GE.
25 years if installed right... maybe longer.

Goodman/janitrol used to be very simple generic machines with little to go wrong.
I liked them very much. Copper tubes you can solder repair, simple contactor.

Trane or American Standard. Same/same whichever is priced the best.
Favorite brands of the HVAC mechanics in the facilities shop I ran.

In 2010 we replaced our unit with a 15 seer 2.5 ton Goodman. At the time we got a 10 year parts and labor warranty for close to nothing. We have had zero problems to this day and would buy another when the time comes.

Appreciate all the opinions and advice.

Whatever I do it needs to get done very soon. The furnace is working intermittently, yesterday I turned it up and pretty quickly the house was filled with a sort of hot metal smell so I turned it off. Turned it on again last night and nothing - no fan, no gas flame. Turning on the fan alone produced nothing, it wasn't going, so I left it off overnight. Electric blankets rule.

Fortunately it's not really cold cold here yet, lows in the upper 30's overnight and highs in the 50's, but the house was a bit chilly stepping out of the shower this morning. Just started the furnace up a minute ago to see what happens and it appears normal, fan is turning and the gas flame is normal. I'll let it run a while to get the house up to a tropical 65 or so and shut it down again.

The smell might be several things.
If you have a cracked heat exchanger and the products of combustion enter the stream of ventilation air it could kill you and the family. God forbid.

https://structuretech1.com/qa-heat-exchanger-cracks-and-carbon-monoxide-myths/

In my many years of home ownership that has included six or seven heat pumps, I've decided that the quality of the installer is as important as what brand unit you get. I doubt a reputable contractor is going to recommend junk equipment. Research the contractors in your area to find out who seems to fix something right the first time, who has parts on hand, and who will be available for service calls when needed. Having said that, my good units were Trane and presently Bryant, both installed by contractors who sent competent people to my house both for installation and repairs.

As someone that has installed HVAC equipment for over 25 years, I would advise worrying more about the actual guys installing the equipment. Most of the equipment out nowadays are all pretty much the same. Some equipment will certainly be quieter than others so if that's important then specifically ask about that. Ask A lot about the guys installing it. I wouldn't get excited about how much school they have I would only be concerned about actual experience. If the lead guy doesn't have a minimum of 5 years I wouldn't have them on my job. Having an apprentice there helping is normal but there should be plenty of experience with the other guy.

Most residential installations can be fairly easy and even a handy homeowner can do most of it. The actual A/C end of the job is where you absolutely want the time to be taken to do it correctly. That is where the biggest service cost would come in the future. I put high efficiency equipment in my house because I get it for cost and maintain it myself. I wouldn't pay for it to be installed unless you are replacing a high efficiency furnace That is already there. The simpler the system the easier to install and the less to go wrong. Don't let the salesman sell you on features that NO ONE ever uses. Some of the equipment out there now can do some incredible stuff but I have yet to see a normal homeowner ever benefit for those features.

I used to work for Trane (Commercial) so I'm biased. I have a 16 year old Trane that is still going in Texas weather. American Standard ACs (residential) are made at the same plant as Tranes (Tyler).

No, this is for my home. Small home, in fact, only 1100 sq. ft. Going to replace the whole shebang, new stacked R410a a/c and gas furnace. Service fellow (20 years doing this) who looked at it this past week recommended an 80% 13 seer unit, the salesman from the same company gave me a bid on a Carrier 80% 14 seer 2 1/2 ton unit, 10/2 year warranty on parts/labor. His price is $8445 with financing at 0% for 60 months or $7600 if paid all at once. That prompted me to think YGBFKM but I'm not up on the current prices so just thanked him for the bid.

Will be calling other local companies today and Monday to get more bids.

$8445 for a 2.5 ton unit is way to high. I just had a Goodman 5 ton split system with new gas heater installed in Phoenix for $5800. It is also a 16 seer.

It might be 0% financing for 60 months but that's a $845 fee for the financing. $7600 is on par for that type of job in my area. Depending on that actual work involved maybe a little less but maybe more. Doesn't sound out of line. Always good to follow up with questions on why someone is cheaper or more expensive assuming that the equipment is the same. The difference in equipment could be $1000. Cheap labor could be cheaper inexperienced help. When there's A lot of work or during peak times obviously prices are at a premium. Also it's better to compare prices locally rather than prices from a different market to get a true feel for the going prices

$7600.00 for an 80% --2.5 ton slip in? Never get that much here for that same install.

That's a rip off price unless you have something unusually difficult to install. Get at least three bids; check reviews online and with the BBB. Check for complaints with the Contractors Board.