Carrier Infinity or Bryant Evolution - Anyone Seen One?

[Dick]

I want to replace my Day/Night gaspack with a dual-fuel heat pump. Carrier makes one called the Infinity 13 Packaged Dual Fuel Heat Pump, and Bryant make an identical one called the Evolution Model 674B. I had the Bryant dealer out here today for an estimate. Although he is aware of the Evolution, he has never seen one and doesn't have any information on it. He was going to call me back after he talked to the factory. Haven't heard anything back yet. Has anyone else actually seen/installed one of these two? Or are these companies like Microsoft where they announce products way ahead of time? I really don't want to be a beta tester.

[TURTLE]

This is Turtle.

No But here you go.

TURTLE

[Dick]

Thanks. I had already printed out the brochures from both companies. That's how I knew the units existed. Hopefully, I will hear back from the Bryant dealer in the next few days.

Dick

[m Ransley]

If your dealer never instaled one I suggest you find one that has, or he is learning on your house.

[Dick]

We only have two Bryant dealers. Neither has installed one.

[TURTLE]

This is Turtle.

Now you need to stop right here and start looking at the Dealers as who is the best installer and not what item or feature he can sell you. This may seem too bold here but I just see a problem arising here.

TURTLE

[m Ransley]

Why do you need Briant or carrier.There are alot of good products out there, some better. The instaler is the most important part of any install. A good instaler will take average equipment and and do it right making you comfortable and efficient, an unexperianced tech can make it the oposite, and you will never be happy. Buy an instaler not a name brand, look for a pro not a student who will make his mistakes while you pay for him to do it.

[Dick]

I would be more than happy to try another brand if there were any. I have searched extensively on the Internet for other brands of dual-fuel heat pumps in one package, and the ONLY ones I can find are made by Bryant, Carrier and American Standard. I would love to hear about others.

Dick

[Dick]

I don't have a lot of choices. My "town" has a population of about

5,000. Nearest town of any size is 25,000. Nearest city is 100 miles away. The type of unit I want (packaged dual-fuel heat pump) has very limited availability by anyone. See my problem? The two Bryant dealers seem to have good reputations. The only carrier dealership looks like a dump.

Dick

[m Ransley]

Dual fuel, you mean gas-propane why do you need dual fuel and is it easily switchable. Carrier is Bryant and maybe American standard, or is it lennox? You realy need a good tech to direct you one that does your type of instal for a living. Did you get a load calculation done by the sales guy, I bet not, another sign of a hack.

[Dick]

Yes. A heat pump using natural gas for backup heat rather than the usual electrical heat strips. The switchover is automatic. I want this type of unit because it gets pretty cold here in the winter, and I don't want to be running resistance heat all the time. At the same time, natural gas is getting very expensive and I don't want to be completely dependent upon it for heat.. These units are packaged in one unit like a gaspack. I have to mount it on the roof to replace the existing Day/Night gaspack. If I had a conventional separate gas heater and electrical A/C it would be much easier to replace.

The dealer I have been dealing with has been in business a long time. Their place of business looks very professional. They have a fleet of fairly new trucks. The person who came to the house was the Division Manager of New Construction. He was prepared to start measuring things when he got here, but I had already done everything for him. He took my spreadsheet back to the office to run the numbers. I have no qualms about using this Bryant dealer.

Dick

[TURTLE]

This is Turtle.

OK well pick from the two you have but . Which one would you want to deal with if your hvac system turned into a nightmare and was breaking down everyweek for some reason ? If you think about it for a while you will tell me which one you would want because everybody has a Gut feeling about everybody.

TURTLE

[TURTLE]

This is Turtle.

You just said a word i like to hear and it was he took the measurement and took them back to the office to run them down. It sounds like he is going to run a Manual D & J on your house and he is replacing a system that he could just skip this work if he was lazy and did not plan on doing a good job.

TURTLE

[Dick]

He said he was glad I had a Day/Night gaspack because the Bryant will fit right in its place. Both part of Carrier.

[TURTLE]

This is Turtle.

I was selling few Day & Nite when they went bankrupt and Carrier bought them out. We was mainly Rheem and Lennox back then but the Day & Nite was a well made stuff and was being priced lower than Rheem and Lennox and some customer would just want air and did not care what you wrote on the side of it. That was 25 to

30 years ago and Day & Nite was good stuff priced cheap which fit the bill for someone who said Give me air in the house and if I want a name on it. I have a can of paint to put one on it.

Day & Nite got in trouble with building their equipment too well and not charging enough to pay for the quality of their equipment. They thought that Quality of their equipment would get out and start selling more equipment by word of mouth. It didn't happen and people wanted cheap over quality in general. Carrier bought them out and lowered the quality level and raised the price and made them profitiable again. During this time Carrier bought out Payne also and done the same thing.

TURTLE

[m Ransley]

Are you talking about a standard furnace as backup plus heat pump? Seems like everyone sells that, maybe you should not be saying Dual Fuel. But I do not know about heat pumps

[Dick]

No, this is something fairly new. You have one box. Inside is both an electric heat pump and a natural gas furnace. That's why they call it "dual-fuel." Instead of using resistance heat strips to back up the heat pump when it gets down around freezing, the dual-fuel uses the much more economical gas heat as a backup. It is a packaged unit and therefore ideal as a replacement for the gaspacks that are typically mounted on the roof where I live. There is nothing inside the house except for the ductwork in the attic.

Dick

[TURTLE]

This is Turtle.

No Ransley this is a king of the hill unit and just now in the last year have put this package together in a package unit. You have a complete heat pump system / then you have a complete natural gas furnmace system / then you have a complete cooling systen / and also there is a option to be put out but not avaiable yet a add on electric heat strips if the gas supply is cut off and you need back up electric heat strips. I have installed these same unit in the Carrier brand / Daddy of Bryant but does not have the multi-fuel option. I'm kind of learey of this new high tech stuff and will let Mikey try them first and see. Ransley we are talking Roll Royce and not a Yugo here.

TURTLE