Semi-OT: Air Conditioner Question

Our air conditioner is on its last legs and will most likely not last the summer -- it's 22 years old, so can't complain too much. The proposed replacement is one of either, 1) 14 SEER American Standard, 2) 14 SEER Rheem, or 3) 14.5 SEER Carrier. All of these are direct 5 ton replacements for the existing unit.

Has anyone recently gone through a replacement or had experiences (good or bad) with these manufacturers? Looking for data points in multiple places, and folks on this newsgroup have a diversity of experience with multiple things, so am asking for input.

Thanks in advance.

Reply to
Mark & Juanita
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All three are good, reliable brands that have been around for decades. I'd be more concerned about the installer and what they will do. Given that the AC is 22 years old, has the house changed? More insulation? New windows? Should a Manual J be done? Is the furnace going to be replaced at the same time (assuming that is the setup you have)?

Check all the state rebates and tax credits available and utility company rebates also. I replaced my boiler with no out of pocked cash with the rebates, tax credits, state funded 0% financing and the oil savings is greater than the payments.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

What kinda socialist scam are you running down there?

Reply to
Robatoy

------------------------------- One of those government programs to promote improving energy efficiency by getting all those Republicans to dig up their coffee cans full of moldy money and buy and install energy saving stuff.

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

Gee, a 5 ton AC doesn't sound like the kind of thing that a custodian of God's Green Earth should be running.

Reply to
Robatoy

House was well-insulated when it was built (they guy who built it was tight with a nickel and took pains to minimize energy costs). The installer comes with good recommendations, so I'm satisfied with that end of it as best I can be. This is a heat pump unit (we don't have a furnace).

Installer has identified units that qualify for credits due to their efficiency. Electric company also has credits but he has indicated that he has had only a few people who have actually been able to get the electric company to actually fulfill that commitment. They will help with the paperwork.

Right now, I'm leaning toward the Carrier unit; it is more expensive than the other two, but the American Standard comes with only a 5 year parts warranty, the Carrier and Rheem come with 10. Not sure the extra 1/2 SEER will fully cover the additional cost, but is sounds as if it may be a little more solid unit.

Reply to
Mark & Juanita

Gee, a 5 ton AC doesn't sound like the kind of thing that a custodian of God's Green Earth should be running.

-------------------------------------------- Other than Canada Day, which is your summer, you need a furnace rather than AC, so you are excused.

Same program works for either the heating or cooling industry.

It's all about getting those coffee cans dug up and spending all that old moldy money.

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

I have an American Standard unit. I am not impressed. In six years it has been replaced once under warranty (but I still had to pay labor) and I just had another service to replace 3 pounds of coolant that It has lost in two years.

Reply to
Dan Coby

I bet Al Gore has at least a dozen of them (or the equivalent).

Reply to
krw

Thanks for the input. Your experience seems consistent with the warranty. The Carrier and Rheem come with 10 year compressor, 10 year parts warranties; the American Standard with 10 year compressor, but only 5 year parts warranty. American Standard price though is only $124 less than the Carrier and a full $852 more than the Rheem. Given that, the American Standard doesn't seem competitive.

Reply to
Mark & Juanita

NEVER happen. There'd be too many freedom-stifling goummint-controlling strings attached, if not immediately then surely just around the next Obama/Socialist corner! You just wait!

Dave in the Socialist Czech Republic

Reply to
Dave in Texas

Gee, a 5 ton AC doesn't sound like the kind of thing that a custodian of God's Green Earth should be running.

Not to mention that a 14 SEER is considered minimum in this day and age. But, we all know that many conservative types don't live in this day and age.

Dave in CZ-land

Reply to
Dave in Texas

I'll bet so, too but they're 18 SEER AND solar-powered.

Dave in Houston

Reply to
Dave in Texas

Might want to replace the ducts as well. Hard duct is always better but even flex R8 was available as of two or three years ago.

Dave in Houston

Reply to
Dave in Texas

My 5-ton American Standard is in it's eleventh year this summer (ten year warranty); had two pounds of refrigerant added two years ago and the contacts replaced at the same time. I do believe that TRANE and American Standard are one and the same.

Dave in Houston

Reply to
Dave in Texas

That's because we solved most of societies problems - to the extent they CAN be solved - eons ago. Progressives keep coming up with ideas that didn't work then and won't work now.

Here's an example: Our president wants the federal government subsidizing alternative energy so that (inter alia) "... X thousand new jobs will be created..." What he neglects to mention is the thousands of jobs that will be lost.

Jobs created in the solar panel industry can result in jobs lost in coal mining, meanwhile the guy painting houses has to pay additional taxes to prop up the sunbeam scheme. (I'm assuming the unemployment compensation for the coal miners will be offset by taxes on the solar panel people.)

Reply to
HeyBub

How easily you overlook the tens of billions of dollars in subsidies and tax breaks we give the petroleum industry. If everyone thought like you a hundred years ago Henry Ford might never have come up with the assembly line which put [God knows how many] blacksmiths out of work. It's called a better mouse trap. I'm certain you will now maintain that solar, wind, and other non-carbon based, non-dead dinosaur-derived fuels are unnecessary and are nothing more than some giant liberal conspiracy to funnel brazillions of dollars to Al Gore who, as we all know, made all this clean energy crap up. How many jobs do you think will be created in the nuclear energy industry due to the eight billion dollars in subsidies the administration has proposed? How many fewer hammers do you think Stanley or Eastwing sells since the nail gun came along? Is Diston still in business? Adapt or get left behind, Bub.

As better (or cleaner) ways to do things evolve the inventers and entrepreneurs are the winners and the old technologies and ways are the losers. While the lobbyists and their conservative minions continue to protect the status quo the rest of the world is leaving the U.S. behind. II expect China and India to surpass the U.S. as global economic powers in my lifetime. I suppose you would have us keep sending our petro dollars to countries that have little fondness for us and who in turn fund radical groups that would do us in.

Dave in the Socialist Czech Republic

Dave

Reply to
Dave in Texas

And he's totally ignoring the fact that the Chinese can make perfectly adequate solar panels cheaper than we can.

Reply to
J. Clarke

"Dan Coby" wrote

Where was the coolant lost? That may be the fault of the installer, not the unit itself. The installer makes the connections and if he does a poor job, you pay. If it was lost from a bad brazed joint on the coil, it is the fault of the manufacturer. If he replaced that much, he should have also found and fixed the leak. If he did not, you got screwed.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

"Dave in Texas" wrote

See my reply to Dan. Do you know why the coolant was lost?

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

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