HVAC Knowledable People - what would you recommend

[znfdl]

OK, one of our two AC condensing units has gone to heaven after 20 faithful years of service.

I need to replace a 3 ton A/C condensing unit and indoor coils.

Are all brands pretty much interchangeable or is one better than the other?

My HVAC person deals with Trane, Lennox, and Carrier.

Thoughts, feedback and insight is much appreciated

[glepore]

Just went through this. I would seriously look at the new bosch inverter units. More economical both initially and in the long run, and very high quality.

[Will Neide]

OK, one of our two AC condensing units has gone to heaven after 20 faithful years of service.

I need to replace a 3 ton A/C condensing unit and indoor coils.

Are all brands pretty much interchangeable or is one better than the other?

My HVAC person deals with Trane, Lennox, and Carrier.

Thoughts, feedback and insight is much appreciated

Sorry for your loss.

Just lost mine 2 days ago after 24 years of service. So far the only quote I have is with an Amana unit. Review online seems good for the unit, but I think more importantly is finding an installer you trust.

[znfdl]

Thanks, but we have a gas furnace so no inverters for us....

[Matthew Strongin]

20+ years of service?! Man that would be nice. South Florida churns through ACs in around 8-12 years. I don't have a brand to recommend because I've never had one last long enough to recommend it.

[sine]

We replaced the condenser in our Potomac house with a Bryant unit 10-11 years ago. At the time we thought it was good system and never had a problem when we lived there. Not sure if the newer freon has an impact on longevity.

Might want to check out CR for reviews at the local library.

[NYCfixie]

OK, one of our two AC condensing units has gone to heaven after 20 faithful years of service.

I need to replace a 3 ton A/C condensing unit and indoor coils.

Are all brands pretty much interchangeable or is one better than the other?

My HVAC person deals with Trane, Lennox, and Carrier.

Thoughts, feedback and insight is much appreciated

My younger brother used to own an HVAC company in South FLA many years ago so this info may not be up to date. I believe he said Carrier is not worth the money since it is no longer made in Syracuse, NY and I believe the other two are owned by the same parent company so choose the less expensive brand as they work and will last the same length of time.

[rwsaunders]

I don’t want to jinx myself but we’ve had a couple of Lennox gas-fired condensing furnaces (90% efficiency rating) and related AC gear (SEER 13) working well for the past 19 years. I had a circuit board issue 4-5 years ago on one unit and that was a simple fix. They are serviced once/year for $89 by the original installer. If you can, add a simple humidifier (AprilAire) to your new system for the dry, Winter season and upgrade your filter to a minimum MERV rating of 10. I linked both systems to a NEST thermostat.

[vvv321]

We had a Carrier system put in a couple years ago, it's been fine. From what I can tell the major brands are all pretty similar in reliability, and carrier was half the cost of trane, or lenox. HALF. At that point I really couldn't care where it was made..... Get as many quotes as you can, mine were all over the place, the first one, lennox, was the most expensive, by over double, near triple of what we ended up paying. Frankly my current opinion of HVAC is it's a farking scam.


The systems had all the same SEER (16) and efficiency ratings (95), and the Carrier had a 10 year parts AND labor warranty, the others just parts.