Who makes best heat pumps (HVAC)

[dragoneggs]

Consumer Reports is actually a pretty lousy company in my book. I had to deal with them once over a subscription issue. Pure New York City shysters!

They are way past their prime, especially with true consumer reviews by unpaid folks on youtube, etc.

 

[Sigarms]

They are way past their prime, especially with true consumer reviews by unpaid folks on youtube, etc.

I won't disagree, but the key issue with "judging" HVAC systems is differentiating between actual equipment issues and those issues caused directly by either installation and service.

Take ANY HVAC equipment line, and I can show you online where it's a piece of crap.

Recently I had two compressor failures within 3 years on the same unit. Equipment is junk, right? After requiring a start up sheet, turns out that the original installer changed the speed setting on the motor to try and make the static pressure more acceptable. The issue? By changing the fan speed to adjust for static pressure, he wasn't moving enough air for the system to operate, thus "killing" the compressor. The added problem is that bad installing practices may take years to affect the system.

THIS is why the contractor actually doing the installation is more important than the equipment itself.

 

[mrblanche]

The HVAC industry has gone to consumer reports to try and understand exactly how they do their "quality ratings", and other than whoever screams the loudest, no one can figure it out.

And the answer to that is an easy one. They do it from consumer surveys on an annual basis, asking questions like, "Has your HVAC system had a significant breakdown in the last 12 months?" This is how they do much of their "research," and any researcher will tell you this is a very failure-prone method. It's not like they could buy dozens of HVAC systems and run them for years, though, is it?

 

[dragoneggs]

I won't disagree, but the key issue with "judging" HVAC systems is differentiating between actual equipment issues and those issues caused directly by either installation and service.

Take ANY HVAC equipment line, and I can show you online where it's a piece of crap.

Recently I had two compressor failures within 3 years on the same unit. Equipment is junk, right? After requiring a start up sheet, turns out that the original installer changed the speed setting on the motor to try and make the static pressure more acceptable. The issue? By changing the fan speed to adjust for static pressure, he wasn't moving enough air for the system to operate, thus "killing" the compressor. The added problem is that bad installing practices may take years to affect the system.

THIS is why the contractor actually doing the installation is more important than the equipment itself.

No argument here... I was talking more in general about Consumer Reports vs online reviews. I'm learning here that certain products, such as HVAC systems are more dependent on installation than hardware quality.

 

[Sigarms]

They do it from consumer surveys on an annual basis, asking questions like, "Has your HVAC system had a significant breakdown in the last 12 months?" This is how they do much of their "research," and any researcher will tell you this is a very failure-prone method. It's not like they could buy dozens of HVAC systems and run them for years, though, is it?

As you pointed out, this kind of data is a very failure prone method, and yes, the industry is aware of this. If you're ranked #1, lucky. Ranked at the bottom? Not so lucky LOL

That said, it was just the previous page where someone was stating which equipment was rated as the most dependable per consumer reports

 

[kenmac]

you can do everything right...Some things just break before their time.

Case in point.. I just bought a new kubota Z turn diesel mower. I put 1.9 hours on the machine, and the engine blew !..
Despite doing every thing right...sometimes shlt just happens

 

[ProjectKing]

you can do everything right...Some things just break before their time.

Case in point.. I just bought a new kubota Z turn diesel mower. I put 1.9 hours on the machine, and the engine blew !..
Despite doing every thing right...sometimes shlt just happens

That's true!