Heat pump replacement.... ideas on which brands are better?

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

Richard,

SEER is the "Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating" all that means is the higher the seer the less energy that system will need to cool the same space.

When you get into the higher seer units you get into the variable speed blowers in the furnace, variable compressors in the condenser or multi stage compressors.

He's right about control boards to run all that stuff, it's crazy expensive, just a defrost board is $190 and it's the size of a dollar bill folded in half usually. The more advanced the system the more advanced controls it takes to manage the equipment.

But in a perfect world you won't ever lose a control board. Moisture, heat, vibration, bugs ext all can lower the life of a exterior board, they do fail prematurely sometimes.

It also takes a bit of a smarter installer to install and set up correctly a high seer unit with variable speed everything.

I'm a fan of a oversized indoor coil paired with a correct size condenser to your house, you can take a 15 seer unit, put a variable speed blower in the furnace and oversize the indoor coil and make it a 16 seer without the cost of a 16 seer system.

Generally the higher the seer the more surface area of the indoor coil as well as a much larger outside coil, if you see the outside condenser stand 5ft tall and 3.5ft wide on a less than 2000 sq ft house that's why, the coils are massive.

Another bit of info for you, I have installed Gibson, Carrier, York, Lenox, Trane, Rheem and a few others I can't remember and most use either a Copeland or Emerson compressors. Scrolls will be in every heat pump, they handle liquid slugging much better than hermetic compressors found in regular A/Cs, im not sure what Trane uses, they wrap there compressors and there usually like 3 times bigger than the normal Copeland's and Emerson's. I'm not a fan of Trane, idk why there compressors are so freaking massive and heavy but they are.

 

[General Lee]

If your registers are blowing around 55 degree air and your return is 70-75 your in good shape, you always want around a 20 degree drop with an A/C.

On mild days I get 55-58 degree air coming from the registers. Typical return air is 74. Its the hot days 90 and above I start seeing a small temp split.

One day in particular not long after the system was installed (9/16) The house was 74. I wanted to test the system so I turned the T-stat down to 72. It ran for 3.5 hours and only dropped 1 degree. Outside temp was about 90. It couldn't even bring the house down 2 degrees.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

On mild days I get 55-58 degree air coming from the registers. Typical return air is 74. Its the hot days 90 and above I start seeing a small temp split.

One day in particular not long after the system was installed (9/16) The house was 74. I wanted to test the system so I turned the T-stat down to 72. It ran for 3.5 hours and only dropped 1 degree. Outside temp was about 90. It couldn't even bring the house down 2 degrees.

How many sq ft house and what ton of unit? If you don't know the ton, you can get the model number of the condenser and post it here. They hide the tonnage in the model numbers.

http://www.localinspectioncompany.com/articles/acdata.pdf

Also how many bedrooms and stories?

 

[Sigarms]

His main brand is York. Said he put one in his personal home. Said his second brand is Lennox.

Both brands you mentioned ironically enough are the only two in the industry who have paid to be endorsed by Goodhousekeeping. I highly doubt your dealer understands this, but it does give you a little more leeway if you have problems from the get go (rare with any brand installed correctly by a reputable company, but it's nice insurance if you know how to use it).

If you get a price on a York unit, if the dealer does not give you at least an optional factory backed (not 3rd party or "in house") labor plan, I'd be suspicious as to why he didn't.

York and Goodman are the only two manufacturers left in the industry who offer these type of labor plans from the factory. Generally, you will be required to have some basic annual maintence done on the system (which you really should have done anyways in my opinion), BUT, the labor warranty not only covers parts and compressors, but also all the labor work as well, which will more than pay for itself if you do have a problem (fine print... labor plans do not cover a trip charge though).

Gosh darn it, I just saw 80 days around the world this past Thursday at the University of Tennessee. Years ago had to spend time in Knoxville for work, but I was busy working LOL. Spending some time there on vacation didn't realize what a beautiful town it was.

 

[General Lee]

How many sq ft house and what ton of unit? If you don't know the ton, you can get the model number of the condenser and post it here. They hide the tonnage in the model numbers.

http://www.localinspectioncompany.com/articles/acdata.pdf

Also how many bedrooms and stories?

Its a rancher style, single story w/ unfinished basement. Main level is about 1900 sq feet. Basement is the same (wide open footprint of upper level)

3.5 Ton unit w/a 4 ton indoor coil (American Standard "Trane") 14 SEER - 3 bedrooms

Previous unit was 3.5 ton as well.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

Its a rancher style, single story w/ unfinished basement. Main level is about 1900 sq feet. Basement is the same (wide open footprint of upper level)

3.5 Ton unit w/a 4 ton indoor coil (American Standard "Trane") 14 SEER - 3 bedrooms

Previous unit was 3.5 ton as well.

A 3.5 ton will generally do 1800-2100 sq ft of conditioned space, that means very little heating or cooling in your basement.

What kind of air flow are you getting out of your registers? Generally you want around 120cfm per register, that's a noticeable about of airflow.

 

[IXLR8]

I just put an offer in on a house that has electric baseboard heat and 2 AC units, one for each floor. I got a quote to upgrade the AC units to heat pump units, the contractor recommended Bosch units. Nobody here has mentioned them, I hadn't heard that Bosch makes heat pumps. Does anybody have any comments, + or - on Bosch units?

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

I just put an offer in on a house that has electric baseboard heat and 2 AC units, one for each floor. I got a quote to upgrade the AC units to heat pump units, the contractor recommended Bosch units. Nobody here has mentioned them, I hadn't heard that Bosch makes heat pumps. Does anybody have any comments, + or - on Bosch units?

Do you know the difference between a heat pump and a regular A/C system?

 

[Richard]

Gosh darn it, I just saw 80 days around the world this past Thursday at the University of Tennessee. Years ago had to spend time in Knoxville for work, but I was busy working LOL. Spending some time there on vacation didn't realize what a beautiful town it was.

You should come visit Greenback which is actually where I live. Nobody has heard of Greenback (even some locals... "yeah, I've heard of Greenback but I have no idea where it is"

(it makes Mayberry RFD look like New York City in comparison)

 

[General Lee]

A 3.5 ton will generally do 1800-2100 sq ft of conditioned space, that means very little heating or cooling in your basement.

What kind of air flow are you getting out of your registers? Generally you want around 120cfm per register, that's a noticeable about of airflow.

I get good air flow at the registers, no complaints there. I believe they checked that as well I just don't remember what they said it was.

I still have a labor/install warranty from the company so I will work that dry til I have to. The first time I turned the A/C on this season I took some stats and will continue to monitor . 85 degree outside temp, 74 at the return and 54 out the register. So far so good but the hot season isn't here yet.