Which brand central air unit to buy?

[w1ebb]

We replaced our 13 year old Carrier unit with a Trane 2 years ago. Catahoula Cur Dog would hike his leg and pee in it at night, on the cooling fins. I never did catch him doing it, and never knew about it. Other than a weekly spray down with the water hose and seasonal maintenance, no problems with the Carrier. Then during the hot summer, after its service, the dog started doing his thing. Dog pee will eat aluminum and copper! The price to repair wasn't much less than the price of the new Trane. Both units are high quality. In Louisiana, we work our air conditioners hard during the summer!
I built a square wooden frame and mounted the Carrier's motor and fan blade in it. It has to run 240, but talk about one **** of a shop fan!

 

[Loadstar]

We replaced our 13 year old Carrier unit with a Trane 2 years ago. Catahoula Cur Dog would hike his leg and pee in it at night, on the cooling fins. I never did catch him doing it, and never knew about it. Other than a weekly spray down with the water hose and seasonal maintenance, no problems with the Carrier. Then during the hot summer, after its service, the dog started doing his thing. Dog pee will eat aluminum and copper! The price to repair wasn't much less than the price of the new Trane. Both units are high quality. In Louisiana, we work our air conditioners hard during the summer! I built a square wooden frame and mounted the Carrier's motor and fan blade in it. It has to run 240, but talk about one **** of a shop fan!

People urinating on them has the same effect. See that outside of bars and in industrial places lol. Urine will wreck them.

 

[kenmac]

I can install any brand I want.. I have a rheem knock off on my house.
.I install Trane as my top line equipment ,because people ask for them... The condenser is a bear to clean with those spine fins....

Ducane is a good unit... if you are reading bad reviews.. it's because someone didn't take the time to do a quality install..
.
most units use the same parts..

Bells and whistles cost extra.. how many do you want ??

You can buy the top of the line super duper HVAC unit ever build.. If you have a bad installer.. your super duper hvac unit won't be so super duper

 

[ultrarunner]

I've got 18 Carrier Package Units and 15 still have the original compressor(s)

All were installed in 1995.

Also have a built up unit with Carrier Compressors that works very hard and last year replaced my first compressor... 1995 install.

Parts have never been a problem with the Carrier Units...

I've installed a couple of Tempstar Units about 15 years ago and so far so good... all were residential units.... don't hear much about Tempstar anymore.

My one and only Heat Pump is Rheem... too early to give a review... had it installed and there were a few glitches the first 60 days... hoping for the best.

 

[kenmac]

Most residential units are going to have a copeland scroll compressor..don't see any bristol or tecumseh compressors any more.

All units from the cheapest to the most expensive are going to provide you with many yrs of service given the proper installation..

Is a cheap Chinese cap. going to pop from time to time ? sure.. Is the cheap Chinese condenser fan motor going to out at some point. most likely.
These are Cheaply made Chinese parts ,that all the manufactures use... The heart of the system is the compressor ,and with a proper vacuum pulled , proper charge,etc., you just aren't going to see any major issues

Again, I hate a Trane / American standard condenser with those porcupine coils

Good luck !

 

[truckdiagnostics]

Eddie--which brand would you say are the most reliable? I hear Carrier and Trane from the trades guys I know and some mention Lennox. I know the guy that does Lennox and he is first rate but I am concerned about the low ratings on the internet. The guy I like around here installs Ducane but I never even heard of them.

Alrighty, the kid is in the business. he hates lennox, i believe it is because they are complicated and hard to work on? can get them thou. He likes trane and american standard. They are not locked up by a dealer network like say carrier and bryant. We can buy a trane and an american standard and install them as a side job. Most of the other you end up having to purchase through a dealer and hence the mark up. We have found parts for trane and american standard easy to get and replace, nice schematics easy to work on.

 

[Kenneth in Texas]

The story on ac units? Nowadays they all about the same more or less, the sizing and install is actually more important than the brand.

 

[truckdiagnostics]

Again, I hate a Trane / American standard condenser with those porcupine coils

kid agrees says can never get them Clean. So since not going to be using the furnace part much if at all...... basically just an air handler may want to consider different design. Didn't look where you where, I just considering the furnace. When i recommend trane/american standard.

 

[sixdogs]

Just to wrap this up, we went with a dealer we trust and bought a Lennox. Let's hope it works out.

 

[Kenneth in Texas]

Own 3 goodmans, one in my home and others in rentals, no problems at all with them. The talk about capacitors going out, yes pretty common nowdays since they made in china or mexico, so i keep a spare on hand for my home unit.