On Sep 25, 10:27 am, "Pete C." wrote:
N8N wrote:

On Sep 25, 2:36 am, kjpro @ usenet.com wrote:
"Nate Nagel" wrote in message

...

Hi all,

been collecting quotes on A/C installs for the house; all appear to be
coming in at about the same price but three installers quoted on either
Carrier or Trane, and one quoted on Goodman which I've never heard of.
Warranty is actually better on the Goodman but am curious about comments
on reliability, durability, parts availability of all brands (and
Ruud/Rheem as well, if anyone cares to share.) The installer that I'm
leaning towards just because of initial impression is spec'ing a Trane
unit, 14 SEER which he says provides more efficiency (duh) as well as a
better warranty than the 13 SEER at slight additional cost. comments?

Equipment is only as good as the installer.
Warranty is only as good as the company backing it.

In other words, find the best company with the best installer.
Find one that will do a manual J (load calc) to properly size the equipment.
One that will also do a manual D to insure your ducting is adequate for
proper operation.

Only the one installer did any calcs at all. The others just looked
at the house and immediately quoted on a 2.5 ton unit, except for one
who quoted on a 2 ton. This is part of the reason that I'm leaning
towards this one installer.

These are all for 2.5 ton residential units to retrofit to an existing
forced-air heating system. Likely will be adding some kind of
filtration (there is currently none other than the foam dirt catcher in
the existing furnace, which is a rather old Ruud high efficiency gas
unit.) Not sure if just cutting in a regular replaceable filter is the
way to go, or if the extra cost for electronic is worth it. Comments
here would be appreciated as well.

I would install a media type filter over the electronic.
The only way I would want an electronic is if someone had allergies.

Well, SWMBO does have some allergies and also the installer that
actually did calcs mentioned that the ductwork was "marginal" and
claimed that it would be better to go with either no filter at all or
else electronic because he didn't want to restrict the airflow with a
media filter. does this make sense? It kind of did to me, but I'm a
car guy not a HVAC guy.

nate

A proper electrostatic precipitator air cleaner will work very well.
They are a bit pricey, but make up for that long term since you just
wash their collector grids and can use about the cheapest pre-filter
that you can get. $15 a pop for the good Filtrete filters adds up
quickly.

As for the part about marginal ductwork, we can't tell from here whether
it truly is marginal, but he is absolutely correct that an electrostatic
precipitator type air cleaner presents very little flow restriction,
essentially none compared to a media type filter.

Thanks for all the comments. I do believe him when he says the
ductwork is marginal because I do have to fiddle with the dampers to
get adequate heat upstairs in the wintertime (new grilles/dampers are
on the "to do" list as many of them are bent and/or sticky, and all
are painted over several times) I think where we are at now is SWMBO
is going to call the guy I had a good impression of to requote with a
13 SEER and without the electrostatic, just to get apples-to-apples
comparison with the other installers and if he's in the ballpark go
with him, likely following his initial recommendations as he seemed to
know what he's talking about.

Anyone see a downside to this plan?

nate