I'd like to hear from anyone who have had the above installed. Were
there any problems in getting it to run right due to the more complex
nature of the controller. Did the system save money or was the opposite
the case. I'm considering one, and I'd like to hear a sample of
opinions good or bad. Thanks

"as4603" wrote in message
ups.com...
I'd like to hear from anyone who have had the above installed. Were
there any problems in getting it to run right due to the more complex
nature of the controller. Did the system save money or was the opposite
the case. I'm considering one, and I'd like to hear a sample of
opinions good or bad. Thanks

I have installed an Infinity System.

They WILL save you money, but it depends on how long you plan on living in
the house that you install it in.

What SEER system do you have now? If you are going from an 8 SEER to a 13
SEER you will see a good savings in your electric bill. It may not be true
with every manufacturer, but when you start the jump ABOVE a 14 SEER, you
have to really take into account the price of the unit compared to the
amount your save on your power bill. In other words, they price you pay for
, say a 16 SEER unit, may be so high that you would have to run it for 5 or
6 years before you would start to see the savings.

Just my opion, and it IS awfully late/early and I should be in bed (and may
regret what I posted come morning time....)

I have their 16 SEER system (installed earlier this year) and it seems
to work fine. I like the fact that it's a variable-speed fan. Most of
the time it's on low so you can't hear or feel it. But this summer's
been really hot, so when it's been 95 degrees out the fan does blow
harder when needed.

As far as payback time-- I don't know if I'll be in the house for five
or six years, but I think that having a top-of-the-line system may also
be a selling point when I sell the house. You never know what might
mean a lot to the person deciding which house to buy-- and with
electricity prices going sky-high...

I will be staying in the house for the next 10 years at least. I had
originally picked the 14.00 SEER system (I live in the south east) with
variable speed fan, but when I saw that the Infinity 15.5 SEER was only
$100 more thanks to the rebate and a 10yr parts/labor (I had to pay for
this on the 14 SEER) I switched to the Infinity. I am not looking for
any payback on the higher SEER. Anyway it's a small difference. My
question was mainly on the reliability of the system. I hear it has a
very sophisticated control system and I wondered if it was finicky.
Thanks for the input

as4603 wrote:

I will be staying in the house for the next 10 years at least. I had
originally picked the 14.00 SEER system (I live in the south east) with
variable speed fan, but when I saw that the Infinity 15.5 SEER was only
$100 more thanks to the rebate and a 10yr parts/labor (I had to pay for
this on the 14 SEER) I switched to the Infinity. I am not looking for
any payback on the higher SEER. Anyway it's a small difference. My
question was mainly on the reliability of the system. I hear it has a
very sophisticated control system and I wondered if it was finicky.
Thanks for the input

We have installed several Infinity systems. Once they are set up
correctly they seem to do the job. OTOH, so do all the others.

What I've seen so far (and this is just my particular experience), is
that the vast majority of the owners have gone to HOLD mode on the user
interface (t-stat), because it is anything but user-friendly. I think
this is a big issue that the engineers didn't foresee. In fact it's
touted as being an extremely user-friendly interface; the homeowner's
instruction video makes it look so simple to operate that even a moron
couldn't mess it up. Well guess what? I've been out as many as three
times to the same house to explain the operation, one of which was an
engineer. One customer just had me set it up and set the temps, and then
said they weren't going to touch it anymore because it was too
confusing. IOW, this product will not be warmly received by the
electronically challenged such as the elderly. If OTOH you're the type
with 10 remotes, and microwave ovens with 24 buttons or more, then you
will probably be satisfied with the Infinity.

hvacrmedic

Oh, the thermostat-- it programs like a VCR, if you remember the old
ones that did NOT have on-screen display. You can have it change the
temperature four times a day, and set it for the whole week, for
individual days, or weekdays/weekends. It's not all that complicated
(I didn't watch a video, not sure they gave me one) but it took a few
minutes of playing with it to figure it all out.

That said, my installer had never seen one before and suggested just
leaving it on 76 degrees 24/7. Which kind of defeats the purpose of
having a programmable thermostat, which is not paying to cool the house
when I'm not home, especially since I pay for electricity by time of
use, and afternoons is when it's most expensive.

But the only reason I got a thermostat that was so complicated is
because the rebate was bigger if I bought it, so it more than paid for
itself. Otherwise a $30 regular programmable thermostat would have
been fine.

Shaun Eli
www.BrainChampagne.com
Brain Champagne: Clever Comedy for the Smart Mind (sm)

Actually I do have about 10 remotes on my coffee table, so I don't mind
digging through instructions. Hopefully it is an intuitive interface.
I'm one of those who is well aware that simplicity usually equals
reliability but on the other hand I like to reward innovation with my
money. If it wasn't for the small differntial in price I would have
stayed with the Performance unit.
RP: How old is the oldest Infinity you have installed?

as4603 wrote:
Actually I do have about 10 remotes on my coffee table, so I don't mind
digging through instructions. Hopefully it is an intuitive interface.
I'm one of those who is well aware that simplicity usually equals
reliability but on the other hand I like to reward innovation with my
money. If it wasn't for the small differntial in price I would have
stayed with the Performance unit.
RP: How old is the oldest Infinity you have installed?

They haven't been around long enough to get into longevity and
reliability issues. When they were first released we were installing
them. Actually the user interface was released sometime after the units
were already sitting in our warehouse. When those came in the units went
out in no time. They're selling like hotcakes. So far no problems with
design, just a couple of minor install issues.

hvacrmedic

We're starting to look at the Infinity and especially the Performance
series from Carrier, but nowhere can I find how MUCH these systems
run. Someone will be coming out later in the week, but GENERALLY, can
anyone say what the Performance 11-14 or Infinity systems run? Thank
you.


On Sat, 03 Sep 2005 05:03:24 GMT, "Dr. Hardcrab"
wrote:


"as4603" wrote in message
oups.com...
I'd like to hear from anyone who have had the above installed. Were
there any problems in getting it to run right due to the more complex
nature of the controller. Did the system save money or was the opposite
the case. I'm considering one, and I'd like to hear a sample of
opinions good or bad. Thanks

I have installed an Infinity System.

They WILL save you money, but it depends on how long you plan on living in
the house that you install it in.

What SEER system do you have now? If you are going from an 8 SEER to a 13
SEER you will see a good savings in your electric bill. It may not be true
with every manufacturer, but when you start the jump ABOVE a 14 SEER, you
have to really take into account the price of the unit compared to the
amount your save on your power bill. In other words, they price you pay for
, say a 16 SEER unit, may be so high that you would have to run it for 5 or
6 years before you would start to see the savings.

Just my opion, and it IS awfully late/early and I should be in bed (and may
regret what I posted come morning time....)

How much they run depends on your local climate and how they are sized.
You need to have a proper load calculation done.

At my old company we had a Lennox 2-speed heat pump at the shop. We
had elapsed time meters on it. It ran 5 hours in low speed for every
hour in high speed averaged over 3 years. In 3 years, it had less than
20 hours of strip heat operation even including defrost.

Multi speed units are normally rated using hi speed operation. In low
speed the efficiency ratings would be even higher. Recommended.


Stretch

Mike Wilson, are you asking about prices?