I swear, our house is falling apart! I was going to get a new driveway, but now we may have to replace the furnace and A/C. My normal furnace guy gave me a quote using Carrier. Anyone have experience with Carrier, or other brands that I should look at or avoid?
Big house? Small house? Use all rooms?
We had ours replaced recently along with the water heater.
Biggest mistake? Not demanding they take out the clause that says if they don’t inspect yearly for $$$ your warranty is cancelled. Demand 3 free years at least.
I had a Carrier Infinity System and loved it.
I have a Trane now. I just upgraded the air handler and it is still no where as good at keeping the house a consistent temperature and humidity as the Carrier.
We just got a new air conditioner and new thermostat, and I have to say that what I love is our new ability to change the temperature with an app on the phone, even when we’re not at home (or even better, without getting out of bed).
@sax All rooms, house is 2200 sq ft, 3 floors including basement.
Is there geothermal available in your area? We switched out a few years ago and it’s so much more efficient and decreased our monthly bill.
I just went through with this. I am getting a new furnace. Had a Carrier Weathermaker. The new one is a Trane. Will have to see how it works out.
@eyemamom not sure on the geothermal. I got a quote on the a/c and furnace for 7k. He also gave me a quote on a high end model with all the bells and whistles but it was much more expensive. I will have two in college again next year so I’m trying to keep the costs down.
I’ve been hanging out a lot on the hvac blogs recently, and the answer is get a good contractor who performs a J-Analysis on your house. They all concur that a good contractor is way more important than unit brand.
Most of the major brands have similar parts and similar owners. Heck there are only a few component manufacturers, which supply all of the major brands: Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Emerson
Carrier, Payne, Bryant and Tempstar just have different bells and whistles and wrappers. The operational guts are similar.
Ditto Trane and American Standard. (I believe one owns the other – just separate labels of essentially the same thing.)
Well we decided to just repair the furnace, and get a new driveway,which was just about as much as a new furnace/AC. In the spring we will replace the furnace and AC. We have put a ton of money in this house in the past year, new baths, roof, and driveway!
$7000 for a new furnace? Wow! Estimate for ours is close to double that. And we don’t have AC.
Our furnace is 30+ years old. Until last month my husband was very good about cleaning, etc., but this time he couldn’t get it going. We paid $300 for 2 parts, installed, but the fellow said it only had a year warranty, and we should save. We will replace both the heat and A/C in the Spring or next Fall. We have Lennox, and I think we’ll go with them again.
We had a Trane for 10+ years before we moved and it was great. We now have a new Lennox and it is good too, but it’s only been a year.
Look at the specific rebates for energy efficient appliances for your state. Sometimes the cost of the extra bells and whistles is almost entirely given back to you in rebates, and you can keep the better efficiency and lower operating cost of the better units!
Just had our company come out for an estimate to replace our HVAC for the upstairs. We have been limping along adding freon to the AC unit; this summer we had to add it 3 times before we finally gave in. Luckily it hasn’t been too hot so we have made it though the bad days and now will replace the 22 year old system.
The company I have used for my maintenance for 28 years sells Carrier, so that is what we will go with; don’t know which system just yet. I do know we will go with one of the two that has 36 month financing as we have two weddings in one year! 
I have a 20ish year old electric heat pump that I replaced the compressor in 3 or 4 years ago (and was advised at the time I should replace the whole system). It’s limped along for the past few years, but this year the limping has gotten significantly worse.
I can pretty quickly and relatively affordably replace with another heat pump, but I’ve been doing a lot of research lately on the geothermal alternative.
My son’s paternal grandparents recently went with geothermal and claim they save 90% of their monthly heating costs.
With the 30% tax credit, the potential monthly savings, and the fact that the equipment has a longer life span, it really seems like the way to go.
Anyone else have experience with a geothermal installation?
Up north Carrier was tops then Trane per research and local opinion some years ago. Do not be afraid to use other compatible brands for your thermostat, an electrostatic filter, humidifier and dehumidifier replacements instead of the ones from the HVAC brand. Geothermal was impractical where we were. Now in Florida and replaced a heat pump, located in the attic! So different than the basement unit with ducting close to the floor (warm air rises- great for ceiling cooling but not in winter). Researched online and find different brands for this than a furnace worked well.
Did investigate the Honeywell and Nest for programmable thermostats. Learned buying the same model through the HVAC installer instead of Lowes/Home Depot meant a 5 instead of 2 year warranty. I did not want a thermostat that supposedly (Nest) detected if we were home or not- what if we do not go past it during the day??? Also liked more information displayed all of the time with Honeywell. Haven’t made use of smart phone connection because we’re retired and home a lot. One feature I love, and worthwhile here, is the automatic switching to a preset temp for heating and cooling. Saves not having to remember the settings when temps can switch drastically from wanting A/C to heat in days.
Energy efficiency is a huge reason to stop repairing and replace an old unit.
We have a “Day and Night” furnace and A/C in our new build house. I had never heard of the brand until a few weeks ago and thought it was some cheap Chinese knock-off, but apparently it’s decent mid-level brand by Carrier. It seems to work fine, and has a good warranty.
A word of advice though, make sure your contractor doesn’t oversize the furnace! Unfortunately, ours is oversized for our house and it tends to overheat after running for more than an hour. Ask what the efficiency and BTU output the unit will be, and find out if that’s in the right ball park for your house/area (there are online calculators for this). It will save you a lot of headaches later on!
According to my energy conservation friends, sizing is crucial. Too big, you are spending more, and the furnace blasts on and off, giving inconsistent heating. A smaller two stage furnace provides a lower level of function and more constant heating, as well as makes you eligible for Energy Rebates and tax credits, should your state provide that.
Forget the energy geeks, any reputable HVAC contractor will tell you that sizing (and install) are paramount. Brand is not really an issue, since most everything sold is made by a handful of national companies – they just have different labels and price points/features.
Make sure the contractor does professional measurements, and doesn’t just give you the line, “I’ve been doing this for 20 years, and a house like yours needs a 10 ton AC unit…”
Oversizing can also damage the furnace (and potentially create a carbon monoxide problem), so it’s more than just an energy issue.
Like bluebayou said, be nosey, ask questions, and make sure they do a proper job sizing it correctly. Don’t assume your old furnace was the right size either. If you are replacing it with a higher efficiency one, that higher effective BTU output could make it oversized for your house.