AboutJ Cook Expertise With 25+ years experience, I am familiar with residential, commercial, and industrial HVAC equipment including but not limited to boilers, chillers, reciprocating and screw compressors. I am trained in all manners of control wiring.
Experience I currently have three HVAC licenses and Refrigeration license by the State of North Carolina. I have been in this field for over twenty years. I have been a service technician for a contractor and also worked at a state college in the repair and maintenance of steam lines and equipment. I am currently the Building Maintenance Superintendent for a municipality.
I have very limited knowledge about HVAC and hoping you can give me some tips. I am in the process of trying to have central air installed in my home (located in Connecticut). All of the ductwork is already in place as well as the condensate line, low voltage etc. I am looking for split system with and air handler to be in attic. I have baseboard oil heat from hot water furnance so this ac unit would not have to be tied in to the heating unit at all.
I have gotten three quotes on split systems each one agreeing that a 4 to 3.5 ton unit is the right size. One is a bryant dealer and they are quoting me for 13 seer byrant deluxe model 123A for about $9600. The second quote is for a tempstar TX 5400 T4A4 model 14 seer unit for $7500. The third is York dealer that is qouting a 14.5 seer condensor (#tcgf042) but with a variable speed air handler (#avy048)for $9500. The air handlers for byrant and tempstar appear to be single speed.
All installers have provided references that check out and have no complaints from the BBB. So the issue I am having trouble with is why is the tempstar installer so much lower? Is it due to the brand cost? or could one be cutting corners on workmanship to get to the nearly $2,000 difference? Is the difference just too good to be true or are the other $9k quotes too high? I am leaning toward the bryant installer as I feel the most comfortable with him as they have provided the most detailed quote and taken more time to explain install etc but $2,000 difference is hard to ignore. Any tips on helping me navigate through this headache? thanks...
Answer Hello Carl. Keep in mind everything I am going to relate to you is based on experience with every one of these units, but is still strictly MY OPINION. First, I would toss the York quote. I consider the York the bottom of the barrel and in fact specify on new projects that we will except any brand of equipment EXCEPT York. We have had nothing but trouble with York. It was once a quality unit, but they are now living on past reputation. A Tempstar is borderline. I personally would not install a Tempstar either. A Bryant is a Carrier unit. They make three versions, a Carrier, a Bryant and a Payne with Payne being their lower end unit, so a Bryant is in between these two. I do not have a problem with anything made by Carrier. I can offer one more possibility. I replaced both of my aging Carrier units with Goodman units. The Goodman was 1/2 the cost of another Carrier, had a full 10 year warranty on everything and when purchased during the initial purchase, I got an extended compressor warranty of 99 years ( NO TYPO ) for $99. Of course any compressor in any unit after so long will be obsolete, so if this is the case, the entire outdoor unit will be replaced. That is a deal hard to beat. We have a majority of Carrier unit, approx 550, but began 15 years ago installing Goodman and still have the first Goodman in service after 15 years with no problems from any we have installed. I hope this helps some on your decision. Let me know what you decide, I like to get follow up to see how things go. Good luck Carl. Thanks J
