replacing a/c and furnace

[boilermakermom]

We are replacing our central a/c and furnace. Any recs for brands to watch out for/any that are good? DH and I have never done this before and are overwhelmed with all the choices.

[candaceb]

We just did this. We got quotes from Carrier, Bryant, and Lennox (which is what you can get from Costco). Lennox would have been the best deal by far with Costco 18 months free financing and significant Costco Cash rebates, but we read the Consumer Reports section on HVAC systems and didn't like what they had to say about Lennox. Carrier and Bryant were about equal reputation-wise and the quotes were $50 apart. However, the company selling Carrier offers their own 10 year labor warranty and free yearly maintenance for years 2-5, so that tipped the scales in their favor. Installation was just finished on Tuesday but so far, we are happy.

[scrooks]

Question- was your system broken or did you just think it was coming to the end of its working life. We are currently debating this due to the age of our house and wondered what other people do. I held my breath all winter long hoping our system wouldn’t fail (because of its age).

[meggie t]

We did this 5 years ago. Did a ton of research and got great info from the HVAC forum on Gardenweb (now Houzz). From that I decided I wanted Trane or Bryant. Bryant is owned by Carrier, FYI. I ended up with Bryant and have been pleased. No issues so far. One big takeaway from research is try to find a reputable installer. That is key. Bryant has a list of approved installers on their site (as most companies probably do).

I ended up getting 7 bids bc most companies were trying to oversell me (on Gardenweb, I got great info from pros that enabled me to make an informed decision). You need to be well versed in what you want. I know more about HVAC than I ever planned to know but I did appreciate all the help!

[gymnbomb]

Question- was your system broken or did you just think it was coming to the end of its working life. We are currently debating this due to the age of our house and wondered what other people do. I held my breath all winter long hoping our system wouldn’t fail (because of its age).

We replaced our furnace last year due in large part to its age. Our neighbor (with basically the same house we have) had just gotten his replaced and said it improved the temperature difference between his upstairs and downstairs which was a big problem in our house too. We had not had central air previously, but got it put in at the same time we replaced the furnace. We used the installer our neighbor had used since he was very happy with his work.

[willow33]

We replaced our furnace last fall and went with a Lennox furnace. We were able to get considerable rebates/discounts both through the local company we used and offers from Lennox directly. Make sure to look for rebates!

[candaceb]

Question- was your system broken or did you just think it was coming to the end of its working life. We are currently debating this due to the age of our house and wondered what other people do. I held my breath all winter long hoping our system wouldn’t fail (because of its age).

our a/c didn't work when we turned it on for the first time this season. Service guy said it would cost $1000 to fill it with no guarantee if it would last 3 days or 3 months. The system was over 20 years old and had already exceeded its life expectency so it made more sense to just replace the whole thing than to patch together repairs.

[jawilli4]

Just wanted to recommend getting a unit with a media filter. Our new house has a high efficiency unit but is a lot more dusty because it uses regular filters. I really miss our old one.

[meggie t]

Just wanted to recommend getting a unit with a media filter. Our new house has a high efficiency unit but is a lot more dusty because it uses regular filters. I really miss our old one.

Agree! We have one and it’s great.

[azzeps]

Our family's business was a Lennox dealer for a very, very long time, but in the past 10 years, we have left them behind... tried Amana.... settled on Daikin for reasons of reliability and long warranty period. You want to find a dealer that has been around a long time and will be around in the future should you have problems with your new system. Generally speaking, furnaces and ACs last about 15 years. After that time, you will probably want to consider replacement vs. repair, just due to the fact that lots of things start to break down after that point.