Are there water source heat pumps that can give me some space back in my condo's small utility closet? Maybe the ones that are made for being in a ceiling? New water heaters are larger; I'd love to get more room when replacing my 15yr old equipment.
As a home owner the HVAC industry is very annoying. I have a Lennox 5 ton that is barely 7 years old. Two days ago in NE Florida it started having problems keeping the house at 76 degrees. Called company out they said it's a leak in the evaporator coil and the in warranty fix would be 2100 dollars. I was offered a "deal" on a new Amana installation for $9100. The mob is very much alive in the HVAC business it seems.
I work for a very big company up in eastern PA. We are probably one of the leading Lennox dealers in the country , or in the northeast part of the country for sure. We get a great deal of leaky evaporator coils especially if they are older than 5-6 years. They where using both aluminum and copper to fabricate there coils. They always leaked at the seems of where the metals would actually meet. So just for peace of mind I don’t think they were scamming you, this is a very common issue with Lennox. All the coils today and from about 5 years ago are now all aluminum and don’t leak AS MUCH. Notice I stressed the “as much”.
Leaky evaporator coils are an issue on most HVAC brands now & it’s an expensive fix; the part itself, the cost of replacing the lost refrigerant & the labor charges.
@@Regii_HVACtrane coils are bad right now at least for residential split systems. All last year when it came to warranty work was trane. Not so much rheem which is what we also install
I’ve been in the hvac business 43 yrs and my dad preached to us as kids the most reliable brand of equipment is the one that is installed correctly. This is so true because contractors are not all the same! I’ve sold everything from Goodman to Trane and you are spot on with a very important part as a dealer is the support from the supplier/manufacturer and parts and support is always the first thing I discuss with a rep when they offer me a brand or a new technology because we want to keep a happy customer after the install. Good video that popped up in my feed and I hope you didn’t mind me commenting as I usually don’t get on other contractors videos but I had to agree with you.
Spencer, I will need to replace the straight A/C at my clearwater florida villa within the not to distant future. A tech added 2 lbs of refrigerant about 6 months ago and the system seems to be working well but its a 12 yr old Trane so I know its days are numbered. How does a homeowner go about choosing a competent and ethical company in making a purchase?
@@BushyIV dont be scared to vet your companies and take google reviews and yelp reviews seriously. i work for a company in VA thats had 5 stars their whole time in business and it shows in the quality of our work. Do your own research. youre doing the right thing watching this video and asking around. and lasty never go with the cheapest option. i always say you get what you pay for and thats true to anything. If you want quality work and installs you have to be willing to pay that hefty price. Dont be afraid to judge companies based on the way them and their employees look. I could go on and on about what to look for in a quality HvAC company.
@@ericlewis7817 I interviewed and vetted a number of local contractors and I believe I picked the best one out of the bunch. Yes, I bought the most expensive product and contractor but feel good about it with a 12yr parts & labor warranty.
This is hard to believe, but in Hurricane Harvey in August of 2017, we had 52 inches of rain here in Texas, my property looked like a lake. I have a Goodman that was installed in 2012. The outside unit was only showing about three inches above the floodwater. I just knew I would have to replace the condenser unit. The unit sat about two months while we were having the house worked on. So one day I thought "What the Hell" it is hot in the house so I'll turn the power on to the AC and see what happens. The worst I could do was burn the condenser out, and I had lost nothing. To my surprise and amazement, the damn thing came on and was cooling the house like a champ. That was almost four years ago now and my Goodman AC is still cooling the house like it always did. About four weeks ago I had to have a control board on the furnace changed out, but other than that nothing has been done to the Goodman since the hurricane of 2017. If the Goodman makes it until the cooler weather this coming fall I plan to replace this unit with a new Goodman.
I have a Goodman 4 Ton - 10 SEER Installed in 2020, and it still runs well. The only maintenance has been changing a motor start capacitor, a contactor, cleaning the outside coil, and change the filter that can be easily changed from a large centrally located air return. My house has four thermostats with motorized dampers. The tech who installed the equipment left damper to the main floor of the house, so it is always slightly open to allow adequate flow at all times. I am starting to look at upgrading to higher SEER rating variable speed to save electricity and have better temperature regulation.
We had a Trane dual fuel system installed 1 1/2 years ago. Heat pump operates until temperature drops below 35 degrees F, then 90% gas takes over. 20 x 25 x 4 filter lasts 60 months. We are in western Oregon on the 45th parallel. Very happy with the system.
*Great with keeping my 1st floor **Fastly.Cool** . Had a little struggle getting it to sit properly in my small window but once I got it situated it works perfectly.*
I have a 2008 Goodman that has and is running flawlessly. Granted I keep it clean and change the filter (MERV 5) on the first of each month. Honestly, I think it has more to do with the quality of the installation than the equipment itself. And, I do not think ANY of the manufacturers are concentrating on quality like they used to.
This is true the install is critical to overall longevity I have Lennox 3 ton merit series it’s quiet cools very good excellent so far my neighbor has one as well had zero issues there is good and bad in all systems
There are 6 companies total that own ALL the HVAC brands: I would rate Premier down to Budget Friendly. I might be missing some. Thought this was an interesting fact I never knew when shopping 1. Carrier Global Corporation: they own .......Carrier, Bryant, Comfortmaker, HEIL, Tempstar, Payne, Arcoaire, Day & Night, KeepRite 2. Trane Technology: they own: .......Trane, American Standard, RunThru, AmeriStar, Oxbox 3.Daiken Industries: they own:....... Amana, GoodMan 4. Lennox International: they own:............ Lennox , Armstrong Air™, AirEase®, Concord®, Ducane™, Allied™, Allied Commercial™ and MagicPak® 5. Rheem Manfucturing: they own:...........Rheem, RUUD 6. Johnson Controls: they own ............Coleman, LexAire, York
That's 100% correct bro , mostly all equipment will offer the same warranties. The most important part is the installation. A salesman can try to push their best system brand , but if his install crew sucks . That equipment will fail, and thats were all this bad reviews come from.
@@timrob0420 i totally agree. On the larger commercial side york (or now johnson control) is just another 4 letter word for junk. I have had so many more problems with them than any other brand. Coils having leaks, parts not shipping with units (rawal or hot gas valves)...and they still use those stupid angle valves that the packings always leak on. Even Aaon uses ball valves on their machines...why not put a decent ported ball vale on your condensing unit. i cringe every time i have to pipe them up.
I can agree. There are stuff to stay away from though like Johnson Controls micro channel. If I were going for any brand, I'd do Carrier because of the ease of service. The 2nd most important thing is how the supply house serves you. Great video great info!!
trane equipment "WAS" top notch, until "american-standard" bought them out. "york" is another one, good stuff until "johnson controls" bought them out!!!!. I worked on the commercial- industrial equipment. what is in my house is a "dunkirk" boiler that I installed, coupled with a geothermal system that I built myself. all of this equipment has been in operation for the last 30 years with no major failures. I am not interested in systems that have a 15 year life span!!!!. my system has been put to the test, with outside air temperatures of - 30 degrees ,and the inside temperature is 70 degrees ( 100 degree temp difference) I like a "HOT" heat!!!, without a thought of a "HEAT EXCHANGER" melt down
Great video. I have been doing split system inverters for over 8-1/2 years. The future of the equipment will be that they never shut off and run at very low speeds. Most efficient way.
Agreed...the industry depends HIGHLY on the installers. This is where the rubber meets the road and I have seen some poor installations a 6th grader could have done. Now that Goodman, part of Amana, is owned by Daikin and is based in Texas, parts are supposed to be always available in short time. I agree with the filtered returns, more is better for several reasons but a couple are, less noise and more efficient air exchange occurs if placed in the right locations. No install should have the air filter in the attic ! They should all be in the living areas ahead of the return ducting.
I'm just a homeowner, but I've been chasing down as many TH-cam HVAC channels as I can, trying to become an "educated consumer." Without fail, *every single* HVAC channel on TH-cam spouts the "brand doesn't matter... install quality matters!" mantra to no end. And that's fine, BUT... As a homeowner, it is *extremely* difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to finding an installer that will do a good job. Online reviews are often purchased. There are a ton of smiling, "seems like a great guy" types that come out and try to upsell you or replace existing equipment that is still good, not to mention the "great guy" types that then end up doing a horrible installation job. Trying to find an HVAC company that doesn't try to upsell you, replace good equipment, reasonably priced, and will also do a good install job is like trying to find a virgin at a house of ill repute. IME so far, you're very lucky if you can find a company that'll do two of the aforementioned list of four things. And how in the world do you know if a company will do these things until after the install job is done and you've already cut your check? The vetting process is nearly impossible. This is not a consumer friendly industry, from the homeowner's point of view. So many of the HVAC TH-cam channels I end up thinking, "man, I sure wish this guy was local to me. I'd go with him in a heartbeat." Ah well... what I get for living in the desert in the middle of nowhere. I *want* to support the trades. I have no problem with supporting guys that are out there working a skilled trade. At all. I just don't want to get ripped off, and I want a good installation. Doesn't seem unreasonable, and yet it is so hard to get. In fact, I'm so frustrated by it that I'm seriously thinking of ponying up the money to take an online HVAC certification course just so I can do my own installation. Sure, it won't be as good of an education as I'd get from attending a school in person, but I'm not looking to do it as a source of income. And then I'd have no one else to blame but myself if it doesn't turn out. The only thing keeping me from doing this is the guilt I'd have for taking someone's income away from them. Too bad you guys aren't able to police yourselves somehow to get rid of the scammers, poor business practice types, etc.
I am a retired G.M. dealer tech. Thinking about installing one my self. Been adding a few oz.of r-22 for the last 5 years have a still have a bout 15lbs left . Missouri gets humid. the 1991 Heil is getting old and uses the amps.
I’m in Ohio and old enough to remember when heat pumps here were a farce. It used to be common for models in the 80s to just completely shut off and rely on aux/strip heat below about 20F which is a typical January night here. Huge bills as a result. But today with the good inverters (ducted or not), it’s possible to go the entire heating season without *any* aux heat used. Still need it in case the polar vortex hits and temps drop to -10F, but overall HPs work well for this climate
I'm in IL with nat gas heat and cooling only. My neighbors have gas heat plus heat pump. I can tell it's heat pump by the unit running during mild cold in fall-spring, and they are burning gas during winter. I don't know the details of what temp they have the heat pump cut off. We have single digits and below 0 during Jan and Feb. If I had a heat pump I would probably not run it below about 35F, but that's because we have city gas here. And I doubt I would really want a heat pump anyway because of the additional complexity and longer running season adding more chance for breakdown. BTW I have friends in TX whose heat pump iced over a couple years ago when they had the freak winter storm there and they had 15F overnight. They got by with plug in space heaters, and narrowly averted frozen water pipes in the unheated attached garage where the house water heater is located.
@@onemoremisfit the balance point for when it's more economical to use the heat pump vs gas has changed dramatically in the last year. When gas was super cheap, it made sense to use it below 25F or so, but now at $1/therm, the heat pump should basically run as much as possible with gas (or electric aux heat) supplementing. FWIW, it sounds like your friends in TX didn't have aux heat installed, something that would never happen in the Midwest. That also helps reliability, because unlike a gas furnace that breaks and you freeze, a heat pump that breaks can use aux heat to keep warm while you wait for repair.
@@AnalogueKid2112 Yeah my friends in TX tell me they have hell-scape summers and during winter they still wear t shirts for all but 2 or 3 weeks. I get the basic energy cost comparison, but I think there is an efficiency drop off for the heat pump as you push it down toward the limit of its useful envelope, while the efficiency of a furnace is constant. Then there is the mechanical strain on a compressor. That's why I would want to save that machine for when I really need it in summer. Where I am I don't notice gas going up and electric staying cheap, they are both going up. I have a wood stove too. I can only use that near zero because it's too powerful, and firewood isn't cheap unless you go out and work for it, but that is my backup. Also the gas oven in the kitchen can save you in a pinch, lol. About 27 years ago the heat exchanger cracked in the very old furnace that was original to my house, and it set off my CO detector. So I went on wood heat while I took apart the furnace and welded up the heat exchanger. I used that old furnace for a couple more years and replaced it with a basic Janitrol (Goodman) 80% unit, and gave the old furnace to my brother to put in his garage, (still works). My Janitrol works fine, and the gas bill isn't terrible. It has minor breakdowns like the ignitor burned out (replaced myself) flame sensor needs burnishing with steel wool now & then, and last winter the negative pressure sensor for the flue blower quit. I could still start the burner cycle by jumpering it out, and the part was 35 bucks on amazon. All stuff a handy guy can easily stay on top of, but I guess an average consumer who calls a repairman for everything would be upset. But a heat pump breaking down is complicated even for a handy guy, and when the compressor fails on any heat pump or AC it's pretty much game over, especially now since they keep phasing out refrigerants and you can't get a replacement compressor for an older unit. The game is pretty much rigged to force buying a whole new unit when a compressor fails.
My location is a Trane dealer and I'm the parts representative, and with that being said, we also service other equipment such as Carrier, Luxair, Goodman, York, etc... Between all the relationships between me and the distributers of those brands, Trane is hands down the best when it comes to accessing the proper information off their websites, and just talking to a sales consultant or engineer in a most timely manner compared to other distributers. I've worked in three different locations and it's been about the same among multiple distributers.
Goodman is excellent if installed correctly, 18 years out of my current unit but had to fix alot of issues from the shotty install about 12 years ago , alas, we have a shortage of good installers! Trane and similar brands use complex over engineered products expensive to fix!
I have a basic Goodman that I installed myself 24 years ago, and I'm just a DIYer, not a tech at all. The only service required so far is a new run capacitor 5 years ago and a refrigerant top off 2 years ago. (I have my own supply of spare refrigerant purchased with the unit). This guy recommends pretty much any brand but Goodman and only pro installation, so I guess I broke all the rules.
@@karmendimas5274 It's been 25 years, what are you lol-ing about? Of course there will be a small loss of refrigerant in that amount of time. I added a little a couple years ago, and it has not needed any more since then. And yeah I broke all the rules but it was 92 F here today and the system worked fine. I have thermometers in the air handler before and after the A-coil and it knocks the air temperature down by 22 degrees.
I have a 15 yr old Goodman 2.5 ton heat pump I installed myself, it has never needed anything repaired or replaced and still works perfectly. I hope it dies in about 5 years so I can replace it with an inverter system.
When you say "they are moving away from burning fossil fuel" is relative because most of the electricity in US comes from burning coal and natural gas. But I agree, the installation would be much simpler. Other than the sheet metal being thin, are there any other disadvantages on the Goodman? I had a Goodman furnace and AC installed in another house. Had it for 14 years and worked great and it cost 1/3 of other brands. Sold the house with the equipment running flawlessly. I live in another house now that would need new AC and furnace soon and I was considering buying another Goodman. Now you are making me thinking about it with your experience with them. I live in Minnesota and do not want to wait to get a new one when this one breaks (which is usually in the middle of the winter with -40F). Thank you very much for the video!!
I have several brands I like, and agree mostly with your choices as well. That said, I have a package unit here in AZ, I don't like them much but it is what it is. The only high efficiency inverter unit I could find was Bosch. It's an amazing unit !! It handles the heat extremely well and operates very efficiently. Great choice. We had an addition built and had a Mitsubishi mini split installed, 30.5 SEER and it's also a great unit. Love these inverters !!
Well said Zac! Inverter heat pumps are the future. As far as brand loyalty like you said, I don't really have any. They all will need something done to them before the 10 year warranty expires. Some brands make it easier to work on certain things than other brands. It's mostly about that proper installation and proper ductwork sizing. Checking them stactic pressures and setting up proper airflow. Brazing with nitrogen and getting a good deep vacuum using them Tru Blu vacuum hoses with a good micron gauge. All these practices give that new install the longevity that everybody looks for in equipment. Great videos Zac! P. S. That hat is 🔥🔥🔥 It's all about that Quality Hvac/r
As a main source of heat, I dont see ever minisplits as common place in northern climates. But for supplemental heat for home additions or in far corners of some commercial buildings, sure. And of course, for mild climates too. it's a bit annoying that subcooling/superheat has almost no value in checking the refrigerant charge since the inverter changes so many speeds to compensate. So its pretty much just weight in the charge as the reliable way to do it.
For Trane always remember Hyperion cabinets are for unconditioned spaces. Their new Metal cabinet sweat a bunch here in the south and I’m kind of disappointed with Tranes quality been changing tooooo much coils. And trust when I say that it’s not our installers.
We put an American Standard in 2019 just replaced the coil leaking. Trane owned by them I guess. Sadly their quality has fallen a ton. The second unit we have a Trane is 18 years old and just got a small Freon leak but quality.
When I decided I just had to have a Trane 1050XL t-stat, I started obsessively looking through their catalogs as I tend to do, and was just blown away by all the different relay modules, including the _exact_ one I needed to interface with my 25+ y/o, non-Trane, non-communicating furnace and A/C! I soon realized, "yes, this is expensive, but how many other manufacturers would even bother making this in the first place?"
I've been in the trade since 94. Accolades; residential installation and service, sheetmetal shop, commercial installation and service, commercial refrigeration (grocery), chillers, controls. I like the sheetmetal shop as it was always fun making stuff. I was part of Trane, Carrier for residential. York is my least favorite equipment. Geothermal is okay..depends on where you live for the soil. Your right..the vacuum part of refrigeration is the critical part. If you have sloppy practice you will get a sloppy result. Thanks for sharing Zach. Stay safe.
I’m in Orlando, we have some gas furnaces but mostly on residential single family homes are heat pumps. You get some straight cools but there more in the apartment/condo style homes. Most of the units down here are carrier. There way more reliable and almost all the new builds are installing carrier heat pumps. To me it’s more reliable. But like you said it’s basically who installed it. Keep up the good work bro!
I am a outside salesman for a distributor i sell Ruud, Samsung and Bosch. You are correct most of the time the life of a unit is how its installed and if the duct work is sized properly. I think in the future mini splits are going to be the most popular
I totally agree, a lot of installer have poor workmanship that leads to early failure due to poorly installed system. I used to say that I like "old timers" to do installs/repairs for me but the last 10 years of experience leads me to the conclusion that unless the guy is a good family/friend- you're at the mercy of him rushing the job.
It's funny, having been a brand's exclusive supply house clerk and now a tech in the field, I've seen the relationship thing from both sides. Now the company I tech for has changed suppliers. When customers ask me about brands, I tell them Carrier, Lennox or Trane. The rest are okay and do the job if installed right. That's about it. Also yeah, electric is the future for better or worse. I'll miss the big fireball WHOMP when an old ass furnace starts up with my face right at the burners...
I’ve been in HVAC&R for over 30 years most of the brands have had equipment that was trash.! Currently avoid York condensers, heat pumps, and packaged equipment because the Micro Chanel coils. I’m currently using Goodman equipment
Really don't have to explain much man.. ask most service guys I can't tell you how many that are 6 or 7 years of age that compressors are trashed. Actually last week I had a call to go look at a goodman that had a warranty job brand new compressor 2 weeks old that had already grounded out. That being said I'm not sure if the former company that did the warranty job cleaned the acid out of the lineset due to the previous one going bad.. I just don't think they are very good quality. Probably doesn't help that they are cheap so companies just throw them together.. but just my opinion.
@@kyleperry1701 they use the exact same compressor as others .! This year it has been Trane units with bad compressors and any units with micro channel condensers bad coils (York & associated brands). Most problems with Goodman equipment is installer related.
Hey man, I couldn’t have said it much better myself. My father owns his own business & has been an HVAC Tech for 35 years now. Installation & Service. I’ve been his helper for awhile & he’s been teaching me everything about that trade so that I can get my license. Our favorite brand has always been Comfortmaker. We’ve been installing their furnaces & a/c’s since day 1. There’s not much to them, they’re extremely reliable, & we never have problems at the supply house. I don’t think my father’s received a call back on any of his installations/change outs. We live in Southern Michigan & not many HVAC companies up here use Comfortmaker. Carrier, Bryant, Trane, & Lennox are the most popular brands up here. Amana’s also starting to make a name for themselves. A lot of reasons why units go down is because of what you said, poor installation. For example, We’ve serviced an American Standard A/C that was only 2 years old, complete hack job almost killed the entire unit. My father has told me that he refuses to install a Goodman furnace because they’re absolute garbage lol.
I'm a homeowner. Live up north in Michigan. Still confused about today's Heat Pumps and whether they are even a consideration with the climate where I live. You said heat pumps/electric are the future, how does that apply to me? Really enjoy your videos and you and your crew's work ethic.
It applies to you for every moment the temperature is above 20 or so, depending on your insulation. If you like gas heat go with a dual fuel system that you can program what temperature your heat pump shuts off and switches over to gas only. A heatpump is roughly $200 to $350 higher than straight AC, so you are kinda crazy if you don't take advantage of both systems for that price. A heatpump heats your house for 1/3 the cost of gas or electric on average. I've got 33 years experience working on heatpumps
I gotta somewhat disagree with electricity being cheaper than natural gas across the board. For example, a gas cloths drier or oven is always cheaper by far to operate than a full electric version. Same goes with below 32'F temps with gas vs electric heat. Electric heat strips are way more expensive to run than gas is (something like 3 or 5 times more at freezing temps). And you touched on northern states like in Minnesota, but I'm not convinced heat pumps will ever be efficient enough to justify them to be common place. Also, I dont think we've reached the ceiling on efficiency yet for natural gas furnaces, much like with inverter mini splits. We're seeing 98% efficient gas furnaces with ECM indoor fan motors and tweaked out heat exchanger designs too. But in mild temp states, I agree these heat pumps are a way of life because of cheaper operating costs.
Natural Gas is extremely cheap here in Louisiana. I'm so glad I have Natural gas here. I've slowly converted everything I have to Natural gas, only thing left is stand alone oven. I have a Ruud 18 Seer 4 ton unit with gas furnace couldn't be happier. Installing a Aprilaire E80 whole house dehumidifier now, that will complement my system.
Man your work is excellent. I like your input on the inverter systems too. My company has started selling bosch equipment and they’re becoming my favorite systems to install. We’ve been installing them on existing gas systems and with new installs and our customers love them. Keep it up dude!
I know this is an old video. As a fellow HVACR tradesmen. I appreciate your content and most importantly to me you s the craftsmanship I see on your videos. That’s something that a lot of people don’t utilize anymore. It’s all quantity over quality.
My Carrier system is a 3 ton heat pump with electric strips for “emergency” heat. With the freeze we had down here, the heat pump was actually blowing 58 degrees with 11 degrees ambient. I switched to emergency heat and got 73 degrees. Until the power went out. That’s when I wished I had a gas furnace, because my generator can run the load of a gas furnace, but not heat strips. So out came the space heaters and a couple fans to move warm air throughout the house. Regardless of what you have, have a generator and enough fuel to run it for a few days. It can make the difference between having or not having major damage from extreme temps.
I looked at the Bosch, I'm using gas/electric now..but that's why I stayed away from the full electric heat pumps w/heat strips and stayed with my electric/gas gaspack unit. I just replaced a 30 y.o. Heil with the Trane XL16c 3 ton 2 stage gaspack on the roof, love it. I also enlarged the intake 14x25" to 20x25" and 16 in to 18 in ducting. I got a real good packaged deal w/the crain and he extended the labor warranty.
Tesla is thinking of getting in the heat pump systems in the near future. I would like to hear your input on their system once they come out with it. Supposedly its a game changer..
Search a year and decided on Amana , which is owned by Goodman. Reason is Amana has a stainless 1st and 2nd heat exchanger ! The only one for gas high effency furnace.
Home owner here, while following the HVAC community , I see a lot of talk about bad installs whether its sizing, air flow, duct work etc . I think you said 90% of breakdowns are from bad installs or 90% of installs are bad. What are the installers doing wrong and why so many bad installs? Puts us home owners in a bad place trying to find someone that does it right.
That’s why I installed my own HVAC system. I know that it was done right. Most installers turn and burn to make as much money as possible. The installers are usually under the gun, undertrained, and underpaid. Ted Cook says that installers can make $700/day but nobody pays that much where I live.
If your having a new a/c installed make sure the installer in pulling a vacuum thats holding under 500microns. Contaminates in new 410 ac system can eventually lead to poor operation or leaks same with r22 but it seems to be 410a is more sensitive to a crap install. With furnaces the sales person will tell you that this new modulating blower will help with airflow if you had airflow problem before if you dont change duct work add return exc.. the new furnace will be same as old furnace. Furnace install issue that lead to future problem the duct work you already knew was a problem. To long of vent runs in the wrong dia, not gas properly, not pitch properly for condensation to leave your furnace. Good luck i know where im at residential hvac is cut throat industry. High demand lack of techs. Alot of shops are turning and burning.
I just started my own hvac company a few months ago. Will be using Trane and American standard as my equipment of choice. Im personally a fan of gas. It gets cold here in the southwest from time to time in the winter
My favorite heating is with a Steam or Hot Water boiler with old style Cast Iron Radiators. Having a several hundred pound piece of iron that's 180-215 degrees F is like having a roaring Fireplace in the room. These old style systems only have a bad reputation because a lot of people don't know how to properly balance them.
I love hot water heat and cast iron radiators too. Sadly a lot of people don't like the looks of the radiators or just think they're old fashioned and rip them out.
Having myself being interested and under thirty for still looking for new trades under my belt, HVAC is my next career choice. With watching your content for a few weeks, you nail it. Broad range of various equipment, your own opinion and your work ethic, its awesome to have you showing off your skills, and how you get it done. You have my subscription, I look forward in going into school in September.
youll get out what you put in bro. As someone whos 23 and loving this trade more than anything dont be afraid to ask questions. Ill ask everyone that i work with how to do one thing just so i LEARN. Be willing to LEARN and dont take everything as a challenge ( I had that problem and my attitude bit me in the ass). Anyone who is willing to apply themselves to any field and truly wanting to learn youre gonna kill it with whatever you do in life. This trade is the best and worst thing to ever happen to me. Youll see some nasty shit. Youre gonna be worked hard. Sometimes 70 hours a week. But the skills and the opportunity it opens up for you is absolutely crazy. So damn proud of you and hope you stick with it and LEARN.
@@ericlewis7817 the worst part of the trade are the big, franchised companies that hire the techs and only pay them well, via commission, if they can sell unsuspecting homeowners new systems they don't need, or service plans, or inflate repairs, etc. The best are the independents who work for themselves. I found one and recommend him often.
I disagree with "there's really no best manufacturer". Yes, there is. It's Daikin. Not Goodman by Daikin, but real Daikin. I had a Daikin VRV-S multi-port condensing unit with 2 indoor convertible air handling units installed in my mother's house (change out from a single 3-ton split with zone dampers) in January. It runs like a dream. Like something NASA has. Power bills were $360, $415 and $340 in Nov, Dec, Jan. Power bill in February was $178. Unit runs nearly 24/7 at low speeds, comfort is off the charts, was heating to 75-76 at 24°F ambient. No, it wasn't cheap but it is top quality, top comfort, and smarter than all of us.
My work installed a Daikin Compressor unit, 1st week fan fell off, a few months later condenser coils failed and started to leak, took about 10 days to get parts. I would not touch one.
I'm not sure if those are supposed to be low bills, but holy moly those would be insane here. Our electric bills only top $100 maybe once per year in Nebraska and we get the weather of the north and the south. If I get two $100 bills it's rare.
This is absolutely a relationship based business. If you are an hvac business owner, your TM should be working with you to drive profitability and growth in your business....All brands aside. Wish you nothing but success in 2021!
Talking to a HVAC some time ago and he said he did not like Lennox. Not that they are unreliable, but more so that they are a pain in the rear end to work on. The specific model was the "Lennox Whisper heat." Just to replace or clean a flame sensor was a task in itself. Not to mention taking out the burners to clean and reinstall.
We installed a couple SURE COMFORT heat pumps and gas furnace with cooling unit. They are a little cheaper but are made by rheem and can't really tell a difference. We use them when we don't have much room to work with. Might be something to look into.
One man owner operator from the U.P. Of Michigan. We do a lot of high efficiency gas here but I did install a Bosch split system in the high velocity style this fall, most heat pumps in this area are mainly mini splits due to our short summers.
My Goodman was over 25 years old and I think Bosch is the best when it come to reliability with new central units. The problem with Train you have to buy part just from them because fan motors are a lot different that other units and their parts are way different than other units..
Personally not a huge fan of trane but his local supply house might deal well with them. Here in central VA Goodmans and American Standards work well with our local supply houses and theyre the least hassle for our company that is
Coleman is hands down the best. Only HVAC equipment that offers 10 year parts and labor in house on all equipment. Every other brand uses 3rd insurance scams. I mean companies
@@dodgecummins6181 my Coleman was installed in 1999 and is whisper quiet and works like a champ, only one time the start up cap went bad,,, and it blows ice cubes, love it..
Yeah their collector boxes crack, do you think it is quality or just oversized furnace or both. As I gain more experience I’m seeing a lot of equipment is oversized.
Most of the Goodman collector leaks look to be quality issues. If Goodman used high temp RTV (or a better gasket), that would fix most of those leaks. Stamped sheet metal doesn’t usually crack (but it might rust). Plastic doesn’t belong in a heat exchanger. I would never buy any high efficiency furnace. Too many failures in the secondary heat exchanger and cracked/leaking collector boxes. I think the biggest problem is that many installers don’t know how to properly install the high efficiency furnaces. Watch Ted Cook’s videos on installation snafus.
Hey Zac! I was watching your video. I work for my Dad and we are an HVAC Ruud dealer in Southeast Texas. I prefer a Ruud heat pump system or a Ruud gas furnace over a conventional straight cool system. To me Ruud is at the top of the line and you can't get any better than having a Ruud HVAC system in your house.
Love repair work on TRANES, especially on the dc communicating systems. Having the reversing valve on the exterior of the outdoor unit is fantastic as well for charge diagnostics. Installed everything under the sun, and I’ll stick with Goodman and AMANA. Trane quality control is horrid and had very big problems with Rheem. Not big on carrier products either.
I put a Goodman in my first house about 18 years ago. My brother bought the house and it’s still running like a champ. Takes care of it but it has never had a bad part.
@@zachattack83 Have him replace the run capacitor now before it goes bad, and it will go bad with age. That will be one potential breakdown that is easy to avoid. I replaced the run capacitor on my Goodman at 19 years when it failed, causing the unit to be unable to start. The part was only 15 bucks on amazon. All you have to do is look at the numeric capacitance values printed on the part and search for a match. Easy to replace yourself. So cheap I bought 2 to have a spare on the shelf ready. I know a repairman who told me he keeps a stock of those capacitors on his truck and marks them up to 40 or 50 bucks, plus labor, service call & tax, which comes out to ~ 150 bucks if you call him to fix it.
Brands matter but the most important part as you said it, is proper sizing of equipment and correct installation; go by the book and avoid taking short cuts; you'll have a long-lasting system and be happy with it; don't forget extended warranties!
I am in west TN, my brother is just over into middle TN, my utility bill (gas and electric ) is up to $600 in the summer and under $200 in the winter. I have gas heat. He has a heat pump and his bill is much higher in the winter than summer. We both have 20+ year old units.
When we built our home in 1994 we installed 2 Trane commercial 12 seer units (3 & 4 ton-split system) About 3 years ago the 3 ton went down, so was replaced with a Goodman, primarily due to American Standard purchasing Trane. In a years time the Goodman went down due to the small copper capillary tube being left touching the large copper tube and chaffing through tube. The factory knew this was incorrect, proved by the wrap of capillary tube with heat shrink instead of simply pulling it away by 1/2" or so, plenty of tubing length to have done this. Still under original warranty, plus I was dumb enough to purchase the manufacturers 10 year additional warranty. My original installer repaired the unit, but charged $400 for the freon. I called Goodman and explained their oversight, plus sent pictures of the chaffing and hole in tube, stating that Freon came with the unit when installed, their fault and why I have to pay again? Upon investigation I discovered that Goodman does not pay their techs for any warranty labor other than replacement of their OEM components. I filed with BBB, to discover that was worthless, due to the rep from Goodman located in Texas, not NV where I live. For me, Goodman has Zero Quality Control, otherwise would have easily seen this tube touching the other, nothing in the way of plain sight for any excuse, meaning they never looked. The other original 4 ton Trane unit is still going strong for 30 years now, including our southern NV 115* July & August days. I service my units once a year, no matter what, cleaned, oiled and components all checked to standards. Guess it is back to American Standard next time for me. It seems about everything is crap for quality today, at the customer's expense. I will also never purchase another factory warranty, not to forget my purchase of a 5lb container of Made in USA 410A refrigerant to my door for $95 from E-Bay. Thank you for your informative videos.
The problem is… how do is home owners really know the unit is installed correctly? We don’t, otherwise I’d do it myself. It’s a crapshoot, we call for estimates and hope for the best.
I'm a Rheem guy as well. Parts are easy to source here, they treat me well (Rheem dealer), and when I had the relationship breakdown with ruud (customer asked for the nicest system he could buy, ruud wouldn't sell it to me because I wasn't a pro partner), I went straight to Rheem. I'm happy with them and I still have that ruud supplier if I needed a part Rheem couldn't get. If I felt like there was better equipment, I'd go for it. I agree with Zack though, the difference is negligible. Trane and lennox aren't as easy to get parts for, so I hate those the worst. Lennox is by far my least favorite.
Ive been in the business for 20 years. I also own my own company. Just like you said the most critical is the installation over the brand however like you mentioned, I do prefer a certain brand more than others. But to simplify it would be like buying the best tile or flooring product and having a crappy installer lay it down unevenly it would be the same difference.
I agree. I ve installed Keeprite until 2016 and then switched to Payne . If you size it right , install it right and do some maintenance , you should be good for 20 plus years.
@@nickgreek6449 What was the reason for switching to Payne and why Payne over some of the others? How's it been working for you so far? Did you considered their sister brand Comfortmaker too?
I’ve been doing residential installation/sheet metal mechanic for 31 years,all for the same small family owned company.we have been a Carrier dealer since 1952.we put in a lot of the higher seer inverters heat pumps.this is the problem with these units.when the warranty is out and the board goes out in the condenser and it’s over 1200 dollars,fan motor 1000 dollars,customers are not to happy.all this technology is great but the cost doesn’t justify getting it.
My 2 cents, central fl is mostly heat pump, but mostly the rich people use gas furnaces. Some smaller normal homes use gas but not much - most convert to HP. And like another person here said, no rebates for HP if you have gas. Florida also passed a law banning cities from banning new gas installs.
Primarily Carrier products here in the Southwest. I agree quality install is the most important to long service life. Every manufacturer has issues on some level. I always see black mold on the Trane package units, that plastic blower housing is like prime real-estate for some reason. You ever run into that?
Natural gas is at an all time low and LP is pretty low now too. Gas is a lot more economical up north than electric. When it gets below 30 and the electric strip heat starts kicking in it runs the electric bills way up and the colder it gets outside the more the auxiliary strip heaters come on.
Just wait until the eco warriors start taxing natural gas and other fossil fuels. Some areas are already refusing to issue permits for new NG infrastructure. I'll bet almost anything that the next decade is going to see some large taxes on NG, to make up for the environmental impact. It won't be as cheap as it is now forever.
I'm in Mississippi and need a complete ac replacement thinking about going with a heat pump system and get some strips for the few really cold days... my old ac is a 50+yr old Lennox and Concord compressor 3 ton 25+yr old R22 ... Want to stay all electric and get rid of wall mounted gas heaters as my Lennox heat strips been disconnected since 1984 just uses ac as they both were trying to run at the same time
'I like the boy!' very true it doesn't matter what brand you get, most brands today are built to last, it only matters bout the quality of the install. A while ago I bought the cheapest AC I could find and it lasted at least 10 years.
Inverter means the units are using DC motors vs. AC. DC is a constant sine wave vs AC that modulates up and down therefore, the DC motors generate very little vibration and are quiet. Garage door openers have done this with great results in getting them to be quiet. Maybe homes should have a main inverter at the main circuit panel and all electrics inside a residence to use DC devices such as DC lighting, refrigerators, HVAC etc. Maybe one day in a few distant decades that will happen.
Zack, my question is directed to the issue of winter heating with heat pumps. The high-end inverter systems can operate at lower temps that standard heat pumps, but are more costly up front. Another option for standard systems is a ground-loop heat exchange using sub-soils as the heat sink. Are there many installations of this type in your area? Have you ever been involved with designing/installing one? And do you have an opinion whether these offer any benefits over inverter and conventional AC/Heat pump designs?
When my buddy was installing furnaces years ago they used to use a company called Janitrol. He used to say we stand behind our product we are afraid to stand in front of them.
Is a Trane worth spending the extra money over a Rheem 3.5 ton 13.4 Seer package unit for a rooftop installation? Which is more reliable and less costly to repair? Our 19 year-old Tempstar 3.5 ton 12 SEER heat pump has a refrigerant leak and not worth repairing. Thanks!
As someone who has installed a 100 or so Bosch splits and have been installing and servicing them before they became Bosch, install with surge protector on the condenser the boards can't take dirty power . This is the only issues I've had with them over the years. By the way we use gas as emergency heat in some cases here in FL. North Florida cities have a lot of NG furnaces. In fact most municipalities give rebates for switching to gas.
Heat pump All day. I had a 23 year old Bryant heat pump that had zero issues. I changed it out for a Trane just to be more efficient. My next upgrade will be a Bryant, Carrier, or Tesla. And yes the Tesla HVAC system are coming. I won’t tell you my issues with the Trane it just may be my experiences, but shop out there first. If you do get a multistage unit like I did. What ever ton they calculate you to have, go one ton larger. Trust me on that.
When most ac system are installed properly the difference in longevity and maximum use is in the proper maintenance of the ac. Just like any other mechanical device proper maintenance is the key to getting the best out of most any ac unit.
I’m here up north in pa, propane is 1.70 a gallon right now with the higher prices. Used to be around a dollar. Electric here is superrrr expensive. To heat a house In electric cost about 1,000$ in deep winter months. Heating on gas only cost about 200$ depending on your system.
Me and my dad have been installing Bosch Units, love the IDS 2.0! It’s expensive but I think it’s worth the price! Love the technology in those systems
@@QualityHVACR Did Bosch change compressors for it current 2.0 model. I ask because the new 2.0 list operating capacity as 36% to 130 % where the prior 2.0 model was 25 to 110% .s
I live in the Kansas City area. Have a Heat Pump with a 80% natural gas backup. The economic crossover point is about 50 degrees. Natural gas is fairly cheap here.
Up here in the north (NE Philadelphia) there are some ideas I have been considering. We are going solar so I'd want to switch my 20 year old York 90+ furnace with Dual Fuel Heat Pump + Furnace. The goal is to convert gas dollars to electricity in the transition months from summer to fall and winter to spring.
Brand name doesn't matter too much. I would advise sticking with 15 SEER single speed regardless of the brand name. Don't get into any of these silly communicating systems with inverter driven compressors. That stuff is totally unnecessary and it causes more trouble than any benefits you will get from it. Have it installed by a licensed contractor and inspected after by the county you live in.
Have American standard furnaces here in Chicago. One is 90% & one isn’t. They’re pretty loud. The 80% has the loudest inducer motor I’ve ever seen. Can’t talk on the phone anywhere near it. Have 2 Nordyne ac unit’s (Frigidaire & Tappan) that are 15 & 21 years old & run like champs.
I central Florida we have a lot of gas furnaces and they are very cheap to operate. I save about 25% on energy cost during the winter using a gas furnace vs A/C cost ..Gas is everywhere here in central Florida.
In my own house got a dual fuel trane and some gas logs. In my rental got a Goodman heat pump with 10kw strips. When I sell a unit I tell people that trane is a 10 percent better product for around 20 percent more money and a trane is a must have at the beach. The Goodmans fall to pieces in 5 years by the beach. If a homeowner is selling their house I tell them trane because in a few years it will still look new
90+ gas heat system: Condensing furnace that can extract 90-98% of the heat energy from natural gas by using a secondary heat exchanger that extracts heat from the exhaust gas. That's why it's called a "condensing" furnace- it lowers the temperature of the exhaust enough that water vapor can condense. A conventional, non-condensing gas furnace is 80% efficient or worse, depending on age. Split system: An air conditioning system where the condenser and evaporator are separated and connected by tubes. Your typical house AC system is a split system- the condenser is the big box outside, and the evaporator is inside your house, and the two are connected by copper tubes. An example of a non-split system would be a window air conditioner, where both components are in the same unit. Inverter: Variable speed system for an air conditioner or (especially) a heat pump. Typically a condenser can only run at one speed- it's either on, or off. With an inverter system, it can run at many different speeds according to the current heating or cooling needs, which makes them much more efficient, with the downside of being more expensive. Note- I am not in the HVAC profession, I simply find heating and refrigeration technology fascinating. I hope this helped. :)
Carrier or Trane. I do Carrier and not off brand icp Carrier. Phenomenal customer service in metro Atlanta. Installing Carrier for 8 years. No txvs...no compressors and no leaking coils. Nuff said
You obviously install very few systems per year to be able to state that you have none of the issues you listed. Even if it was as few as 100 systems per year, how can you claim to have no issues ? Not realistic.
@@TedCookHVAC 1 man show. About 80k in equip a year..90% work in spring and summer. Take fall off and work a Lil in winter. 8 years no major issues. Only minor stuff like some caps and fan motors
What’s up everyone! Do you have a question for me?? Leave it in the comments, I just might cover it in a future video :)
Are there water source heat pumps that can give me some space back in my condo's small utility closet? Maybe the ones that are made for being in a ceiling? New water heaters are larger; I'd love to get more room when replacing my 15yr old equipment.
HOW DID YOU FIND THE WORK TO TAKE THE LEAP ON YOUR OWN COMPANY
How do you get customers to start your own business
Awesome vid 🔥 What's some common parts that you carry on service calls? I plan on starting a HVAC company eventually and am just wondering
Trane has some very good inverter units.. trane bought out mitsubishi..
As a home owner the HVAC industry is very annoying. I have a Lennox 5 ton that is barely 7 years old. Two days ago in NE Florida it started having problems keeping the house at 76 degrees. Called company out they said it's a leak in the evaporator coil and the in warranty fix would be 2100 dollars. I was offered a "deal" on a new Amana installation for $9100. The mob is very much alive in the HVAC business it seems.
76 that's hot lol to be in florida
It’s a Lennox that’s why 😅
I work for a very big company up in eastern PA. We are probably one of the leading Lennox dealers in the country , or in the northeast part of the country for sure. We get a great deal of leaky evaporator coils especially if they are older than 5-6 years. They where using both aluminum and copper to fabricate there coils. They always leaked at the seems of where the metals would actually meet. So just for peace of mind I don’t think they were scamming you, this is a very common issue with Lennox. All the coils today and from about 5 years ago are now all aluminum and don’t leak AS MUCH. Notice I stressed the “as much”.
Leaky evaporator coils are an issue on most HVAC brands now & it’s an expensive fix; the part itself, the cost of replacing the lost refrigerant & the labor charges.
@@Regii_HVACtrane coils are bad right now at least for residential split systems. All last year when it came to warranty work was trane. Not so much rheem which is what we also install
My Goodman is 30 years old and going strong.
I’ve been in the hvac business 43 yrs and my dad preached to us as kids the most reliable brand of equipment is the one that is installed correctly. This is so true because contractors are not all the same! I’ve sold everything from Goodman to Trane and you are spot on with a very important part as a dealer is the support from the supplier/manufacturer and parts and support is always the first thing I discuss with a rep when they offer me a brand or a new technology because we want to keep a happy customer after the install. Good video that popped up in my feed and I hope you didn’t mind me commenting as I usually don’t get on other contractors videos but I had to agree with you.
Spencer, I will need to replace the straight A/C at my clearwater florida villa within the not to distant future. A tech added 2 lbs of refrigerant about 6 months ago and the system seems to be working well but its a 12 yr old Trane so I know its days are numbered. How does a homeowner go about choosing a competent and ethical company in making a purchase?
We consumers appreciate your piping in with your opinion when done in a courteous and professional manner. Thanks.
What’s your preferred brand??
@@BushyIV dont be scared to vet your companies and take google reviews and yelp reviews seriously. i work for a company in VA thats had 5 stars their whole time in business and it shows in the quality of our work. Do your own research. youre doing the right thing watching this video and asking around. and lasty never go with the cheapest option. i always say you get what you pay for and thats true to anything. If you want quality work and installs you have to be willing to pay that hefty price. Dont be afraid to judge companies based on the way them and their employees look. I could go on and on about what to look for in a quality HvAC company.
@@ericlewis7817 I interviewed and vetted a number of local contractors and I believe I picked the best one out of the bunch. Yes, I bought the most expensive product and contractor but feel good about it with a 12yr parts & labor warranty.
This is hard to believe, but in Hurricane Harvey in August of 2017, we
had 52 inches of rain here in Texas, my property looked like a lake. I
have a Goodman that was installed in 2012. The outside unit was only
showing about three inches above the floodwater. I just knew I would
have to replace the condenser unit. The unit sat about two months while
we were having the house worked on. So one day I thought "What the Hell"
it is hot in the house so I'll turn the power on to the AC and see what
happens. The worst I could do was burn the condenser out, and I had
lost nothing. To my surprise and amazement, the damn thing came on and
was cooling the house like a champ. That was almost four years ago now
and my Goodman AC is still cooling the house like it always did. About
four weeks ago I had to have a control board on the furnace changed out,
but other than that nothing has been done to the Goodman since the
hurricane of 2017. If the Goodman makes it until the cooler weather this
coming fall I plan to replace this unit with a new Goodman.
I have a Goodman 4 Ton - 10 SEER Installed in 2020, and it still runs well. The only maintenance has been changing a motor start capacitor, a contactor, cleaning the outside coil, and change the filter that can be easily changed from a large centrally located air return. My house has four thermostats with motorized dampers. The tech who installed the equipment left damper to the main floor of the house, so it is always slightly open to allow adequate flow at all times.
I am starting to look at upgrading to higher SEER rating variable speed to save electricity and have better temperature regulation.
My Goodman from 2003 finally said goodnight I'm tired😂. It served me well. So I'm going to get a new one.
We had a Trane dual fuel system installed 1 1/2 years ago. Heat pump operates until temperature drops below 35 degrees F, then 90% gas takes over. 20 x 25 x 4 filter lasts 60 months. We are in western Oregon on the 45th parallel. Very happy with the system.
Lol 4 inch filter only lasts 1 year …don’t wait 5 years too replace that thing
@@HVAC_REPAIR_GUY oops. SIX months
@@kenschmidt6522 I agree would be better every 6 months but on the actual filter we carry it says it can last up to 12 months
*Great with keeping my 1st floor **Fastly.Cool** . Had a little struggle getting it to sit properly in my small window but once I got it situated it works perfectly.*
I have a 2008 Goodman that has and is running flawlessly.
Granted I keep it clean and change the filter (MERV 5) on the first of each month.
Honestly, I think it has more to do with the quality of the installation than the equipment itself.
And, I do not think ANY of the manufacturers are concentrating on quality like they used to.
changing your filter once a month is a waste of time and money, UNLESS that filter is DIRTY, your just wasting your $ and time...just a thought...
This is true the install is critical to overall longevity I have Lennox 3 ton merit series it’s quiet cools very good excellent so far my neighbor has one as well had zero issues there is good and bad in all systems
There are 6 companies total that own ALL the HVAC brands: I would rate Premier down to Budget Friendly. I might be missing some.
Thought this was an interesting fact I never knew when shopping
1. Carrier Global Corporation: they own .......Carrier, Bryant, Comfortmaker, HEIL, Tempstar, Payne, Arcoaire, Day & Night, KeepRite
2. Trane Technology: they own: .......Trane, American Standard, RunThru, AmeriStar, Oxbox
3.Daiken Industries: they own:....... Amana, GoodMan
4. Lennox International: they own:............ Lennox , Armstrong Air™, AirEase®, Concord®, Ducane™, Allied™, Allied Commercial™ and MagicPak®
5. Rheem Manfucturing: they own:...........Rheem, RUUD
6. Johnson Controls: they own ............Coleman, LexAire, York
That's 100% correct bro , mostly all equipment will offer the same warranties. The most important part is the installation. A salesman can try to push their best system brand , but if his install crew sucks . That equipment will fail, and thats were all this bad reviews come from.
Unless it’s York/Coleman. Complete garbage
True but Carrier/Bryant has the most advanced residential units available.
@@timrob0420 i totally agree. On the larger commercial side york (or now johnson control) is just another 4 letter word for junk. I have had so many more problems with them than any other brand. Coils having leaks, parts not shipping with units (rawal or hot gas valves)...and they still use those stupid angle valves that the packings always leak on. Even Aaon uses ball valves on their machines...why not put a decent ported ball vale on your condensing unit. i cringe every time i have to pipe them up.
you completely missed the point that was just made! @@robertlamey7612
I can agree. There are stuff to stay away from though like Johnson Controls micro channel. If I were going for any brand, I'd do Carrier because of the ease of service. The 2nd most important thing is how the supply house serves you. Great video great info!!
trane equipment "WAS" top notch, until "american-standard" bought them out. "york" is another one, good stuff until "johnson controls" bought them out!!!!. I worked on the commercial- industrial equipment. what is in my house is a "dunkirk" boiler that I installed, coupled with a geothermal system that I built myself. all of this equipment has been in operation for the last 30 years with no major failures. I am not interested in systems that have a 15 year life span!!!!. my system has been put to the test, with outside air temperatures of - 30 degrees ,and the inside temperature is 70 degrees ( 100 degree temp difference) I like a "HOT" heat!!!, without a thought of a "HEAT EXCHANGER" melt down
Great video. I have been doing split system inverters for over 8-1/2 years. The future of the equipment will be that they never shut off and run at very low speeds. Most efficient way.
That's pretty much what my Bosch inverter unit does ... it handles the heat of Phoenix with no problem.
Agreed...the industry depends HIGHLY on the installers. This is where the rubber meets the road and I have seen some poor installations a 6th grader could have done. Now that Goodman, part of Amana, is owned by Daikin and is based in Texas, parts are supposed to be always available in short time. I agree with the filtered returns, more is better for several reasons but a couple are, less noise and more efficient air exchange occurs if placed in the right locations. No install should have the air filter in the attic ! They should all be in the living areas ahead of the return ducting.
I'm just a homeowner, but I've been chasing down as many TH-cam HVAC channels as I can, trying to become an "educated consumer." Without fail, *every single* HVAC channel on TH-cam spouts the "brand doesn't matter... install quality matters!" mantra to no end. And that's fine, BUT...
As a homeowner, it is *extremely* difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to finding an installer that will do a good job. Online reviews are often purchased. There are a ton of smiling, "seems like a great guy" types that come out and try to upsell you or replace existing equipment that is still good, not to mention the "great guy" types that then end up doing a horrible installation job.
Trying to find an HVAC company that doesn't try to upsell you, replace good equipment, reasonably priced, and will also do a good install job is like trying to find a virgin at a house of ill repute. IME so far, you're very lucky if you can find a company that'll do two of the aforementioned list of four things. And how in the world do you know if a company will do these things until after the install job is done and you've already cut your check? The vetting process is nearly impossible.
This is not a consumer friendly industry, from the homeowner's point of view.
So many of the HVAC TH-cam channels I end up thinking, "man, I sure wish this guy was local to me. I'd go with him in a heartbeat." Ah well... what I get for living in the desert in the middle of nowhere.
I *want* to support the trades. I have no problem with supporting guys that are out there working a skilled trade. At all. I just don't want to get ripped off, and I want a good installation. Doesn't seem unreasonable, and yet it is so hard to get.
In fact, I'm so frustrated by it that I'm seriously thinking of ponying up the money to take an online HVAC certification course just so I can do my own installation. Sure, it won't be as good of an education as I'd get from attending a school in person, but I'm not looking to do it as a source of income. And then I'd have no one else to blame but myself if it doesn't turn out.
The only thing keeping me from doing this is the guilt I'd have for taking someone's income away from them. Too bad you guys aren't able to police yourselves somehow to get rid of the scammers, poor business practice types, etc.
I am a retired G.M. dealer tech. Thinking about installing one my self. Been adding a few oz.of r-22 for the last 5 years have a still have a bout 15lbs left . Missouri gets humid. the 1991 Heil is getting old and uses the amps.
I’m in Ohio and old enough to remember when heat pumps here were a farce. It used to be common for models in the 80s to just completely shut off and rely on aux/strip heat below about 20F which is a typical January night here. Huge bills as a result. But today with the good inverters (ducted or not), it’s possible to go the entire heating season without *any* aux heat used. Still need it in case the polar vortex hits and temps drop to -10F, but overall HPs work well for this climate
I'm in IL with nat gas heat and cooling only. My neighbors have gas heat plus heat pump. I can tell it's heat pump by the unit running during mild cold in fall-spring, and they are burning gas during winter. I don't know the details of what temp they have the heat pump cut off. We have single digits and below 0 during Jan and Feb. If I had a heat pump I would probably not run it below about 35F, but that's because we have city gas here. And I doubt I would really want a heat pump anyway because of the additional complexity and longer running season adding more chance for breakdown. BTW I have friends in TX whose heat pump iced over a couple years ago when they had the freak winter storm there and they had 15F overnight. They got by with plug in space heaters, and narrowly averted frozen water pipes in the unheated attached garage where the house water heater is located.
@@onemoremisfit the balance point for when it's more economical to use the heat pump vs gas has changed dramatically in the last year. When gas was super cheap, it made sense to use it below 25F or so, but now at $1/therm, the heat pump should basically run as much as possible with gas (or electric aux heat) supplementing. FWIW, it sounds like your friends in TX didn't have aux heat installed, something that would never happen in the Midwest. That also helps reliability, because unlike a gas furnace that breaks and you freeze, a heat pump that breaks can use aux heat to keep warm while you wait for repair.
@@AnalogueKid2112 Yeah my friends in TX tell me they have hell-scape summers and during winter they still wear t shirts for all but 2 or 3 weeks.
I get the basic energy cost comparison, but I think there is an efficiency drop off for the heat pump as you push it down toward the limit of its useful envelope, while the efficiency of a furnace is constant. Then there is the mechanical strain on a compressor. That's why I would want to save that machine for when I really need it in summer.
Where I am I don't notice gas going up and electric staying cheap, they are both going up. I have a wood stove too. I can only use that near zero because it's too powerful, and firewood isn't cheap unless you go out and work for it, but that is my backup. Also the gas oven in the kitchen can save you in a pinch, lol.
About 27 years ago the heat exchanger cracked in the very old furnace that was original to my house, and it set off my CO detector. So I went on wood heat while I took apart the furnace and welded up the heat exchanger. I used that old furnace for a couple more years and replaced it with a basic Janitrol (Goodman) 80% unit, and gave the old furnace to my brother to put in his garage, (still works).
My Janitrol works fine, and the gas bill isn't terrible. It has minor breakdowns like the ignitor burned out (replaced myself) flame sensor needs burnishing with steel wool now & then, and last winter the negative pressure sensor for the flue blower quit. I could still start the burner cycle by jumpering it out, and the part was 35 bucks on amazon. All stuff a handy guy can easily stay on top of, but I guess an average consumer who calls a repairman for everything would be upset.
But a heat pump breaking down is complicated even for a handy guy, and when the compressor fails on any heat pump or AC it's pretty much game over, especially now since they keep phasing out refrigerants and you can't get a replacement compressor for an older unit. The game is pretty much rigged to force buying a whole new unit when a compressor fails.
My location is a Trane dealer and I'm the parts representative, and with that being said, we also service other equipment such as Carrier, Luxair, Goodman, York, etc... Between all the relationships between me and the distributers of those brands, Trane is hands down the best when it comes to accessing the proper information off their websites, and just talking to a sales consultant or engineer in a most timely manner compared to other distributers. I've worked in three different locations and it's been about the same among multiple distributers.
When did you get into hvac? Did you you work under someone? Also how did you get started on your own?
Goodman is excellent if installed correctly, 18 years out of my current unit but had to fix alot of issues from the shotty install about 12 years ago , alas, we have a shortage of good installers! Trane and similar brands use complex over engineered products expensive to fix!
I have a basic Goodman that I installed myself 24 years ago, and I'm just a DIYer, not a tech at all. The only service required so far is a new run capacitor 5 years ago and a refrigerant top off 2 years ago. (I have my own supply of spare refrigerant purchased with the unit). This guy recommends pretty much any brand but Goodman and only pro installation, so I guess I broke all the rules.
and why are you 'TOPPING OFF' your refrigerant?? sounds like a very slow leak!!! not good! yup, you broke all the rules alright, lol
@@onemoremisfit
@@karmendimas5274 It's been 25 years, what are you lol-ing about? Of course there will be a small loss of refrigerant in that amount of time. I added a little a couple years ago, and it has not needed any more since then. And yeah I broke all the rules but it was 92 F here today and the system worked fine. I have thermometers in the air handler before and after the A-coil and it knocks the air temperature down by 22 degrees.
I have a 15 yr old Goodman 2.5 ton heat pump I installed myself, it has never needed anything repaired or replaced and still works perfectly.
I hope it dies in about 5 years so I can replace it with an inverter system.
In the upper to mid-south the best setup is heat pump augmented by a wood stove.
When you say "they are moving away from burning fossil fuel" is relative because most of the electricity in US comes from burning coal and natural gas. But I agree, the installation would be much simpler.
Other than the sheet metal being thin, are there any other disadvantages on the Goodman? I had a Goodman furnace and AC installed in another house. Had it for 14 years and worked great and it cost 1/3 of other brands. Sold the house with the equipment running flawlessly. I live in another house now that would need new AC and furnace soon and I was considering buying another Goodman. Now you are making me thinking about it with your experience with them. I live in Minnesota and do not want to wait to get a new one when this one breaks (which is usually in the middle of the winter with -40F). Thank you very much for the video!!
Wow I'm overwhelmed you chose my question. Thanks for your response 👍
I appreciate your question! 💪🏼
Happy to hear you prefer Trane. I just spent A LOT of money on a new Trane HVAC system.
Wait until you need parts after warranty. 😂
Still cheaper than carrier
I have several brands I like, and agree mostly with your choices as well. That said, I have a package unit here in AZ, I don't like them much but it is what it is. The only high efficiency inverter unit I could find was Bosch. It's an amazing unit !! It handles the heat extremely well and operates very efficiently. Great choice. We had an addition built and had a Mitsubishi mini split installed, 30.5 SEER and it's also a great unit. Love these inverters !!
Well said Zac! Inverter heat pumps are the future. As far as brand loyalty like you said, I don't really have any. They all will need something done to them before the 10 year warranty expires. Some brands make it easier to work on certain things than other brands. It's mostly about that proper installation and proper ductwork sizing. Checking them stactic pressures and setting up proper airflow. Brazing with nitrogen and getting a good deep vacuum using them Tru Blu vacuum hoses with a good micron gauge. All these practices give that new install the longevity that everybody looks for in equipment. Great videos Zac!
P. S. That hat is 🔥🔥🔥
It's all about that Quality Hvac/r
As a main source of heat, I dont see ever minisplits as common place in northern climates. But for supplemental heat for home additions or in far corners of some commercial buildings, sure. And of course, for mild climates too.
it's a bit annoying that subcooling/superheat has almost no value in checking the refrigerant charge since the inverter changes so many speeds to compensate. So its pretty much just weight in the charge as the reliable way to do it.
For Trane always remember Hyperion cabinets are for unconditioned spaces. Their new Metal cabinet sweat a bunch here in the south and I’m kind of disappointed with Tranes quality been changing tooooo much coils. And trust when I say that it’s not our installers.
We put an American Standard in 2019 just replaced the coil leaking. Trane owned by them I guess. Sadly their quality has fallen a ton. The second unit we have a Trane is 18 years old and just got a small Freon leak but quality.
When I decided I just had to have a Trane 1050XL t-stat, I started obsessively looking through their catalogs as I tend to do, and was just blown away by all the different relay modules, including the _exact_ one I needed to interface with my 25+ y/o, non-Trane, non-communicating furnace and A/C! I soon realized, "yes, this is expensive, but how many other manufacturers would even bother making this in the first place?"
I love how the Carrier outside condensers look .
I've been in the trade since 94. Accolades; residential installation and service, sheetmetal shop, commercial installation and service, commercial refrigeration (grocery), chillers, controls. I like the sheetmetal shop as it was always fun making stuff. I was part of Trane, Carrier for residential. York is my least favorite equipment. Geothermal is okay..depends on where you live for the soil. Your right..the vacuum part of refrigeration is the critical part. If you have sloppy practice you will get a sloppy result. Thanks for sharing Zach. Stay safe.
Great videos bud. I’ve learned a lot from you as far as the quality of my work. I’ve learned to take a lot more pride into the things I do in HVAC
I’m in Orlando, we have some gas furnaces but mostly on residential single family homes are heat pumps. You get some straight cools but there more in the apartment/condo style homes. Most of the units down here are carrier. There way more reliable and almost all the new builds are installing carrier heat pumps. To me it’s more reliable. But like you said it’s basically who installed it. Keep up the good work bro!
I am a outside salesman for a distributor i sell Ruud, Samsung and Bosch. You are correct most of the time the life of a unit is how its installed and if the duct work is sized properly. I think in the future mini splits are going to be the most popular
What’s your favorite brand?
I totally agree, a lot of installer have poor workmanship that leads to early failure due to poorly installed system. I used to say that I like "old timers" to do installs/repairs for me but the last 10 years of experience leads me to the conclusion that unless the guy is a good family/friend- you're at the mercy of him rushing the job.
It's funny, having been a brand's exclusive supply house clerk and now a tech in the field, I've seen the relationship thing from both sides. Now the company I tech for has changed suppliers. When customers ask me about brands, I tell them Carrier, Lennox or Trane. The rest are okay and do the job if installed right. That's about it. Also yeah, electric is the future for better or worse. I'll miss the big fireball WHOMP when an old ass furnace starts up with my face right at the burners...
I’ve been in HVAC&R for over 30 years most of the brands have had equipment that was trash.!
Currently avoid York condensers, heat pumps, and packaged equipment because the Micro Chanel coils.
I’m currently using Goodman equipment
Goodman are trash
@@kyleperry1701 please explain I have many units that are 20+ years old
Really don't have to explain much man.. ask most service guys I can't tell you how many that are 6 or 7 years of age that compressors are trashed. Actually last week I had a call to go look at a goodman that had a warranty job brand new compressor 2 weeks old that had already grounded out. That being said I'm not sure if the former company that did the warranty job cleaned the acid out of the lineset due to the previous one going bad.. I just don't think they are very good quality. Probably doesn't help that they are cheap so companies just throw them together.. but just my opinion.
@@kyleperry1701 they use the exact same compressor as others .! This year it has been Trane units with bad compressors and any units with micro channel condensers bad coils (York & associated brands). Most problems with Goodman equipment is installer related.
Hey man, I couldn’t have said it much better myself. My father owns his own business & has been an HVAC Tech for 35 years now. Installation & Service. I’ve been his helper for awhile & he’s been teaching me everything about that trade so that I can get my license. Our favorite brand has always been Comfortmaker. We’ve been installing their furnaces & a/c’s since day 1. There’s not much to them, they’re extremely reliable, & we never have problems at the supply house. I don’t think my father’s received a call back on any of his installations/change outs. We live in Southern Michigan & not many HVAC companies up here use Comfortmaker. Carrier, Bryant, Trane, & Lennox are the most popular brands up here. Amana’s also starting to make a name for themselves. A lot of reasons why units go down is because of what you said, poor installation. For example, We’ve serviced an American Standard A/C that was only 2 years old, complete hack job almost killed the entire unit. My father has told me that he refuses to install a Goodman furnace because they’re absolute garbage lol.
Amana is Goodman!
@@fabfrenchies1974 Lol I found this out awhile back. My old man told me. I didn’t know that at the time 😂🤣
I'm a homeowner. Live up north in Michigan. Still confused about today's Heat Pumps and whether they are even a consideration with the climate where I live. You said heat pumps/electric are the future, how does that apply to me? Really enjoy your videos and you and your crew's work ethic.
It applies to you for every moment the temperature is above 20 or so, depending on your insulation. If you like gas heat go with a dual fuel system that you can program what temperature your heat pump shuts off and switches over to gas only. A heatpump is roughly $200 to $350 higher than straight AC, so you are kinda crazy if you don't take advantage of both systems for that price. A heatpump heats your house for 1/3 the cost of gas or electric on average. I've got 33 years experience working on heatpumps
I gotta somewhat disagree with electricity being cheaper than natural gas across the board. For example, a gas cloths drier or oven is always cheaper by far to operate than a full electric version. Same goes with below 32'F temps with gas vs electric heat. Electric heat strips are way more expensive to run than gas is (something like 3 or 5 times more at freezing temps). And you touched on northern states like in Minnesota, but I'm not convinced heat pumps will ever be efficient enough to justify them to be common place. Also, I dont think we've reached the ceiling on efficiency yet for natural gas furnaces, much like with inverter mini splits. We're seeing 98% efficient gas furnaces with ECM indoor fan motors and tweaked out heat exchanger designs too.
But in mild temp states, I agree these heat pumps are a way of life because of cheaper operating costs.
Natural Gas is extremely cheap here in Louisiana. I'm so glad I have Natural gas here. I've slowly converted everything I have to Natural gas, only thing left is stand alone oven. I have a Ruud 18 Seer 4 ton unit with gas furnace couldn't be happier. Installing a Aprilaire E80 whole house dehumidifier now, that will complement my system.
Man your work is excellent. I like your input on the inverter systems too. My company has started selling bosch equipment and they’re becoming my favorite systems to install. We’ve been installing them on existing gas systems and with new installs and our customers love them. Keep it up dude!
I know this is an old video. As a fellow HVACR tradesmen. I appreciate your content and most importantly to me you s the craftsmanship I see on your videos. That’s something that a lot of people don’t utilize anymore. It’s all quantity over quality.
My Carrier system is a 3 ton heat pump with electric strips for “emergency” heat. With the freeze we had down here, the heat pump was actually blowing 58 degrees with 11 degrees ambient. I switched to emergency heat and got 73 degrees. Until the power went out. That’s when I wished I had a gas furnace, because my generator can run the load of a gas furnace, but not heat strips. So out came the space heaters and a couple fans to move warm air throughout the house. Regardless of what you have, have a generator and enough fuel to run it for a few days. It can make the difference between having or not having major damage from extreme temps.
Sorry to hear that, but this wasn't a VRF inverter style heat pump then as they maintain 100% heating capacity down to 5F, and -5F if it's Gree brand.
I looked at the Bosch, I'm using gas/electric now..but that's why I stayed away from the full electric heat pumps w/heat strips and stayed with my electric/gas gaspack unit. I just replaced a 30 y.o. Heil with the Trane XL16c 3 ton 2 stage gaspack on the roof, love it. I also enlarged the intake 14x25" to 20x25" and 16 in to 18 in ducting. I got a real good packaged deal w/the crain and he extended the labor warranty.
Tesla is thinking of getting in the heat pump systems in the near future. I would like to hear your input on their system once they come out with it. Supposedly its a game changer..
My point exactly on how heat pumps are the future. :)
Just did a upflow to horizontal left conversion on a Goodman 96%. Wasn’t thrilled. But still like the brand.
Search a year and decided on Amana , which is owned by Goodman. Reason is Amana has a stainless 1st and 2nd heat exchanger ! The only one for gas high effency furnace.
Home owner here, while following the HVAC community , I see a lot of talk about bad installs whether its sizing, air flow, duct work etc . I think you said 90% of breakdowns are from bad installs or 90% of installs are bad. What are the installers doing wrong and why so many bad installs? Puts us home owners in a bad place trying to find someone that does it right.
That’s why I installed my own HVAC system. I know that it was done right. Most installers turn and burn to make as much money as possible. The installers are usually under the gun, undertrained, and underpaid. Ted Cook says that installers can make $700/day but nobody pays that much where I live.
If your having a new a/c installed make sure the installer in pulling a vacuum thats holding under 500microns. Contaminates in new 410 ac system can eventually lead to poor operation or leaks same with r22 but it seems to be 410a is more sensitive to a crap install. With furnaces the sales person will tell you that this new modulating blower will help with airflow if you had airflow problem before if you dont change duct work add return exc.. the new furnace will be same as old furnace. Furnace install issue that lead to future problem the duct work you already knew was a problem. To long of vent runs in the wrong dia, not gas properly, not pitch properly for condensation to leave your furnace. Good luck i know where im at residential hvac is cut throat industry. High demand lack of techs. Alot of shops are turning and burning.
We’ve had really good luck with Lennox I’ve been with them for a year and half only been 2 call backs for equipment failure.
Agreed been using there concord brand..very affordable an work well.
A lot of customers go with the lowest bidder, that usually cut a lot of corners on the install which in turn lowers reliability.
I just started my own hvac company a few months ago. Will be using Trane and American standard as my equipment of choice. Im personally a fan of gas. It gets cold here in the southwest from time to time in the winter
But it doesn't get down to 5F so these heat pumps are fine
My favorite heating is with a Steam or Hot Water boiler with old style Cast Iron Radiators. Having a several hundred pound piece of iron that's 180-215 degrees F is like having a roaring Fireplace in the room.
These old style systems only have a bad reputation because a lot of people don't know how to properly balance them.
I love hot water heat and cast iron radiators too. Sadly a lot of people don't like the looks of the radiators or just think they're old fashioned and rip them out.
@@Progrocker70 yeah it's unfortunate that people can't take the looks, I personally love the look of old radiators.
I love your videos. I just started to go to school for hvac. You make me happy to be apart of the trade
I just started too
That’s one heck of a compliment :) Welcome to the family!
Lennox XC21 was always my favorite since I installed my first one. Granted there is higher SEER XC models now, that is the OG for me.
What are your thoughts on Lennox Merit Series 5 ton heat pump and a Lennox Air Handler 14 Seer 5 ton?
Having myself being interested and under thirty for still looking for new trades under my belt, HVAC is my next career choice. With watching your content for a few weeks, you nail it. Broad range of various equipment, your own opinion and your work ethic, its awesome to have you showing off your skills, and how you get it done. You have my subscription, I look forward in going into school in September.
youll get out what you put in bro. As someone whos 23 and loving this trade more than anything dont be afraid to ask questions. Ill ask everyone that i work with how to do one thing just so i LEARN. Be willing to LEARN and dont take everything as a challenge ( I had that problem and my attitude bit me in the ass). Anyone who is willing to apply themselves to any field and truly wanting to learn youre gonna kill it with whatever you do in life. This trade is the best and worst thing to ever happen to me. Youll see some nasty shit. Youre gonna be worked hard. Sometimes 70 hours a week. But the skills and the opportunity it opens up for you is absolutely crazy. So damn proud of you and hope you stick with it and LEARN.
@@ericlewis7817Great suggestions!
@@ericlewis7817 the worst part of the trade are the big, franchised companies that hire the techs and only pay them well, via commission, if they can sell unsuspecting homeowners new systems they don't need, or service plans, or inflate repairs, etc. The best are the independents who work for themselves. I found one and recommend him often.
I disagree with "there's really no best manufacturer". Yes, there is. It's Daikin. Not Goodman by Daikin, but real Daikin. I had a Daikin VRV-S multi-port condensing unit with 2 indoor convertible air handling units installed in my mother's house (change out from a single 3-ton split with zone dampers) in January. It runs like a dream. Like something NASA has. Power bills were $360, $415 and $340 in Nov, Dec, Jan. Power bill in February was $178. Unit runs nearly 24/7 at low speeds, comfort is off the charts, was heating to 75-76 at 24°F ambient. No, it wasn't cheap but it is top quality, top comfort, and smarter than all of us.
My work installed a Daikin Compressor unit, 1st week fan fell off, a few months later condenser coils failed and started to leak, took about 10 days to get parts. I would not touch one.
I'm not sure if those are supposed to be low bills, but holy moly those would be insane here. Our electric bills only top $100 maybe once per year in Nebraska and we get the weather of the north and the south. If I get two $100 bills it's rare.
@@matsudakodo My mom's house in Nebraska often exceeds 3 or 400 bucks during summer
@@joephillips6634 I can't imagine that. Uninsulated?
@@matsudakodo No? But every house is a different size, has different levels, windows, etc
This is absolutely a relationship based business. If you are an hvac business owner, your TM should be working with you to drive profitability and growth in your business....All brands aside. Wish you nothing but success in 2021!
Talking to a HVAC some time ago and he said he did not like Lennox. Not that they are unreliable, but more so that they are a pain in the rear end to work on. The specific model was the "Lennox Whisper heat." Just to replace or clean a flame sensor was a task in itself. Not to mention taking out the burners to clean and reinstall.
We installed a couple SURE COMFORT heat pumps and gas furnace with cooling unit. They are a little cheaper but are made by rheem and can't really tell a difference. We use them when we don't have much room to work with. Might be something to look into.
One man owner operator from the U.P. Of Michigan. We do a lot of high efficiency gas here but I did install a Bosch split system in the high velocity style this fall, most heat pumps in this area are mainly mini splits due to our short summers.
My Goodman was over 25 years old and I think Bosch is the best when it come to reliability with new central units. The problem with Train you have to buy part just from them because fan motors are a lot different that other units and their parts are way different than other units..
Personally not a huge fan of trane but his local supply house might deal well with them. Here in central VA Goodmans and American Standards work well with our local supply houses and theyre the least hassle for our company that is
I have a Trane and it’s been on but they are expensive and I will not buy another one. I don’t think I can recover the costs on this seer 18.
Coleman is hands down the best. Only HVAC equipment that offers 10 year parts and labor in house on all equipment. Every other brand uses 3rd insurance scams. I mean companies
My Coleman AC was installed in 1996, and it is still running strong. It's louder than hell, but has never let me down.
@@dodgecummins6181 my Coleman was installed in 1999 and is whisper quiet and works like a champ, only one time the start up cap went bad,,, and it blows ice cubes, love it..
That's why I use carrier in my area because I found a contractor that is very aggressive on pricing and has the cleanest installs I've ever seen.
Replaced 3 collector boxes in 3 weeks on Goodman 90+, all leaking. Being a Trane dealer, not a fan of the new model S9V2.
Yeah their collector boxes crack, do you think it is quality or just oversized furnace or both. As I gain more experience I’m seeing a lot of equipment is oversized.
Most of the Goodman collector leaks look to be quality issues. If Goodman used high temp RTV (or a better gasket), that would fix most of those leaks. Stamped sheet metal doesn’t usually crack (but it might rust). Plastic doesn’t belong in a heat exchanger. I would never buy any high efficiency furnace. Too many failures in the secondary heat exchanger and cracked/leaking collector boxes. I think the biggest problem is that many installers don’t know how to properly install the high efficiency furnaces. Watch Ted Cook’s videos on installation snafus.
Hey Zac! I was watching your video. I work for my Dad and we are an HVAC Ruud dealer in Southeast Texas. I prefer a Ruud heat pump system or a Ruud gas furnace over a conventional straight cool system. To me Ruud is at the top of the line and you can't get any better than having a Ruud HVAC system in your house.
@austin morton are Rheem equipment ok. I live in midwest and have bids on Amana, Rheem, and York equipment. Thanks
if thats your opinion, you go with it! there is NO such thing as the BEST equipment!
Love repair work on TRANES, especially on the dc communicating systems. Having the reversing valve on the exterior of the outdoor unit is fantastic as well for charge diagnostics. Installed everything under the sun, and I’ll stick with Goodman and AMANA. Trane quality control is horrid and had very big problems with Rheem. Not big on carrier products either.
I put a Goodman in my first house about 18 years ago. My brother bought the house and it’s still running like a champ. Takes care of it but it has never had a bad part.
@@zachattack83 Have him replace the run capacitor now before it goes bad, and it will go bad with age. That will be one potential breakdown that is easy to avoid. I replaced the run capacitor on my Goodman at 19 years when it failed, causing the unit to be unable to start. The part was only 15 bucks on amazon. All you have to do is look at the numeric capacitance values printed on the part and search for a match. Easy to replace yourself. So cheap I bought 2 to have a spare on the shelf ready. I know a repairman who told me he keeps a stock of those capacitors on his truck and marks them up to 40 or 50 bucks, plus labor, service call & tax, which comes out to ~ 150 bucks if you call him to fix it.
Brands matter but the most important part as you said it, is proper sizing of equipment and correct installation; go by the book and avoid taking short cuts; you'll have a long-lasting system and be happy with it; don't forget extended warranties!
I am in west TN, my brother is just over into middle TN, my utility bill (gas and electric ) is up to $600 in the summer and under $200 in the winter. I have gas heat. He has a heat pump and his bill is much higher in the winter than summer. We both have 20+ year old units.
You will save money when you replace the system
@@advancedair6536 we may both save money with new units. But I don’t think it’s possible in this climate for a heat pump to be cheaper than gas heat.
What sucks is if i don't care for the sales person, i don't trust the install.
Thanks for this, thanks for caring about the install and customers.
Thanks man! I feel the same. I'm in Utah where it gets cold , But hot too! It's all about install
20 years in and I fill that you give the costumer what they want. Do you have seller panels or not? Well that's what I live in the northern part of ut
When we built our home in 1994 we installed 2 Trane commercial 12 seer units (3 & 4 ton-split system) About 3 years ago the 3 ton went down, so was replaced with a Goodman, primarily due to American Standard purchasing Trane. In a years time the Goodman went down due to the small copper capillary tube being left touching the large copper tube and chaffing through tube. The factory knew this was incorrect, proved by the wrap of capillary tube with heat shrink instead of simply pulling it away by 1/2" or so, plenty of tubing length to have done this. Still under original warranty, plus I was dumb enough to purchase the manufacturers 10 year additional warranty. My original installer repaired the unit, but charged $400 for the freon. I called Goodman and explained their oversight, plus sent pictures of the chaffing and hole in tube, stating that Freon came with the unit when installed, their fault and why I have to pay again? Upon investigation I discovered that Goodman does not pay their techs for any warranty labor other than replacement of their OEM components. I filed with BBB, to discover that was worthless, due to the rep from Goodman located in Texas, not NV where I live. For me, Goodman has Zero Quality Control, otherwise would have easily seen this tube touching the other, nothing in the way of plain sight for any excuse, meaning they never looked. The other original 4 ton Trane unit is still going strong for 30 years now, including our southern NV 115* July & August days. I service my units once a year, no matter what, cleaned, oiled and components all checked to standards. Guess it is back to American Standard next time for me. It seems about everything is crap for quality today, at the customer's expense. I will also never purchase another factory warranty, not to forget my purchase of a 5lb container of Made in USA 410A refrigerant to my door for $95 from E-Bay. Thank you for your informative videos.
The problem is… how do is home owners really know the unit is installed correctly? We don’t, otherwise I’d do it myself. It’s a crapshoot, we call for estimates and hope for the best.
Agreed, but what engineer at heil decided that the location of the inducer fan motor was ok on their package units.... I’m a Rheem/Ruud fan myself.
I'm a Rheem guy as well. Parts are easy to source here, they treat me well (Rheem dealer), and when I had the relationship breakdown with ruud (customer asked for the nicest system he could buy, ruud wouldn't sell it to me because I wasn't a pro partner), I went straight to Rheem. I'm happy with them and I still have that ruud supplier if I needed a part Rheem couldn't get. If I felt like there was better equipment, I'd go for it. I agree with Zack though, the difference is negligible. Trane and lennox aren't as easy to get parts for, so I hate those the worst. Lennox is by far my least favorite.
Ive been in the business for 20 years. I also own my own company. Just like you said the most critical is the installation over the brand however like you mentioned, I do prefer a certain brand more than others. But to simplify it would be like buying the best tile or flooring product and having a crappy installer lay it down unevenly it would be the same difference.
I agree. I ve installed Keeprite until 2016 and then switched to Payne . If you size it right , install it right and do some maintenance , you should be good for 20 plus years.
Which brands do you prefer if you had the choice to install something (split system)?
@@nickgreek6449 What was the reason for switching to Payne and why Payne over some of the others? How's it been working for you so far? Did you considered their sister brand Comfortmaker too?
I’ve been doing residential installation/sheet metal mechanic for 31 years,all for the same small family owned company.we have been a Carrier dealer since 1952.we put in a lot of the higher seer inverters heat pumps.this is the problem with these units.when the warranty is out and the board goes out in the condenser and it’s over 1200 dollars,fan motor 1000 dollars,customers are not to happy.all this technology is great but the cost doesn’t justify getting it.
My 2 cents, central fl is mostly heat pump, but mostly the rich people use gas furnaces. Some smaller normal homes use gas but not much - most convert to HP.
And like another person here said, no rebates for HP if you have gas. Florida also passed a law banning cities from banning new gas installs.
Primarily Carrier products here in the Southwest. I agree quality install is the most important to long service life.
Every manufacturer has issues on some level.
I always see black mold on the Trane package units, that plastic blower housing is like prime real-estate for some reason. You ever run into that?
Natural gas is at an all time low and LP is pretty low now too. Gas is a lot more economical up north than electric. When it gets below 30 and the electric strip heat starts kicking in it runs the electric bills way up and the colder it gets outside the more the auxiliary strip heaters come on.
Just wait until the eco warriors start taxing natural gas and other fossil fuels. Some areas are already refusing to issue permits for new NG infrastructure. I'll bet almost anything that the next decade is going to see some large taxes on NG, to make up for the environmental impact. It won't be as cheap as it is now forever.
@@bnasty267 very true. I was thinking the same thing. I like in a conservative state so hopefully that helps.
VRF inverter heat pumps don't need electric heat strips until you get below zero F
I'm in Mississippi and need a complete ac replacement thinking about going with a heat pump system and get some strips for the few really cold days... my old ac is a 50+yr old Lennox and Concord compressor 3 ton 25+yr old R22 ... Want to stay all electric and get rid of wall mounted gas heaters as my Lennox heat strips been disconnected since 1984 just uses ac as they both were trying to run at the same time
'I like the boy!' very true it doesn't matter what brand you get, most brands today are built to last, it only matters bout the quality of the install. A while ago I bought the cheapest AC I could find and it lasted at least 10 years.
Inverter means the units are using DC motors vs. AC. DC is a constant sine wave vs AC that modulates up and down therefore, the DC motors generate very little vibration and are quiet. Garage door openers have done this with great results in getting them to be quiet.
Maybe homes should have a main inverter at the main circuit panel and all electrics inside a residence to use DC devices such as DC lighting, refrigerators, HVAC etc. Maybe one day in a few distant decades that will happen.
2:25 100% agree. In my opinion, the final manufacturing of split system are done at the site by installer.
I like Rheem / Ruud . They have work very well for me and my company. Well made and price very well .
Zack, my question is directed to the issue of winter heating with heat pumps. The high-end inverter systems can operate at lower temps that standard heat pumps, but are more costly up front. Another option for standard systems is a ground-loop heat exchange using sub-soils as the heat sink. Are there many installations of this type in your area? Have you ever been involved with designing/installing one? And do you have an opinion whether these offer any benefits over inverter and conventional AC/Heat pump designs?
I live in buffalo and heat pumps would never work but I agree the south you go the more efficient it is.
When my buddy was installing furnaces years ago they used to use a company called Janitrol. He used to say we stand behind our product we are afraid to stand in front of them.
Is a Trane worth spending the extra money over a Rheem 3.5 ton 13.4 Seer package unit for a rooftop installation? Which is more reliable and less costly to repair? Our 19 year-old Tempstar 3.5 ton 12 SEER heat pump has a refrigerant leak and not worth repairing. Thanks!
As someone who has installed a 100 or so Bosch splits and have been installing and servicing them before they became Bosch, install with surge protector on the condenser the boards can't take dirty power . This is the only issues I've had with them over the years. By the way we use gas as emergency heat in some cases here in FL. North Florida cities have a lot of NG furnaces. In fact most municipalities give rebates for switching to gas.
Heat pump All day. I had a 23 year old Bryant heat pump that had zero issues. I changed it out for a Trane just to be more efficient. My next upgrade will be a Bryant, Carrier, or Tesla. And yes the Tesla HVAC system are coming. I won’t tell you my issues with the Trane it just may be my experiences, but shop out there first. If you do get a multistage unit like I did. What ever ton they calculate you to have, go one ton larger. Trust me on that.
Interesting. Looks like Tesla is gonna takeover the furnace industry and reduce our costs there.
When most ac system are installed properly the difference in longevity and maximum use is in the proper maintenance of the ac. Just like any other mechanical device proper maintenance is the key to getting the best out of most any ac unit.
When do you recommend changing out the filters?
@@CA1567-v8p every month is my recommendation! Also have a licensed contractor out every spring for proper unit cleaning and tune up!
I’m here up north in pa, propane is 1.70 a gallon right now with the higher prices. Used to be around a dollar.
Electric here is superrrr expensive. To heat a house In electric cost about 1,000$ in deep winter months. Heating on gas only cost about 200$ depending on your system.
Me and my dad have been installing Bosch Units, love the IDS 2.0! It’s expensive but I think it’s worth the price! Love the technology in those systems
I really like them so far.
@@QualityHVACR Did Bosch change compressors for it current 2.0 model. I ask because the new 2.0 list operating capacity as 36% to 130 % where the prior 2.0 model was 25 to 110% .s
Doesnt a heat pump last about half as long as a split system? Since compressor work full year long?
I live in the Kansas City area. Have a Heat Pump with a 80% natural gas backup. The economic crossover point is about 50 degrees. Natural gas is fairly cheap here.
Up here in the north (NE Philadelphia) there are some ideas I have been considering. We are going solar so I'd want to switch my 20 year old York 90+ furnace with Dual Fuel Heat Pump + Furnace. The goal is to convert gas dollars to electricity in the transition months from summer to fall and winter to spring.
Brand name doesn't matter too much.
I would advise sticking with 15 SEER single speed regardless of the brand name. Don't get into any of these silly communicating systems with inverter driven compressors. That stuff is totally unnecessary and it causes more trouble than any benefits you will get from it.
Have it installed by a licensed contractor and inspected after by the county you live in.
The new Bosch condensers are amazing it’s all I really try to sell now tbh
Have American standard furnaces here in Chicago. One is 90% & one isn’t. They’re pretty loud. The 80% has the loudest inducer motor I’ve ever seen. Can’t talk on the phone anywhere near it. Have 2 Nordyne ac unit’s (Frigidaire & Tappan) that are 15 & 21 years old & run like champs.
I central Florida we have a lot of gas furnaces and they are very cheap to operate. I save about 25% on energy cost during the winter using a gas furnace vs A/C cost ..Gas is everywhere here in central Florida.
In my own house got a dual fuel trane and some gas logs. In my rental got a Goodman heat pump with 10kw strips. When I sell a unit I tell people that trane is a 10 percent better product for around 20 percent more money and a trane is a must have at the beach. The Goodmans fall to pieces in 5 years by the beach. If a homeowner is selling their house I tell them trane because in a few years it will still look new
You're using terms many of us are not familiar with. What is an "inverter" system? What is "split" system? What is "90" gas heat system?
90+ gas heat system: Condensing furnace that can extract 90-98% of the heat energy from natural gas by using a secondary heat exchanger that extracts heat from the exhaust gas. That's why it's called a "condensing" furnace- it lowers the temperature of the exhaust enough that water vapor can condense. A conventional, non-condensing gas furnace is 80% efficient or worse, depending on age.
Split system: An air conditioning system where the condenser and evaporator are separated and connected by tubes. Your typical house AC system is a split system- the condenser is the big box outside, and the evaporator is inside your house, and the two are connected by copper tubes. An example of a non-split system would be a window air conditioner, where both components are in the same unit.
Inverter: Variable speed system for an air conditioner or (especially) a heat pump. Typically a condenser can only run at one speed- it's either on, or off. With an inverter system, it can run at many different speeds according to the current heating or cooling needs, which makes them much more efficient, with the downside of being more expensive.
Note- I am not in the HVAC profession, I simply find heating and refrigeration technology fascinating. I hope this helped. :)
Like your videos also been checking out the Bosch systems lately like to see the rest of your install
Carrier or Trane. I do Carrier and not off brand icp Carrier. Phenomenal customer service in metro Atlanta. Installing Carrier for 8 years. No txvs...no compressors and no leaking coils. Nuff said
You obviously install very few systems per year to be able to state that you have none of the issues you listed. Even if it was as few as 100 systems per year, how can you claim to have no issues ? Not realistic.
@@TedCookHVAC 1 man show. About 80k in equip a year..90% work in spring and summer. Take fall off and work a Lil in winter. 8 years no major issues. Only minor stuff like some caps and fan motors
@@TedCookHVAC it is true more like 50 systems a year. I hammer summer. 90% of my income. Take a lot off time of rest of year
Nothing wrong with trane tho...maybe just been lucky so far