From: "TURTLE" 
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: Furnace /AC Recomendations
Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2003 02:50:48 -0500


"cipe"  wrote in message
news:5173afee.0310221620.37106f1c@posting.google.com...
> Planning on replacing 30 yr old gas furnace and AC.
> Any suggestions on brands will be appreciated
> Thanks

This is Turtle.

Brand is the last thing you want to look at when getting a new system.
sounds stupid but it true. You buy Cars , truck, washer , driers, lawn
mowers, small appliances for the home , and a host of moveiable appliances
buy brand because of they can be brought in for repair or replaced easily.
Also all of these thing are put together at the factory and not put together
and installed into the structure of your home. You can pull a washer or
drier to bring it back to get another one but you can't easily pull a gas
furnace or condenser unit out and run down to Home Depot and get a new one
under warrenty. Here is the 2 main ideal as to buying a new central system.

1)   Every brand sold to day have the good stuff and the trash stuff too.
You take any major brand and i can pick out the trashey stuff and the good
stuff by looking at the model numbers. So you don't know the trash from the
good stuff your going to have to get somebody who knows the trash and the
good stuff apart or tell which is which of the brand that he sells. this
comes into play of getting a respectiable hvac installer that will tell you
the difference and not just want to sell equipment and make the most money
as he can out of trash or good stuff. Find you a straight shooting ,
respectiable HVAC contractor , and get sdown to the brass tack about getting
the best type equipment o go in your home all be it any brand. Everybody
make trash and the good stuff and has been that a way for years.

2)   These are the items that seem to me as to being the good stuff in the
brand of equipment or the installer.
A)   Copland Scroll Compressor.
B)   System matches the heat load calculations run on your home. If the
installer can't or don't want to run a heat load on the house. Don't let him
touch it.
C)   The longest warrenty possible on everything but not pay extra for it.
D)   The brand you pick will be sold a bunch in your city. If everybody has
that brand, Parts are usely around for them. Never buy a brand that no one
has ever heard of.
E)   Pick the installer that will answer all your question and not just pass
it over and forget about it.

Now to brand for a few words.

If you know you have a good installer then you can maybe look at these
brands if he sells them but the installer is the key to a good running
system and the brand is second to the installer.

Carrier / Bryant
Rheem / Ruud
Trane / American Standard
ArcoAire
Amana
Maybe Lennox but part are hard to get in just some areas.
York / Not Luxaire
Well that will do it I guess.

TURTLE