Replacing HVAC - Advice please

[bjsbuds]

2,400 sq ft ranch with 14 ft ceilings in 40% of house, also 1,000 sq ft finished basement in Southern Ohio.

Looking to replace builder installed 16 year old Goodman GSU100-4 furnace and Janitrol CK49-1B 4-ton A/C unit. A/C unit failed two years ago, and repairman told me it would only last one week, and two years later it is still working, but my electric bills increased significantly since. Heat with propane.

Have received quotes from four different companies for Carrier, Trane, Bryant, and Tempstar systems.

The Carrier dealer said that Bryant was equal to Carrier, and both are better than Trane, and that Trane and Tempstar were on the same level. That surprise me because I thought Carrier and Trane were the best two systems available.

Here are the two systems I am comparing at this point, which are within $800 of each other. Both companies did a manual load test. The TRANE dealer told me the A/C test came back as needing a 4.2 ton A/C, but to move up to a 5 ton unit would mean changing out all my duct work.

TRANE:
Furnace XV-95 / 100,000 BTU, 2 Stage, Variable Speed Blower Gas Furnace 96.7% AFUE and Heat Pump XL16i / 4 Ton, 2 stage, 15.5 SEER, Clean Effects Air Cleaner, and Humidifier.

OR
Carrier:
Furnace Infinity 96 Two-stage gas furnace (59TN6A100E21-22) and Carrier Puron Performance series two-stage heat pump (25HBC648), Infinity Air Purfier, and Humidifier.

Ultimate goal is to lower electric & propane costs.

I would really appreciate your opinions on if these are the best systems for me, and if one is better than the other.

[NCHeat]

Both systems seem to be very similar. The question is, which contractor do you like best? Trane guy did a Manual J. Thats a point for him. Who is going too take care of you after the sale is done. Who's gonna do the best job installing your equipment? Brand is a secondary concern. The equipment you have listed is very nice and when installed correctly, it should work very well for you. Good luck

[George2]

I'm partial to the Carrier/Bryant line of equipment. I just replaced my 20 year old
Bryant "Plus 90i" with a new Bryant 96% model.

I have the Carrier "Infinity" air purifier. It is far and away better than the Trane "Clean Effect" poorly made (ready to fall apart) air cleaner.

The Carrier "Infinity" control is terrific. Nothing like it. Make sure you get it.

You might consider zoning with a big ranch.

[bjsbuds]

Both systems seem to be very similar. The question is, which contractor do you like best? Trane guy did a Manual J. Thats a point for him. Who is going too take care of you after the sale is done. Who's gonna do the best job installing your equipment? Brand is a secondary concern. The equipment you have listed is very nice and when installed correctly, it should work very well for you. Good luck

I like them both. The Trane dealer is located on my side of town, and I see their vans often. The Carrier dealer is located on the other side of town, and I had never heard of them. Both have great ratings on Angieslist, and the Carrier dealer has many more reviews. The Carrier district manager gave my name to the Carrier dealer I received the quote from.

Both did a Manual J on my house.

[skippedover]

Looking to replace builder installed 16 year old Goodman GSU100-4 furnace and Janitrol CK49-1B 4-ton A/C unit. A/C unit failed two years ago, and repairman told me it would only last one week, and two years later it is still working, but my electric bills increased significantly since. Heat with propane.

Have received quotes from four different companies for Carrier, Trane, Bryant, and Tempstar systems.

The Carrier dealer said that Bryant was equal to Carrier, and both are better than Trane, and that Trane and Tempstar were on the same level.

Carrier/Bryant are identical products with different brand name stickers. Same goes for Trane/American Standard. I prefer the Bryant/Carrier equipment because they keep the same replacement part numbers forever. That means a service tech can read the P/N and go to his truck to see if he has it on board. Trane tends to change P/N's constantly and even if you have a part that looks identical, it is most often different. That makes it very difficult to stock Trane parts on a service van.

That surprise me because I thought Carrier and Trane were the best two systems available.

Both are great products as delivered from the factory. Installation is a huge part of the success or failure of the systems. Down theh road, when you need parts, whether in or out of warranty, see my comments above.

Here are the two systems I am comparing at this point, which are within $800 of each other. Both companies did a manual load test. The TRANE dealer told me the A/C test came back as needing a 4.2 ton A/C, but to move up to a 5 ton unit would mean changing out all my duct work.

I don't know what your local design criteria is but it's worth asking if the 4.2-tons was raw data or adjusted to a proper Sensible Heat Ratio (SHR). You could find with a proper SHR that the size of the system is actually less than 4.0-tons. That is, unless he did the SHR adjustment if appropriate.

TRANE:
Furnace XV-95 / 100,000 BTU, 2 Stage, Variable Speed Blower Gas Furnace 96.7% AFUE and Heat Pump XL16i / 4 Ton, 2 stage, 15.5 SEER, Clean Effects Air Cleaner, and Humidifier.

OR
Carrier:
Furnace Infinity 96 Two-stage gas furnace (59TN6A100E21-22) and Carrier Puron Performance series two-stage heat pump (25HBC648), Infinity Air Purfier, and Humidifier.

Ultimate goal is to lower electric & propane costs.

I would really appreciate your opinions on if these are the best systems for me, and if one is better than the other.

IMO, these are both great systems. If money isn't a barrier, I'd suggest you also consider the Modulating Carrier/Bryant products. They have both a fully modulating gas furnace and a modulating heat pump for cooling and reducing your LP gas consumption. The HP has a very high energy efficiency level when not operating at max output. That said, the unit can even be oversized to allow for greater Btu capacity and significantly lowering the gas consumption. LP is normally expensive but you'll want to do the math of LP versus electric in your local area. Comfort is unsurpassed with variable speed/modulating products.