About BIDS: Trane, Rheem, Kenmore, Carrier

[SRASS]

Originally Post:


I received a bid on a Trane furnace last night. The salesman said I needed to "Clean Indoor A/C Coil utilizing Spray-On Evaporator Coil Cleaner" . Is this necessary?

I also noticed, on the quote of the itemized list of what needed to be done, there were no prices attached to each item. The company sounds like it has a good reputation and is also listed on NATE site. Any advise?

FYI, I am a single woman doing as much research as I can on purchasing a furnace.
__________________________________________________ ______________

I have 2 other bids coming. One for a Rheem and Sears. I did some reading on this forum about Sears. I most likely will not go with Sears, but just want to see what they offer. I do know they have both "Kenmore" and Carrier. I was actually considering the carrier. I am more concerned about Sears techs. The Trane salesman I received my first bid from is actually a sub contractor for Home Depot. I have not had good experiences with Home Depot, but this HVAC company actually sounds like a good one. The gentleman that came, did do a load calculation. I watched. We will see what decision I make after I get all the bids in.

On a side note, I currently have a Lennox Pulse that is 19 years old. I have had to replace the circuit board and the blower motor in the past 3 years (not all a once). It seems like it is having a difficult time properly heating the house, I hear it running most of the time. I am worried it will die in the dead of winter. It's rather cold right now. It's also rather noisy.

Thanks for all the advise. I will continue to do my research and read this forum.

[HeyBob]

Just a quick note as I surf. The Lennox Pulse that is 19 years old should be pressure tested, if it fails Lennox will provide a new G51MP at a greatly reduced cost, you pay labor and install costs. You can also elect to upgrade to a G61 or G71 series unit as well.

[HeyBob]

Oh yea, if you are not the original owner Lennox will only warranty the heat exchanger for 20 years, lifetime to original owners.

[heaterman]

Sears like HD uses subs to install the equipment. The Kenmore brand is or at least was ICP (Tempstar, Heil, Comfortmaker) which is a division of Carrier. The Carrier line like the Trane and Lennox lines are all good equipment but have a tendency to be higher priced. Additionally, parts for those brands are only available through authorized dealers which can limit your choices down the road. That's not to say that someone other than one of the "brand" dealers can't work on your equipment but it's more difficult and more expensive. There are other brands (including generics by the same companies already mentioned) that are just as good, Luxaire being one others being Ducane and Goodman plus there are others. If you have read any of the threads on this forum, the one reoccurring theme is that the equipment is only as good as the installer and service support. Most if not all companies offer multiple lines of equipment to meet the varied needs of their clients and potential clients. We as a company service just about every brand of HVAC and hydronics equipment on the market, some we like, others not so much. We recently started installing Luxaire equipment again after a 15-year lapse. We like the new design, the cost is very competitive, and the efficiency is at or above all of the others. Bottom line is shop companies, not necessarily brand or pricing. If you have questions, come back here, there are a lot of knowledgeable professionals willing to help you sort things out. ;)

[tedkidd]

Jeeze, you can't get a referral from a friend or neighbor?

Or find a BPI certified/accredited contractor (BPI is difficult to obtain, installations must meet BPI standards, nice protection for the homeowner).

And as far as I can see, the only reason to get Carrier is if you get the Infinity ICS or Infinity 96, in which case you can't compare price.

[WhoIsThat?]

Do a Dotplot, and figure the cluster in the middle is the true price of doing the job in your Zipcode in Dec, '08.

.....x......xx..x.........x......
|.....|.....|.....|....|....|
0...$1. ..$2...$3..$4...$5

With the two outlying bids, I'd wonder what job they are bidding on; probably not mine. . .
If all the prices come out the same, which is statistically extremely unlikely, I'd think "price-fixing". . .?

[Big]

Ihave an Infinity System with HP and a 96% gas furance . Love the results . Electric and gas bills are lower then ever . House is warm .We sell many brand the reason I chose Carrier was their Inifity communcation system. At the time no one else had it .

[DanW13]

Yep INfinity 96% AFUE can't beat it, nice and quiet savings are nice on the electric bill and gas bill, I saved nearly $100 on my electric from this time last year comapred to my old furnace Tempstart 90%, ECM blower motor saves big time. Althought Carrier maybe one of the higher priced pieces of equipment but it's one nice piece of equipment regardless of how much you pay for one. Plus having a 10/10 P&L leaves you with a worry free system for 10 years, all you have to do is change the filter or clean the EAC once in awhile and have a annual servie cleaning and check up to keep your system in complinace with your warranty.

[beenthere]

Sears like HD uses subs to install the equipment.



At Home Depot, your talking to a Trane contractor/salesman, not a sub that just installs for for them. HD just gets a cut of the sale

At Sears, you talk to a Sears salesman, and the first sub contractor that isn't busy does the install. Sears just pays them for their labor.
Might get a good sub, might get a bad sub.

[heaterman]

Sorry for the mis info, the point being, they are providing services through the respective companies while they really have no other relationship with those companies. On the Sears end, service is handled by Sears not the installer while the HD contractor also provides the warranty service. Anytime you add a middle man, you add one more cost factor for the same end result.

[beenthere]

Sorry, check again.

The sub contractor is responsible for install warranty also with Sears.
I think its 2 years now.

The only reason I know about the install warranty. Is a pro member here, told me, he subs to Sears.

After the 2 years Sears comes out, because they can charge for the repair labor.

[heaterman]

Been that least that long since we were contacted by Sears concerning subing out. Our one supplier provided them with a list of contractors who were using the equipment at the time. I read through the contractor agreement and filed it appropriately.I was standing in the local Sears store shortly after than when I saw them literally "stuff" a hot water heater into a sub's van for a customer (barely fit in on top of all of the other trash inside, he had to pick the beer cans up and put them in after the water heater). To say this particular contractor was not the cream of the crop would be an understatement. I'm afraid that if I needed to resort to taking on that type of retail work, I would most likely look into another occupation. The problem is there is no way to know who is installing your system. No doubt there are excellant companies doing this type of work but then again there are those other kind. :rolleyes:

[DanW13]

I would tend to agree with Heaterman, I called sears for some work some time ago, and once I called them for a estimate I recieved calls from 100's of contractors and sears calling rep's for ever after I made the intial call to Sears for a estimate. If you don't mind having epople call you all hours of the day from Sears or pretending to be from Sears Go ahead and make the call. JMO !!! And first hand knowledge :D