I have a bad opinion of TRANES AirHandler with electric heat

[hvacfella]

Ive installed dozens of Goodman and Bryant Air Handlers with electric heat packages. Yesterday i installed my first Trane AHU with 15 kw Electric Heat package in the counterflow position. The AHU comes shipped for upflow application and can be easily converted for downflow. The Cooling Coil was repositioned for downflow with no problem..fit like a glove and the exterior panels fit precise. Here are my conclusions regarding the Electric Heat Portion of the Furnace :

1 . When sliding in the Electric Heat Package, if you line up the mounting holes at the back of the Electric Heat Package to the mounting holes in the AHU housing...the Elements are off-center by approx. 1.5 inches (to the right) in relation to the blower wheel which means that some of the far right element will not recieve any airflow. So, i re-aligned the elements directly in front of the blower wheel and ended up having to fill in the gap on the rightside of the housing with some sheetmetal . Also had to drill new mounting holes for into the housing to accept the Package.
2. Shipped seperately, was a loose sheetmetal plate measuring approx. 14"w. by 2.5 " h. (in fact, it was just laying inside banging around in the AHU). According to the instructions, its used to fill in the top portion of the Element Package for greater efficency . Thats fine, except it was only drilled on ONE end -- the other end was solid. So, i had to drill new holes thru the plate and housing to fasten it on.
3. The Element Package requires the fan to come on at the same time a call for heat is made , otherwise, nothing will work. (signal goes thru a small circuit board within the Electric Heat Package). Since the HO had a basic 4 wire manual thermostat , it didnt have the circuit which turned on the fan immediately upon a call for heat. Absolutely no mention of this fact in the Instructions !! So, i changed out the thermostat to an electronic programmable type which turned on the fan immediately, which allowed the heat to cycle on .

I was pretty disappointed with Trane ; i thought they took pride and touted themselves as 'a quality manufacturer' . Ive also had DOA 80 plus Trane furnaces which ive had to fix.

Is this routine on Trane, or, am i just an unlucky fella ?!

Dave

[trane]

What was the model numbers on the air handler and the heater?

[hvacfella]

Dont have the full numbers without spending some time digging it out, as i bought them last summer for a job which ended up being cancelled. But here is what they were :

Model : # TWE series 2.5 ton multi-position AHU.

# BAY series 15 kw. ELectric Heat Package
for this specific AHU.

I can get the entire numbers if need be.

Dave

[square2round]

Sounds to me like you haven't installed enough Tranes and BAY heaters...or didn't read the instructions.

A 15 KW heater on a 2.5 ton? That's part of the problem why the heater didn't fit.

[mark beiser]

The 15kw heat package being off center doesn't actually affect anyting. It will still put the same amount of heat into the air as it would if it was centered.
The 20kw and up heat packages fill the entire hole and are centered over the blower.
You made some work for yourself that you didn't need to do. ;)

As for the need for the thermostat to call for the fan in the heating mode, Trane has always been that way. It is a legacy from GE that was never changed, no real reson for it to.

I guess it comes down to what your used to. I have only ever worked for Lennox and Trane dealers, so there are probably a lot of things that are "normal" to me, that are odd to many others.

[billygoat22]

I liked their older heater design better, they're still tight to fit in there either way. Internal (relays,etc.)parts easy to get to.
Some of the other brand heaters are hateful to work on. The breakers are in front of all the works. I had to pull the heater out one unit to get at the element relays, can't really check that stuff in operation like the front access heaters.

[mark beiser]

Another thing, you are less likely to ever have to repair anything in a Trane heat package than ANY other major brand of electric heaters. The 5/8" heating elements and 40A contactors in them just don't die without a lot of assistance. ;)

[hvacfella]

'Sounds to me like you haven't installed enough Tranes and BAY heaters...or didn't read the instructions.
A 15 KW heater on a 2.5 ton? That's part of the problem why the heater didn't fit.
'

ME: Its confirmed to me that you dont know what YOURE talking about . The 15 kw heater is shown to be used on that AHU, and, the Trane Wholesaler chose it .

[hvacfella]

'The 15kw heat package being off center doesn't actually affect anyting. It will still put the same amount of heat into the air as it would if it was centered.
'

ME: Because it was off centered, some of the rightside element would not see any airflow over it ; that is not correct. Im glad i centered it and drilled new holes. What do u do on the Trane AHU's you put in where the HO has a standard 4 wire thermostat with no fan engergized on a call for heat ???

[hvacfella]

'The breakers are in front of all the works. I had to pull the heater out one unit to get at the element relays, can't really check that stuff in operation like the front access heaters
'

ME: YES..this was my other complaint which forgot to list. I think for Trane boasting how good their equipment is, they have a ways to go at engineering it right.

(1 Cor. 2:9)

[mark beiser]

Originally posted by hvacfella
'The 15kw heat package being off center doesn't actually affect anyting. It will still put the same amount of heat into the air as it would if it was centered.
'

ME: Because it was off centered, some of the rightside element would not see any airflow over it ; that is not correct. Im glad i centered it and drilled new holes. What do u do on the Trane AHU's you put in where the HO has a standard 4 wire thermostat with no fan engergized on a call for heat ???

Just because part of the heating element isn't sitting directly over the blower doesn't mean it won't get any airflow. Trane heat packages have been like this for a very long time with no problems. Trane doesn't just slap the things together, they have actually tested all the combinations of equipment they offer...

As for the control wire, if you are using a digital thermostat, you would need to use a power steeler or battery operated thermostat with ANY brand of equipment if you only had 4 wires and couldn't pull a new thermostat wire. I never leave a system with no way to turn on the fan only from the thermostat...

[hvacfella]

'Just because part of the heating element isn't sitting directly over the blower doesn't mean it won't get any airflow. Trane heat packages have been like this for a very long time with no problems. Trane doesn't just slap the things together, they have actually tested all the combinations of equipment they offer...
'

Mark,

A portion of the rightside element would only get cavitation air from the blower with the way that portion of the element was sitting ; it was beyond the edge of the housing. Elements in every other AHU ive put in, get a full blast of air from the blower wheel, and, have been directly centered .

Perhaps youd have to see what im speaking of for it to be clear on this AHU i was working with. Anyway, i have a peace of mind about it, and im afraid my impression of Trane has been hampered .

[trane]

Marks reply was correct so I didn't reply. The 15 KW can be used on the 2 1/2 ton unit and will work with no problems if installed according to the installation instructions. I will agree that the breakers make it a pain to work on the heaters but like mark said they are good heaters and I have not had trouble with any.

[billygoat22]

Just put in a 2 1/2 ton today, and it does list the 15 kw on the nameplate as an accessory. The element sits at the edge of the blower outlet when installed, I looked in through the hole I cut for the humidifier being surious after reading this thread.

The heater access I mentioning was referring more to other brands than tranes. Didn't think of the few conponents behind the breaker, but its a lot easier to pop the breakers off a trane heater than others.
I had to check the relays on some generac brand that put ALL the relays,wiring,limits,etc behind the plate the breakers were in (dc relays by the way) so had to pull WHOLE heater unit. The screws holding the breaker plate faced into the cabinent, unlike Trane's that face out so you can get to them.
Gibson has the same type heater as the generac one one took apart, but they have the top of cabinent so you can take it off and access stuff behind the breakers.