McQuay Vs Trane

[Maikerum]

Let me know if this is not a question I should ask. I mostly lurk in residential, but hope I can ask the same kind of question here about commercial.

Being quoted two systems by the same company

Trane Unit Model# SCWFT3843 incorporating high capacity refrigerant coils, 20 horsepower premium efficiency blower, VFD Inverter with bypass, 12.9 EER, stainless steel condensate drain pan, compressor service valves, 2nd-5th year compressor warranty, 1 year parts and refrigerant warranty.

McQuay Model# SWT040C, 16.3 EER, 20 horsepower premium efficiency blower, VFD inverter with bypass, stainless steel condensate drain pan, compressor service valves, 2nd-5th year compressor warranty, 1 year parts warranty.

The vendor is recommending the Trane. My guess is they are leaning that way because they are more used to Trane.

I am tempted by the higher EER of the McQuay, and also am starting to think McQuay is getting a lot better in the engineering than they used to be, so the unit could be as reliable and trouble free as the Trane.

Any opinions or advice?

[Mcgushvac]

Go Mcquay may be bias though I work for them. We are spending huge amounts of money on R&D since Diaken purchased us.

[ID10T]

Safe to assume the prices are dead equal since you didn't mention that. I have loved some Trane's and McQuay's and then I have hated them both too. If price is the same, and installation costs are the same, then to me, its a flip of a coin. However, if total pricing is different, go with the best bang for your buck! :cheers:

[Maikerum]

As of about hour ago, I am leaning strongly away from McQuay.

I just found out I have an MOB with a 300 ton new McQuay Chiller in a different city that went down yesterday. They first thought it was a fuse, then transformer. Had to wait a day to get the transformer. Now transformer is on, but chiller still won't work, now they say it is a bad control board and will take several days.

I expect parts to be available, and when not, to be overnighted. If McQuay thinks a 100,000 sf MOB on a hospital campus can do without AC for a couple of days, they are not going to be considered for future projects.

Availability of parts was one reason the vendor on the project I first wrote about recommended going with Trane, says it always takes a long time to get McQuay parts. Now I believe him. Makes me sad, I had high hopes for McQuay.

[ID10T]

Just to look at the whole picture......appears to be a mis- diagnosis to start with. But, working in the oilfield, EVERYTHING is available for Saturday delivery. FedEx and UPS offer Saturday Deliveries. We have even ordered parts UPS Sonic Air on a Monday morning, and the part arrived to us the same day around 4pm! Whoa, was that shipping bill expensive. As I said before, I have loved and hated both of them.....good luck, hope ya get that one running ASAP

[mallron]

My experience has been that McQuay usually gets installed because it's cheaper, but they will MURDER you on parts. This is in regards to chillers, but RTU's might be the same way.

[flange]

mostly agree, but an mob with only one chiller is asking for trouble anyway.

[51fitter]

Do you mean SEER rating? How are they offering something under a 13 seer to you? That has been the min for over a year now.
That is a big dif in ratings. If they were close I would say Trane all the way but this is like comparing a Ford that gets 25 mpg to Hyundai that gets 37mpg. Which would you choose?

[SoFlaDave]

Do you mean SEER rating? How are they offering something under a 13 seer to you? That has been the min for over a year now.
That is a big dif in ratings. If they were close I would say Trane all the way but this is like comparing a Ford that gets 25 mpg to Hyundai that gets 37mpg. Which would you choose?

We're talking about very heavy industrial equipment. They aren't rated in SEER since they are expected to operate under totally different parameters than residential systems.

The EER difference is pretty surprising between the 2. I have only put me hands on a few McQuay systems. They seem to be pretty well engineered,but i've never had to deal with getting OEM parts for them. That being said, if the contractor has a better relationship with Trane then thats what I would recommend.

[51fitter]

You might look at the CEE Tier 2 rebate requirements which apply to larger units. If they apply in your area. The higher EER unit may get money back.

[jayguy]

with a hospital or other 'heavy uptime' type of need...you need to trust your contractor. if you can't maintain uptime, then YOU will be the one on the chopping block.

i work for trane, however, in some locations, they do not have the best technician force or the best parts department...find out who is best in your area...tour their facility and talk with their service department (they may be performing the start up and warranty work). tour their parts department.

NO parts department will have every part on hand...just can't happen. but find out what commonly fails and order those parts for your stock...you don't want to wait for parts because the head of the parts department went home with a tummy ache.

in a hospital type of environment, highest efficiency equipment is VERY IMPORTANT (hospitals are just energy hogs no matter how you slice it) but it is not as important as uptime. find out who has the best manufacturers rep in your area.

[luhovick]

I have about 40 Trane DX and chillers.
About a hundred Carrier, York, and Trane air handlers.
With air handlers Mcquay, Carrier and Trane seem equivalent.
Trane overengineers their Chillers. I never tried Mcquay, but just bought my first MCQ 35KCFM air handler.
I can't imagine that any company could charge more for parts than Trane.

[supertek65]

YES

if you have any say?

you should get some redundancy!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have NO experience with new Mcquays but lots and lots of experience with old ones!

I think they are fine but here in KC IMPOSSIBLE to get parts!

Honestly I have had some serious issues with some new 2010 Trane units and think maybe??? the quality is going down a little?

did they give you a KW per ton or IPLV rating????????????






mostly agree, but an mob with only one chiller is asking for trouble anyway.

[supertek65]

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:cheers:








I have about 40 Trane DX and chillers.
About a hundred Carrier, York, and Trane air handlers.
With air handlers Mcquay, Carrier and Trane seem equivalent.
Trane overengineers their Chillers. I never tried Mcquay, but just bought my first MCQ 35KCFM air handler.
I can't imagine that any company could charge more for parts than Trane.

[Maikerum]

Original Poster here. On the 300 ton chiller that went down, it stayed down until yesterday, no cooling for 6 days in a MOB. Fortunately it was cool enough to run on economizer this week, unlike last week. But if it had been summer, it would have cooked.

Here is the response I got after the board finally got installed:

"I apologize to everyone for the inconvenience this has called. I have been working with *****, McQuay’s VP of Manufacturing, to run down this part, and he said the OEM vendor they are using for the circuit board had a manufacturing issue that led to a supply interruption of these boards. I want to confirm that the McQuay factory normally keeps a supply of these boards on hand along with every other critical part to the operation of the chiller. Again, I apologize, but from time to time we are at the mercy of our OEM suppliers. Please advise if there is anything else we can do."

There should have been a workaround if there is no part available. This is 3 month old chiller, under warranty, and last week I had temps in the 90's in the building until someone had sense to override and put on economizer despite mid 60's outside temps.

To those who said I was unwise to have one chiller, there is something to that, but this is a 30 year old building and I had some design limitations. I thought I had redundancy since this is dual compressor and each can do 150 tons, and building maximum load is only about 200 tons on the worst days, so I figured if one went down, the other could supply all need most days, and most need all days.

On the originalAir Handler question, Trane vs McQuay we have decided to go with Trane. I don't feel I can depend on McQuay. I hate to give up the energy efficiency, but I can't go against my installer's advice after the bad experience at the other building.

Thanks everyone for the input. I learned a good deal, and I will be back with more questions, I am sure.

[BaldLoonie]

Let's see some before & after pictures on the Wall of Pride. Many of us that deal in little stuff especially enjoy seeing the big stuff.

[hvacalex]

YOU SHOULD HAVE A BACK UP CHILLER .......

[Mcgushvac]

As of about hour ago, I am leaning strongly away from McQuay.

I just found out I have an MOB with a 300 ton new McQuay Chiller in a different city that went down yesterday. They first thought it was a fuse, then transformer. Had to wait a day to get the transformer. Now transformer is on, but chiller still won't work, now they say it is a bad control board and will take several days.

I expect parts to be available, and when not, to be overnighted. If McQuay thinks a 100,000 sf MOB on a hospital campus can do without AC for a couple of days, they are not going to be considered for future projects.

Availability of parts was one reason the vendor on the project I first wrote about recommended going with Trane, says it always takes a long time to get McQuay parts. Now I believe him. Makes me sad, I had high hopes for McQuay.
Sorry to hear about the problem you had. I work for Mcquay and usually can always get parts next day air and/or sat. delivery will forward your post to the factory and parts.

[myssjeep]

Sounds like Trane was the best choice to start with. Your installer knows how their relationship with their supplier. Relationships are everything.