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Duel fuel Amana quote- do I have the correct matching equipment?
I have been reading the Q&A on these threads and I am so thankful all of you are willing to answer homeowner's questions. It is not often one has to replace their HVAC unit and I did not know what I did not know! We have asked for a good referral from many, many folks and one installer came recommended multiple times. We did obtain another quote from another installer but certainly liked the original recommended installer's quote. After reading severall threads and going to the amana-hac.com site, I am not questioning whether we have been quoted the right matching equipment. I don't understand the charts on the Amana site and I have two questions.
Can someone tell me if we have the correct air handler and matching equipment?
The gas furnace seems very efficient yet the heat pump appears to be middle of the road. Would you recommend a more efficient heat pump?
Here is the quoted equipment;
AMH950704CX gas furnace
ASZ14036 heat pump, 3 ton, 14 SEER
CAPF3642C6 Blower (is this the air handler?)
Thank you!
Professional Member*
No, tha is the evaporator coil (inside, on the furnace). The furnace is "moving" the air (as would an air handler). You have a more typical situation.
I'm surprised you didn't get some better options? Such as: variable-speed blower, 2-stage heat pump, a good hi-eff. air cleaner.
Don't be afraid to ask away, it's your money.
Professional Member*
Are you in a primarily heating climate, if so you will never see a payback by going with a higher efficiency ac
Professional Member*/ARP Committee
The CAPF3642 is not an approved match with your ASZ14036 Heat pump.Originally Posted by hmcandrew
The ONLY COIL I see that is matching equitment for you current setup, is the CA*F4961*6D*
The *'s don't matter, so don't worry about those letters.
Installer probably doesn't have enough room for a capf4961, since it's like 30" tall.
I believe a 3642 is roughly 22" tall, which is why he chose it.
Unfortunetly, as I mentioned, that is not an approved setup.
Just to be curious, is this furnace lay horizontally on it's side, or does it stand upright?
Convential HVAC equitment has (generally) 3 parts.
Gas Furnace.
Outdoor refrigeration Unit.
Indoor refrigeration unit.
The "match", is making sure the installer correctly chooses matching model Outdoor Refrigeration unit/Indoor refrigeration unit.
"Better tell the sandman to stay away, because we're gonna be workin on this one all night."
"Dude, you need more than 2 wires to a condenser to run a 2 stage heatpump."
"Just get it done son."
Dad adjusted
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THANKS! I appreciate the answer. Can you explain the benefits of a variable speed blower or a 2 stage heat pump? I am in middle North Carolina, if it matters. We use the heat mainly October thru April and the a/c June thru August.
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THANKS! We live in middle North Carolina. We use the heat mainly October thru April and the a/c June thru August. Would you still recommend a higher efficiency heat pump?
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THANKS! SO I was reading the Amana site correctly. Our furnace stands upright in our basement, where I have almost 7 feet floor to ceiling to stand up. I bet there is plenty of room. If I don't have an "approved setup", will that void my Amana warranty? We live in middle North Carolina. We typical use our heat October through April and then our a/c June through August. Would you recommend a higher efficiency heat pump?
Thank you!
Professional Member*
.
7 feet is real short.
14 feet might be the average.
Middle of the road effs or better. Can't go wrong with the best in most cases but
the equipments physical size can be huge.
..
Do not attempt vast projects with
half vast experience and ideas.
...
Professional Member*/ARP Committee
As superheatsleuth said, 7 feet is actually a short basement.
A Matching setup would be roughly 6' tall, plus the ductwork takes away from the ammount of height you have to work with.
As far as warranty setup, this excerpt is from the warranty paperwork:
"For lifetime warranty coverage on the compressor, the unit is installed with a new
indoor coil or air handler to which it is properly matched by the installer"
Not to mention, you don't know what efficiency you will get out of your new heat pump.
"Better tell the sandman to stay away, because we're gonna be workin on this one all night."
"Dude, you need more than 2 wires to a condenser to run a 2 stage heatpump."
"Just get it done son."
Dad adjusted
Professional Member*
Focus on fixing the house before of buying high end equipment. Fixing ductwork, sealing, and insulting the house is labor intensive, so few want to do it. Taking care of these things will yield bigger comfort improvements and lower energy bills than buying expensive HVAC equipment. Once the house is fixed, equipment size required will be much smaller and temperatures through the house will be more even since the equipment will cycle less. Going from a 3 ton 13 SEER to a 3 ton 16SEER may save you 20% on your bill. Fixing the house/ductwork and going to a 2 ton 13SEER will save you 1/3 on your power bill. And 70K furnaces are entirely overkill for a high performance home, even the 45k (smallest size in many brands) is too much.
I wish contractors/home builders would get away from the concept of 500sft per ton/forget about fixing the house. Even when manual J is used, inputs are often fudged so the calculator spits out the magic 500sqft per ton the contractor has been using for the past 20 years. With a high performance home getting 1,000sq ft per ton isn't uncommon, especially for new construction. The key to low power bills is to keep the heat in/out of the house to begin with, then high efficiency equipment won't have a short enough payback time to justify it's cost.
Global Moderator
Having an undersized coil on a heat pump can cause operational deficiencies since the condenser coil will be undersized in heating when it needs the capacity to hold extra refrigerant. Also you won't get the SEER and HSPF you want. If there are utility rebates involved, you won't legally get them by not having a matched system. The question is, if the dealer is quoting improper equipment, what else is he messing up?
Professional Member*
Even with the 7' basement, you should be able to fit the proper coil into the space.
Like HVACVEGAS said, make sure to get the proper setup, at least for the rebates. It will not affect the warranty however if it is not the "proper" match.
The variable-speed blower is much more efficient and quieter. It will also dehumidify better with the correct control. A 2-speed H/P will be able, of course, to run at two different capacities which will be more quiet and give you better comfort.
Like 54regcab said, it's always nice to tighten up the home first. Hopefully you have taken those steps already. Many utility companies offer a free home inspection and rebates on insulation and/or hi-eff. equipment. You might want to give them a call. Contractors in our area were pocketing the money without telling the power company, until the power company found out and had to change the rules.
Also, right now many manufactures are offering rebates and/or extended warranty specials.
Were any offered to you?
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