compatibility of acc with new system

[wreck75]

I got quotes for new systems in 17 yr old house. The Carrier rep with Puron systems was the lowest bidder by severral thousand $$$. This eliminated the philosophical dispute. However, the quote included 2 new programmable thermostats and a new condensate pump. When asked if these were required (since my current ones are fairly new), I got the following response.

We prefer to use the new thermostats with the new systems because older thermostat circuit boards do not communicate with the new system circuit boards. We could have a potential problem in the future with older thermostats. This added approximately $55.00 per thermostat to the quote.
the new cooling coils produce about 2x the water as older cooling coils and we prefer to use the new condensate pump for this reason.

I don't want to be cheap but neither do I want to be taken for an idiot. Is the guy correct or blowing smoke?

[BaldLoonie]

There CAN be some issues with "power stealing" thermostats and the modern boards on today's furnaces. Not real common but does happen. You could keep your existing stats (assuming they aren't some hardware store cheapo) and see what happens. If they don't work, he would be justified in charging more to return and install new.

Same with the c-pump. We hate leaving anything behind that may cause trouble. You could keep yours and see how it does. I doubt the new units remove twice as much moisture unless you are using the Infinity control and variable speed blowers. Then we wouldn't be discussing $55 stats!

[wreck75]

Thanks for the quick response. I guess I will just let them swap out the stats and c pump. No big investment in stats(Honeywell MagicStat/32, model CT3200). Part of the reason for scrapping the old and going with new is that I am tired of putting band-aids on the old stuff and having my HVAC guy on speed dial.

[t527ed]

why put the old steering wheel on a shiny new car????