8 yo compressor died, replacing ext. unit, some questions...

[summiebee]

First my apologies, I know nothing about all of this. Our eight year old Lennox compressor died. We decided to replace the ext. unit instead of replacing just the compressor being thatit is getting up there. We have a quote for a 4 ton weather king installed for xxxx Is Weather king a good brand? Is this a good price for a four ton unit? Is this going to be a reliable unit? SHould we pay a little extra and go with the regular Rheem model? I must have it COLD in my house, I want it to be as cold as before. Which is probably why my poor Lennox bit the dust a bit early. I use my air from about early May until Late October in Ohio and keep it at about 68 or 69. Also. Is it ok for the outdoor unit to be a different brand from the indoor unit? Can you go up a ton and have cooler air? It is cool in our home but upstairs is always a few degrees cooler especially with this large window I have in the front of my home(maybe that is just normal). Or does that have nothing to do with it? It usually does catch up in the evening when the sun goes down though.
Thanks!
Summie

NO PRICING IN POST

[smittyii]

you gotta remove your pricing or a moderator will do it. no matter the price or the equipment, you should go with the installer who you feel will do the best job. get three quotes and do some research. i am not a brand basher, but weatherking is a lower end builders model. go with licensed pro's to do the job.

[yorkamstd123]

you should be coverd under a compressor warranty. i would start there if u must replace consider york afinity. very good unit and quiet

[m kilgore]

Please remove your pricing. It is not allowed on this site as prices vary so much across the country.

Lennox only has a 10 year parts warranty on there Signature series. Otherwise you are not under warranty.

As stated the most important thing you need to do is find a contractor that you trust. Any brand you purchase, if not installed properly, will give you years of trouble. The other thing that needs to be done is that the indoor and outdoor condensor need to be a match so you know just what SEER, capacity you will achieve. Also there will be no warranty from the manufacturer if the system is a mismatch. You can still use your old furnace if that is what you have.

It sounds like you have some comfort specifications that are some what different from the norm. The inside design temperature that is usually desired is 75 degrees. Wanting it cooler can be done but the contractor needs to know that up front and be willing to do whats needed to achieve that. If a larger unit is specified then most likely the ductwork will need to be altered. Also extra controls may be needed.

Have your contractor run a manual J to see just what size will work. Otherwise it will just be a guess.

There are many products on the market which could be used to make you more comfortable at a higher temperature also. Humidity control could help alot. Ask your contractor for a few options to achieve your comfort level.

Don't let price dictate your whole choice. Be selective as to who you let put your system in.

Good luck

[rohalon]

I'm curious as to why a compressor died at only 8 years. I'd want an answer to that before I put in a new anything.

A larger system (more tons) will only make it colder in the house if the duct work is also made larger. A/c's need a certain amount of airflow to work properly. Alot of times the duct work isn't large enough for the existing system. What happens is that 40 years ago it had a 2.5 ton and the proper size duct work and it works great. Then after 15 years of not getting any service it doesn't work so great and finally breaks, the unit gets replaced and they get upsized to 3 ton. Then after another 15 years they get upsized again to a 3.5 ton. Now the unit is so choked for air flow that it never quite works right and the compressor gets killed after 8 years and then a new installer talks the customer up another .5 ton promising it'll work better but won't do a proper load calc because the've been in the business for 40 years.

[JKopp]

"Our eight year old Lennox compressor died."

Who diagnosed this? What kind of compressor failure occurred? Shorted, grounded, open? If you are not getting any answers get a second opinion from another service tech, it could be just a bad run cap we are finding lots of units being miss diagnosed when someone says compressor died.

Some of the Lennox products have a 10 year compressor parts warranty for the original owner. Elite and Signature product come to mind. Merit is 5 yr.

[beenthere]

Don't replace the outdoor unit with out replacing the indoor coil.
You won't get the full cooling capacity of the outdoor unit. Nor will you get a compressor warranty on the new outdoor unit.

Some of your cooling problem is probably from duct design.
Some may be from lack of service. Did you have your unit cleaned and serviced every year.

[summiebee]

I am SOOOO very sorry about the pricing thing. Wehad a power outage and I was accessing from a phone and could not edit the posts and when I did get to a computer it was SO slow that it was not able to let me browse well. I do have power and cable internet access now. My apologies. It will not happen again. I feel so in the dark about this AC stuff. I appreciate all of your posts.

We had two techs out. The first one was well...I don't know what he was. He was standing inside the unit when I last saw him and he left half of the screws to screw the fan on in the mulch. The unti had shorted out a yellow wire leading to the compressor and he replaced it and got the "overload" to reset by hitting it with a hammer. It was interesting. I found out that a nice man from my daughter's school was a licensed HVAC man and does it daily for a living of course and carried Rheem and called him and he came out and worked on it yesterday and said that the compressor was "worn" and pulling too much and he has it running but it's a very temp. fix. Long enough to make a decision on what we want to do. He gave em a price for the WK unit on the ext. So I should not have said it "died".

I called Lennox yesterday and it is the unit that just has a 5 year warranty. I am looking into some other models this time with better warrantys. I again apologize for my rookie posting!
Summie

[ECIndHVAC]

If you want a unit that you can "ride hard and put away wet", then why don't you consider the Texas Furnace AC.

www dot texasfurnace dot com.

Dirt cheap, and can take more than their fair share of abuse.

[summiebee]

I've never heard of that brand. We don't really errr..."ride it hard and put it away wet." We have it serviced yearly and even though I use it often, it is Ohio and it gets a winter break. Price is always a factor I am sure for most people, but we firmly believe that you get what you pay for too. So we are willing to pay for a better machine to get the job done too. I guess what I am saying is. If a few hundred dollars will get us something better than so be it, cost is not a factor but we also do not believe in just paying way over for just a name too. I'll add it to the list of those to research. Thanks!

[ECIndHVAC]

Well, what I like most about the TFC is that it's simple and stout. It's probably about the easiest unit to service, only a few parts. And it has the Copeland Scroll compressor, pretty much the "industry standard". One thing I don't like about it is that it uses the aluminum "microchannel" condenser coil. I prefer to stay with "tried and true" technologies. But still, my uncle is a wholeseller of this equipment, so I get it very cheap

As far as quality goes, I'm sure that the Tranes, Lennoxes, et al, are technically "better" equipment. I'm sure there must be some extra charge for brand name, but it can't be THAT much. In other words, if the logo is the only thing seperating a TFC from a Trane, then Trane has a VERY expensive logo. But one thing to beware of is that these name brand units can be pretty complicated, and not many people truly know how to work on them.

My uncle still tells the story of "registered Trane dealers" who changed out THREE three phase compressors when the only problem was that one of the legs of the three phase power had a blown fuse

[sammy37]

Might I reccomend to the original poster that they stick with a better known brand.

I came accross one of these Texas Furnace units recently and was not to impressed. It might have a copeland scroll but everything else on the thing looked like imported junk, including the plastic fan blade.

If I may throw in my two cents, I would check into Rheem or Goodman for a whole complete system, condensor, coil and new furnace.

[ECIndHVAC]

Plastic fan blade was on the older 10/12 SEER units. It was a "gull wing" design.

But you're right. It's impossible to have quality without an expensive brand name, such as Goodman.

[t527ed]

what is the model # of the indoor coil??

could be a match to a current lennox unit.

if not using a lennox unit the indoor coil should be replaced to match new unit.

[sammy37]

Plastic fan blade was on the older 10/12 SEER units. It was a "gull wing" design.

But you're right. It's impossible to have quality without an expensive brand name, such as Goodman.

My reply to this thread was guiding the OP towards a more well known brand, the two of which I named, especially the Goodman, have been 100% trouble free for the many few I have installed.

The last thing I was looking for was a smartass remark from you.

[ECIndHVAC]

My motto is simple equipment for simple techs. I wouldn't take a Trane, Lennox, etc unless the techs had degrees in mechanical engineering.

The only "name brand" unit I would take from a regular tech would be a Goodman, provided it's single stage and 80%.

[beenthere]

Get prices on a matching system.

What ever brand the contractor carries will be fine.

Don't use a brand that doesn't have distributor support for parts.

Doesn't matter what the brand, if you need to wait for a part, its worthless till its running again.

[pstu]

My motto is simple equipment for simple techs. I wouldn't take a Trane, Lennox, etc unless the techs had degrees in mechanical engineering.

The only "name brand" unit I would take from a regular tech would be a Goodman, provided it's single stage and 80%.

How about if I as a customer insisted my tech not be simple? Do not agree about the engineering degree, but I do want my HVAC pro to act as a consultant. There is no substitute for good training and experience.

[ECIndHVAC]

How about if I as a customer insisted my tech not be simple? Do not agree about the engineering degree, but I do want my HVAC pro to act as a consultant. There is no substitute for good training and experience.

Depends on what you mean by "not simple." In my area, virtually NO heating contractor has a basic 4 year degree. Majority don't even have a trade school degree. Ah, the wonders of grandfathering...but that's another story. Anyway, one of these days when I have time, I'll put my advanced brainpower to use and completely dominate the local market.

[thump_rrr]

If the existing unit satisfied your cooling needs for the last 8 years I would say that the system is most probably sized correctly.
If the unit is still running it most certainly doesn't have a burnt compressor (yet).
There are many times that just a capacitor change can keep the unit running for years so unless it trips the circuit breaker or the compressor quits all together I'd take my time and study all available options.

If the condenser (outside radiator) is in good physical shape (no corrosion)
I would change the compressor itself and stay with the same unit.
The capacitor should be changed at the same time for the few dollars it costs and I'd pop in a few extra dollars and change the contactor (relay that starts the compressor) at the same time if it shows any signs of overheating.

Is the evaporator installed in a furnace or is this an attic type system.
If it is installed in a furnace what type of heating system does your house have?
Have you considered going with a heatpump which may save you some money in heating your home?

If I were to purchase a new system a Rheem is a system I like for easy access to all components for servicing the unit.

Any system you purchase if it will be run in weather below 60F should have a low ambient kit installed which will cycle the condenser fan to keep the head pressure up. It should also have a crankcase heater and high and low pressure safeties.