Carrier System Guidance

[AFChief76]

I have a 3,000 sq ft home...two stories...four bedrooms and two baths upstairs...downstairs is very comfortable but upstairs has been traditionally (last three yrs) warm tot he point I need window A/C units in bedroom windows to supplement central air. I've been working with a local Carrier dealer and have built a true level of trust with him to purchase a system. We've done several things to rectify current cooling problems upstairs to include blocking downstairs returns to force upstairs (one in the hallway) return to pull ot air, increased insulation in upstairs attic to reduce hot air pushing into bedrooms, and two thermostate exhaust vents to push more hot air outof attic. I'm at the point to buy a new system and have a quote for Carrier Infinity system; Air Handler: FE5ANB004 and Heat Pump: 25HNA636 giving me 16.6 SEER, 12.6 EER, & 9 HSPF. He believes this will take care of my problem but pauses when I ask for a guarantee to this having to fix my problem or come take it out! he says he could fix it for sure with "zoning" for an additiona $0...not sure what to do?

[uatech43]

have him install an entire separate unit for the upstairs and be done with it. a nice split heat pump in that well insulated attic should do the trick. zoning would probably work, but it is nice to have 2 units. when one breaks you can escape to the other side of the house until the service guy shows up

[Bubbleheadski]

Zoning ductwork can be an expensive "fix". It can work great... but it has to be designed correctly. Load calc is critical! Airflow is Critical!
I agree with UATech.... just make the upstairs a separate system.

[srmfsr]

Two separate systems. Why pay to run a large unit when either the up or downstairs is calling. For the cost of zoning, you can or real close, have two systems.

[dash]

Two floors,two systems or two zones,zoning is the best,with a two stage system that you hve choosen.

Zoning can be manual dampers in the trunk duct for each floor,kinda a pan,but can add zoning dampers dwn the road.

[tedkidd]

have him install an entire separate unit for the upstairs and be done with it. a nice split heat pump in that well insulated attic should do the trick. zoning would probably work, but it is nice to have 2 units. when one breaks you can escape to the other side of the house until the service guy shows up

I'd go the other way. I don't want to have 2 chevy's instead of one mercedes when two vehicles aren't called for. You are going to buy a whole extra system for the one day every 6 years the equipment breaks down? Now you are servicing 2 pieces of equipment, replacing them. Get multi stage heating and cooling.

With zoning you can control MORE than 2 areas. I recently installed a 5 zone Infinity system. Homeowner is ecstatic. Each zone can be controlled from one stat, his home computer, iPhone, or from work.

Often little tricks like closing bedroom doors, running the fan continuous, etc... can dramatically improve your issue. Figure out what's going on in the home, try some things so you have an understanding under different conditions, THEN look for solutions.

Often when we have a problem and spend little effort diagnosing the true cause, we are very disappointed with the "prescribed solution".