Coleman?

[tnnewguy]

First off, I don't know much about HVAC systems as this is a first time purchase and am having a hard time finding research on the different brands. I know I need a 2.5 ton, 12 SEER unit as my house is 1350 sq. ft. I have had good bids from several experienced contractors that all have their own brand preferences. I have narrowed it down to Coleman, Carrier and Heil. The Coleman is by far the best price but I have not heard much about them. I would like to get more input from other homowners or professionals and was happy to find this site. Please let me know what you have heard about Coleman units - are they reliable, quiet, easy to get parts for, etc. Any information would be helpful as this is a major purchase and confusing for me. Thanks in advance for your response.

[sparks]

Coleman's are made by york. They are there low end units, hence the price. I like the carriers myself. JMHO

The install is the most imporant aspect, much more imporant than equipment name or price. Find a grade A installer go with that guy. Any unit properlly installed and professionally maintained will last. Period.

Screw the install up and all will fail quickly and costly!!

[tnnewguy]

The company that gave me a quote on the Coleman, Heil and Carrier said all are good brands depending on the person's needs. They were great to work with and were willing to show me some of their work in my neighborhood and surrounding area. I am just one of those people that have to do the research to justify the purchase. In this case I am over my head. I have a packaged unit as it is an old house that is already set up this way - but the duct work is in great shape. I just wanted more feedback on the Coleman, Carrier or Heil from several people that install or own them. To get the pros and cons. Agreed - the product is not as important as the install or company that backs the product and install. Thanks for the info.

[Shophound]

See kcrossley's thread for an example of good equipment being installed poorly. That Trane system he's having put in is their higher end stuff, but the way it's being installed will just about guarantee that it will perform more poorly than the lowest end builder model Coleman installed superbly.

The other very important factor is that the equipment is sized properly for your home. Only a proper heat load calculation done can determine this.

[retired btc]

A Couple of other things that you can do besides making sure a proper load calculation was done to determine the right size unit, whether they be Carrier, Heil or Coleman ( By the way if you enter those names in your search engine you can browse their sites for products ), Ask for referances and contact those ppl to see how their units are operating and how the follow up service has been. Contact The Better Business Bureau to see if they have had any complaints against them, there is no shame in researching before you lay out hard earned money on a system. I have owned or installed Heil/Tempstar, Carrier/Bryant, Ruud/Rheems and have not found to have a lot of complaints from them but that is just my opinion and experience with those products !

[tnnewguy]

Thanks for the info. I will check with the BBB and see if the company has any complaints. Is there a way to find out how quiet a unit is when running as I noticed Carrier was the only one printing it runs at 75db - I know this is picky but I am a light sleeper and the old unit would wake me up when it kicked on. Is this more the unit or the install or both? I can only find the basics on the product websites. Any ideas where to find more details?

[ac in bc]

Make sure your unit has a compresser blanket or get it as a option and it cuts down on noise

[Midwest]

Coleman: Quiet- no way, unless you opt for the Echelon models. Reliable- I guess their not too bad historcially, speaking. Insulation blanket as earlier mentioned will help with condensor sounds. Due to less insulation/ sound deadening, lighter metal housings, etc. they cost a little (and I mean very little) less.

Let's step back to the equipment sizing for a moment. "I know I need a 2.5 ton 12 SEER unit as my house is 1350 sq. ft." Hopefully, some square-foot-rule of thumb was not used to calculate equipment needs. While they may get lucky once in a while, make sure they put a little more consideration into it than simply the area of the home. There are so many other factors to consider also. Greg

[djd1atwfu]

Just a homeowner (and lurker) here, but I have had a 12 seer, 2.0 ton Coleman heat pump in my townhouse for around 4 years now, and it has performed flawlessly (as I expected). When the compressor in my old system (a GE) died, I decided to replace the whole system based mostly on the advice in this forum. There wasn't much discussion of Coleman models here, just brands in general. As everyone here recommended, I purchased this model due to my contractor's excellent reputation, although I didn't buy it for the Coleman brand specifically. He had also spec'd out a slightly cheaper Goodman, and a more expensive Trane model. Another contractor recommended a Carrier to me, but that guy didn't look at my ductwork or size anything, so I didn't go with him. This guy (company) wasn't cheap, but they have an excellent reputation, and so I went with them.

When I asked him point blank about quality, the installer told me that a Coleman was comparable to a Chevrolet (a standard model without a ton of frills), but durable and reliable if well taken care of. He did say that his installation was most important, and he also told me that if something did break, it would be easier (and thus cheaper) to repair than a pricier model with lots of features and frills. He did tell me that the Trane air handler would probably be a little quieter, but other than that, they were similar for what I would notice.

I wouldn't call my heat pump whisper quiet, but it's not really noisy, either. It's located in a central closet on the lower level, and all the ductwork is in between the 1st and second floor, save for the one return. It's a small (1200 sq foot) townhouse. As a result, it is very quiet upstairs, but much more noticeable downstairs. It's not any louder than the previous one, so I was fine with it. The outdoor unit doesn't seem any louder when running than my neighbors Trane. My condensor is physically much larger than my neighbor's Trane, but that wasn't a big deal.

I didn't need anything fancy, but wanted a good, dependable system that would last, and would be more energy efficient. My power bill dropped by about 30-40% with this system, so I was extremely happy about that. Interestingly enough, when I asked the installer about maintenance, he just said "if I do my job right, you won't need any." He told me that I would be smart to have it looked at maybe every 2-3 years, but if I change the filter religiously (and I do) it shouldn't need anything else. The last time it was serviced (by the same company, but a different tech) he said everything looked great. The company gave me a 2 year warranty on all parts and labor (included in price), and I think the manufacturer has a 5 or 10 year warranty on the compressor (but can't remember).

[sayco bob]

I have some great camping equipment by Coleman