Opinions - Trane vs York

[matth56]

Well I've had a few companies come out and the lowest two bids were from a York dealer and a Trane dealer. Both companies have been around 60+ years and I get a good feeling out of both of them. The biggest difference, which I'm sure you probably guessed, is price. The York is about 25% cheaper than the Trane.

This would be for a 2-stage 80% furnace and 12 SEER A/C unit.

I know most of you pros out there say to go with the company, versus the brand, but any thoughts on it when they are both pretty equivalent with price being the only difference? Is the Trane really worth that much more in a house that I'll probably be living in for about 4-5 more years?

Thanks for the comments.

[BobbyBJr]

Well, I see alot of Trane and it is pretty good stuff. I haven't seen much York over the past few years, but I hear alot of good things about their new lines. In fact, we just quoted and got a job using York equipment. I have always said I could install and make them all give reasonable service and last a decent length of time. One thing you might ask is if either can quote the same brand, so it would be apples to apples, but if not, either brand properly designed and installed will give good service.

Bobby

[matth56]

Bobby,

One dealer does York/Lennox exclusively and the other is Trane/Bryant exclusively.

Another difference I forgot to mention was that the Trane guy suggested a 2.5 ton unit versus the 2 ton unit I have now. I have a 1500 sq ft house, concrete slab, 1.5 stories (top floor has 2 bedrooms and 1 bath, mostly above the garage). There are 7 ducts downstairs and 3 upstairs with 1 return vent on each floor. I have issues with the upstairs cooling well, though I'm considering the VS furnace to assist with that.

Thanks

[BaldLoonie]

Everyone has their own opinion on product. If you are looking at York Stellar or Affinity A/C (not the builder Olympian) and their 2 stage furnace, they are comparable to Trane. Any price difference should be the dealer. One may price higher or be doing different work. Go through both bids make sure work is identical. If Trane dealer is 2.5 ton and York is 2 ton, there's a few bucks there.

[matth56]

BaldLoonie,

The 12 SEER is the Latitude line. The contractor offered me a 12 SEER Latitude for about the same price as a 10 SEER Stellar.

[beenthere]

If he is a liberty dealer, York has a rebate from now till Nov 30, makes the Affinity line more affordable.



What model Trane was quoted.

[BaldLoonie]

I can't keep track of their name game.

The mid line, used to be Stellar anyway, is the HDH unit. The builder line, used to be Olympian, is the HRC. That's a rather cheaply built unit. Maybe they are now calling it the Latitude. The good stuff is the Affinity. That would be the CMA series. Nice unit, quiet.

To me, the HDH or CMA would be fine competitors to the XR12. The XB line would still be better built than the HRC. Worth considerably more than an XB system? No.

But as been asked, which Choo Choos are being quoted? And check into the rebate on the Affinity he mentioned.

[beenthere]

Yea, Latitude is the builder grade now, atleast for this year

[Edited by beenthere on 10-04-2005 at 05:25 AM]

[matth56]

The furnace I'm looking at is the Affinity line. The A/C is the Latitude 12 SEER (versus the Stellar 10 SEER).

I see they do have a $75 rebate on the 2-stage and a $150 rebate on the VS models in the 80% AFUE.

I've not heard of the Liberty line.

[heatpumpguru]

What Trane xr12??????????????Xv80 or XL80???

[Christheheatingdude]

Pretty much all of the brands have a rebate going on now. Depending on the Trane unit you are getting, you could get some cash back as well.

[beenthere]

Originally posted by matth56


I've not heard of the Liberty line.

Liberty is a dealer listing, not a product.

The rebate is from York through Liberty dealers.

[matth56]

heatpumpguru:

The Trane model is the XL80 furnace and XB10 A/C (10 SEER) or XR11 (11.5 SEER).

beenthere:

What did you mean by liberty as the builder's grade? The contractor was the one who mentioned the rebate to me in the first place.

Chris:

It looks like I could get $100 rebate for the XV80, $50 for the XL80.

Thanks all for the comments here.

[beenthere]

Typo, I meant latitude.

[BaldLoonie]

Remember that the XR11 is only 11.5 SEER with special expensive coil & hard start kit. I doubt that's what you are getting, figure it to be 10 SEER also.

[heatpumpguru]

The xr11 does have a 10 year warranty on the compressor XB10 has 5,I would go with the xv80 just a nicer furnace.

[matth56]

It looks like my best deal money wise so far is the York. I have the following options of furnaces to match with a Latitude 12 SEER A/C:

2-stage Diamond
2-stage Affinity
2-stage/VS Affinity.

From the base price, of the 2-stage Affinity, I'd save about 3% going to the Diamond, or I could pay about 12% more to go to the VS. To get the VS, that would still be about 25% less than the Trane.

Right now I'm leaning towards the VS furnace for the potential benefits for cooling eveness given the duct system I currently have. Does this sound reasonable given the price premium?

[beenthere]

Yes, you won't regret going to the VS blower.

Have them install a TXV, hard start kit, and a humidistat also, for the a/c.

[matth56]

A bit of an update. Apparently the 80% 2-stage VS furnace is not available yet in the York Affinity line. My contractor offered the Lennox G60-UHV-36A-070 in its place for the same price. The main difference between the two furnaces is the BTU. The York 2-stage (non VS) would be as follows:

York: 80/53 Input BTU
Lennox: 66/45 Input BTU

The York would be a 2-stage, multispeed blower and the Lennox would be a 2-stage, VS blower.

I live in the Midwest, with winters rarely getting below 0 and averaging 25-35 or so.

The current furnace is rated at 75 BTU. Do you guys believe the decreased BTU to be a major factor (the furnace being perhaps a bit undersized or right at the sized amount) for a 1500 sq foot house?

Thanks

[BaldLoonie]

The Lennox size probably is fine. Getting that furnace for price of 2 stage non variable is a steal.