You can stop a Trane

[Travst]

I bought a state of the art Carrier after my Trane went out a few years ago. I never had a problem with the Trane, but the Carrier is out every year for a few days at the height of summer when a capacitor pops. Should be any day now.

[hi-fi-dave]

I was advised against getting trane or york by one of my friends who is a heating/cooling repairman. He stated replacement parts are very expensive (about 2x as much) because you can only get them though an authorized parts dealer.

He recommended getting Amana because they are less expensive and you can get the parts at any heating cooling shop without the heavy exclusive dealer markup.

[flintstoned]

Thanks Trane!

[phishintrip007]

Trane typically makes good equipment but they also have their "contractor" grade equipment like anyone else. And yes, they buttrape you on service and replacement parts. That said, I ended up going with a high efficiency American Standard (basically a Trane with a different name) and it did cut our A/C bill by 1/3. It also has a variable speed blower so half the time you don't even know it's on. I really liked that feature. I had an old Carrier before that and that thing lasted for 15 years which is about all you can ask out of a residential unit around here. I always tell people go for something higher than the cheapest unit possible since one step up on cost usually means going up 3 in quality and then also get the extended warranty. If someone stands behind their compressor for 10 years (York) over 5 years (most others) then I think it says something. Although I designed a job for Area Housing (333 units) and York got the job; compressors are great, uses a orifice instead of a txv, and control boards burning up right and left, wtf.

That said, if Trane is taking forever or trying to rape you on cost, I would likely see if Copeland has a replacement that would work. I mean in residential world a 2 1/2 ton unit is pretty much a 2 1/2 ton unit. Although if your running 410A that stuff is squirrely but still they probably have a replacement. Copeland is killing it with their digital scrolls in the commercial market right now. They make quality stuff.

It's hard to say who has a good unit nowadays. So much crap being made overseas, people like Lennox and others trying to cheat on the tube wall thickness to meet new efficiency standards, TXV valves that fail and can't handle the higher pressures of 410A, etc. It is unfortunate that the quality made anything is pretty tough to find now cause you can buy 9 of them from China and even if 5 fail it was probably cheaper than the one quality unit or at least cheaper for companies to warranty.

[rob2001]

The record heat we're having may have something to do with parts being scarce.