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Heating & Air Conditioning

single stage or two stage out door unit

14 years ago

just in case this was not posted. xli single tage or performance 2 stage. what is the difference in these units performing. not a $ issue. how do they differ in heating or cooling . thank u !! that is trane xli15 and carrier performance 16 . sorry thank u.

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Comments (3)

ryanhughes
14 years ago
I like the Trane better. The Carrier is a fine piece of equipment, but the turndown on low stage is really only around 80% of full capacity, so not a huge difference. If you had the Infinity control, may be more incentive, but I think Trane has a better fit/finish/construction quality. My opinion. Either will do you good service if it is installed and maintained properly. Hope this helps, but I know I didn't really lead you in any solid direction. You should focus on the better contractor. Does the Carrier cost more? Hard to justify such a cost difference for a 2-stage unit that performs little different from a single stage unit. Unless of course you had the Infinity control, which helps with dehumidification.
carl883
Original Author
14 years ago
this is the same contractor. just giving me the option.the difference is $200 dollars.I am using my thermostat from BG AND E.I get a $12.00 dollar discount every month for the summer.
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Its a matter of comfort, not efficiency. The two stage will cycle fewer times and maintain a more even temperature with smaller swings. The variable speed blower will be much less obtrusive in its on/off cycles, ramping up to its run speed and ramping back down. Easier to adjust to the correct CFM for a specific installation as well. The Trane and American Standard furnace/AC are generally the same as are from the same manufacturer although each has some models the other does not. Our AS unit with 2 stage furnace, 2 stage AC and variable speed blower has worked well and uses considerably less electricity than the 10 year old Bryant on the other half of our home.
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Your post is a little confusing. It is not clear which equipment is for the first floor and which is the second floor. I think it is this: 1st floor: Comfortmaker G114000075-12M Rheem Classic X - RPKA030jaz 2nd floor: Rheem Criterion II - 80 afue Amana Distinctions - CKL24-IL - 1.5 ton There is nothing wrong with having one furnace be a single stage, and the other furnace being a 2-stage. The multiple stages are for comfort. A variable speed furnace will allow you get a more efficient AC. This would be attractive for your hot summers. If you are going to have only one 2-stage furnace, then it should be the one you use the most. I would think that would be the first floor furnace. You have mismatched equipment which means the efficiency is unknown. The proposed furnaces seem oversized. It could be these are the smallest sizes Rheem offers, or the smallest with the required blowers for the AC. I think the Rheem Classic X - RPKA030jaz is a 2.5 ton heat pump. The proposal is to replace it with a 1.5 ton unit. Did the contractor do a Manual J calculation to confirm the sizes?
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Thanks for the comments tigerdunes. We've been over this quite a bit already. The pricing is average for the North East....labor rates tend to be quite high and the $600 rebate makes the price of the furnaces excellent. I obviously have two stage thermostats and the sizes of the furnaces were decided after heat loss calculations. I live in an older home in a cold climate and my calculations were within 10% of my contractor's. The calculation for my two floor unit came in at 75kBTUs. The contractor initially wanted to install a 100kBTU unit, but I talked him down to 80kBTU. The furnace for the renters below me is a bit large, but it was the smallest two stage available from American Standard. I thought about installing a 92% efficient 40kBTU single stage furnace with selectable motor speed, but as the 60kBTU two stage with variable speed motor was the same price after the rebate I went with that one.so that both furnaces essentially the same and to get the variable speed blower. I imagine having the second stage will also be nice on very cold mornings.
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"The biggest cost in operating a furnace is the electricity that a fan uses. " I think your math is waay off. Read Mike's description above for what a multistage system offers. He prefers them, I personally don't but i also don't live in a humid summer climate. If I did, I might share his view. Here's an example for the money calculation. - My furnace's blower seems to be between 500-600 watts. Let's be generous and round it up to 1000 watts. Operating for one hour would be 1 kilowatt hour, which at my top tiered rate is 30 cents. Remember we rounded up. And in most parts of the US, this number averages about 15 cents and can be much less. My furnace is 120K btu/hr, input. Let's round that DOWN to 100K btu/hr. At the top tier, I pay over $1.50 per therm (which is 100 btus) but lets round that down too to $1.20. Operating my furnace for one hour costs $1.20 for gas, 30 cents for electricity. The real electricity number is less because I rounded up, and the real gas number is more because i rounded down. Did I get something wrong?
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tigerdunes
14 years ago
carl
first, I have never been a big fan of two stg condensers AC or HP because of the price and marginal comfort and operating cost improvement. the main exception would be in a zoning application with zoning controls.

the XL15i HP is one of the best sgl stg condensers on the market. there are two major reasons I like the XL15i pumps. this winter, the Atlantic states, South and Southeast were hit by major snow/ice storms. The XL15i has Trane's proprietary top which helps the condenser fan from freezing up. There were a lot of HPs that were simply overwhelmed by these storms and had to go to straight emergency electric backup. And then there is "electronic demand defrost" feature which eliminates unnecessary and nuisance defrost calls unlike time/temp defrost. I do recommend a staged heat strip. I know Trane has two sizes, a 7/12 KW and a 10/15 KW. You want a stat that has "dehumidify on demand" feature like HW VisionPro IAQ.

as I have said before, good equipment, good install, good ductwork system will make a happy homeowner.

I refer you back to my checklist from your other threads.

using an old thermostat on either of these systems is a mistake. you want a stat that has "DOD" feature.

IMO
Good Luck!

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