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dkyork

builder giving me the mcds dollar menu hvac system?

dkyork
13 years ago

Hey everybody, I'm getting built a new 3400 sq. foot Ranch home and want to make sure my builder is offering a reliable and efficient heating and cooling system for the home. I was hoping you guys could tell me if what my builder is giving me any good? So far my research has told me it is the low end Trane equipment and I can do much better, but I don't know if the costs will kill me. The builder just keeps throwing me one line upcharges for things and I think he's doing a pretty big markup on it. IE. he said it would be 1190 per zone just to get to 90 AFUE furnaces and another 1k for variable speed furnace. So does that mean if I go from xb80 to vx90, it would be $2190 per zone! seems like a lot! Not sure if I can do anything about it, but it sure would be nice if I knew how much the actual upgrade costs were from his standard XB 80 furnace to what I want. I haven't even asked about upgrading the AC from XB13 to XL15i or XL16i yet. I'll paste in the research that I've done tonight and can use any pointers on what systems I should be looking at and what you think I will expect to pay in upgrade charges. He uses Trane, so I'd like to stick to that for now, it's complicated enough as is! lol One note, he did offer Carrier a month ago, but for some reason he's changing brands. He didn't tell me why, but maybe Carrier went up in cost?

HVAC Research

What was originally quoted:

Zone 1 (Master Bedroom, Master Bath, Two bedrooms, Hallway Bathroom.

Furnace: TUE1A060a9361A Model (XB80) 2.5 Ton unit

47000 BTU 80 AFUE

AC Unit: 4TTB3030A1000A Model (XB13) AC Unit 2.5 Ton

R-410A refigerant

Coil: 4TXCB031BC3HCA

Robertshaw 9600 Thermostat

Zone 2 (TV Room, Dining Room, Kitchen, Utility Bedroom, Bath, Laundry)

Furnace: TUE1B080A9481A Model (XB80) 3.5 Ton unit

64000 BTU 80 AFUE

AC Unit: 4TTB3042A1000B Model (XB13) AC Unit 3.5 Ton

R-410A refigerant

Coil:4TXCA042BC3HCA

Robertshaw 9600 Thermostat

Coils are coils, should remain the same even when upgrading the AC unit outside?

The 4TXC models seem sufficient?

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What I was looking at getting, what are your thoughts?:

Furnace: XV95 or XV90I(Might be higher cost, as it includes the CleanEffects system. The normal XV90 systems were discontinued)

Both have Variable Speed fan motor, Two stage heat, Comfort-R humidity control(Not a humidifier, but varies the air flow to control humidity to some degree)

AC Unit: XL15I minimum (4TTX5030A and 4TTX5042A) or XL16I has two stage compressor

(Tons are whole numbers only though, can we size this to the house?)

Thermostat: XL800 Series(803 has humidity sensor)

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