Wow. I feel like a total sucker now. I have 2 estimates for Carrier equipment, each from a Northern NJ contractor: Estimate 1: AC 2.5 Ton 15 SEER 24APA530 Coil CNPVP3017ATA Furnace 70kBTU/80% 58CVA070-14 Honeywell Vision Pro Thermostat Honeywell HE-265 Humidifier Aprilaire 2200 air filter Replace chimney liner $10,347 Estimate 2 Same ac Same coil Same furnace Replace chimney liner Thermostat unknown no filter no humidifier $10,056 Estimate 3 (Lennox) AC: 2.5 ton 13 SEER (Variable Speed) Coil: C33-31 Furnace: 90k BTU 80% AFUE Thermo: Honeywell PRO 4000 Aprilaire 400 Humidifier Chimney liner replacement $9,610 These include installation into existing forced hot air duct system.

The EER would be a more accurate indicator of energy usage if you lived in an area where it was 95 degrees everyday of the cooling season. The SEER measurement tries to take into account that the temperature will vary. There are simple formulas to convert one value to the other. The US Government only mandates a minimum SEER rating. There are no requirements for EER. The AC manufacturers tend to tout their SEER ratings to a point customers think they are buying a SEER rating and not an AC system. When doing a comparison of two AC systems you can use either the SEER or EER rating to get a relative cost differential. Unfortunately you don't get the full percentage savings since a significant amount of cooling is lost through the duct work. You should only use the comparison as a rough guide. The most important information you need in my opinion is the annual cooling costs. It seems most homeowners don't know how much it costs to cool and heat their houses. Once you know the energy costs then you can make a decision whether it makes financial sense to buy more efficient equipment, add more insulation, or both.

12" return is almost definitely too large for the basement. I have a 6" return in my basement, and I have actually found it to draw ~200-240 cfm (using a barometer) -- plenty in my case with just a few supply outlets. In your case, I have no way of knowing for sure, but I assume it's piped directly (or near) to the inlet of the furnace blower compartment, in which case there is a lot of pressure and it's sucking in a lot of air and making the basement quite negative (not a good thing). So your basement return in that state may have been drawing close to, if not more than, half of the return air the entire system requires. Is the basement floorplan open to the rest of the home or closed off? If typically closed off, I wouldn't be surprised if the basement door had a tendency to close itself when the system was operating. I suppose putting cardboard over half of the grille is one way to reduce its intake capacity. Your older furnace does not (presumably) have a variable speed blower that will vary its RPM in order to maintain a specific CFM setting. That means that while you are noticing more airflow from the rest of the returns throughout the home, in totality your system is receiving less airflow -- no, not a good thing considering your ductwork is likely undersized to begin with. You have decreased its return capacity. To get the SAME (total) airflow from the rest of the returns throughout the home that were not previously drawing as much air generally requires the system to operate at an increased static; with older PSC type blower motors (non variable-speed), this results in decreased airflow. Hence variable speed motors are often termed "constant CFM" as they can adjust (increase) their speed to maintain a constant airflow (cfm) when subjected to as much as 0.8-1.0" of external static pressure (vs. conventional blowers max. of 0.5", which many duct systems are nowhere close to achieving despite it being the standard "design" figure). You can think of the ESP number as a measure of resistance to airflow, in a sense. The fact that you say the (supply?) ductwork is now much warmer is both concerning and telling. It is unwise for me to say much more than that as I am not there to evaluate your system design and give an accurate assessment of the ductwork design/layout, etc. But it suffices to say, with the info you've provided us, your return ductwork is now more restrictive, which would exacerbate any existing airflow issues. You do say it met the set point without tripping the high limit. Please let us know how the system performs as it gets colder out and the system runs more often in its present state. I would like to ask what made you consider replacing the systems (and proceeding to get 8 proposals) in the first place? Are there functional problems with the existing equipment (besides most likely being oversized) or other comfort issues? By now we have at least established that it is likely the existing equipment is a bit oversized and the existing ductwork is marginal -- but that is (unfortunately) exceedingly common on most residential construction. Are you after more efficiency, better comfort, both? It helps us to help you when we know more about your current system's performance. Lastly, I would not factor online reviews into your decision too much. An air conditioner or furnace is not like most appliances (such as a refrigerator) in that the installation practices and quality can make or break even the best equipment selection. There is a good chance that many (but not all) of the negative reviews you read were due to installation errors. This post was edited by ryanhughes on Fri, Nov 22, 13 at 9:51

The Serial number of the unit in question doesn't lie, but those offering up excuses after the fact probably will. Either to save their own face, soothe your feelings or a little of both. Bigger companies with ample warehouse space often times buy up large quantities of equipment. America is currently built by selling as much of a particular item all at once instead of 'one at a time'. They do this because they marginally get better prices than buying just one thing at a time. Why every time you see an infomercial selling something they tell you can get 2 for the price of 1, for an additional fee. You buy in bulk and you get a marginally better price for buying more. However, this isn't as great as it seems when it comes to HVAC equipment & warranty related trouble. The more space you have the more over head you have so unless you are actually moving the equipment (which often times does not occur) you wind up with a warehouse full of old equipment. Hopefully this doesn't mean used or some other situation. Plus on top of all that taxes on that in stock equipment take a good bite out of what kind of deal they think they are getting by buying in bulk. If they are moving the equipment (only then) does it work. People see this type of thing a mile away... (when it becomes all about selling new equipment) then everything and any thing becomes a case for replacing the equipment instead of repairing it. While true the warranty would still be valid, in theory you can read any manufacturer warranty fine print and 'if' a start up date can not be determined said manufacturer will only give you probably not more than 90 days from the date code within the serial number. It might be as little as 60 days from the date code. So as an example: if the unit was made in April 2015, was properly registered and installed in 2019 the recorded time is in the hands of manufacturer and their validation systems. If you lose that start up paper work, you could get swindled out of it. Because the serial number doesn't lie, that is why. If the unit was not registered and installed in 2019 the warranty is reduced to 5 years which should be 2024, but because the serial number doesn't lie and there is no record of when the install occurred other than paper work. Well this is how people lose. Under this possible scenario the unit would be out of warranty by the end of this month. (Unit made in 2015, installed in 2019 and not registered... good luck trying to get that honored by Carrier. I wouldn't touch that with a 10 foot pole.) Due to the serial number, they would likely claim you are lying. Carrier equipment is a pain to do any warranty claim for. So the odds are you lose, by default. This is how it works from someone who actually files warranty claims on equipment failures. Circa 2020. I buy equipment only after you put a deposit on it... in most cases 99% of the time it is fresh off the factory floor. On rare occasion it might be 1.5 years old. Meaning instead of current year, it's previous year made. I service the Katy, Texas area.