Hello, You did very good in keeping the condenser for 20 years. It sounds like your system was installed correctly and did not work too hard during the hot months. This is important in helping equipment last longer. Todays Hype by highly advertized brands comes with a hidden cost. Lower quality equipment. Peace of mind may dictate you replacing the system now, but keep an open mind towards repair. IMO, the older equipment from the early 1980's is probably a better machine because this was before all of the cheapening of parts. Capacitors are not oil filled, which means they have a shorter life. Condenser motors are not built as well. Stuff that was originally designed for 20 years is now lasting 5-10 years. And needs repair every 2 years or so. Electronics in the system is expensive to repair. Once again IMO the older HVAC is less efficient but cheaper to operate. Newer equipment, to maintain the quoted ratings, requires larger line sets. Although fluid mechanics design has not changed in a hundred years, the newer systems need larger lines. What this means is the lines can deliver more fluid to the evaporator, and produce more cooling. Not a larger evaporator but more flow. This is a cost vs performance decision made by marketing. Shifting part of the cost of efficiency to the consumer installation rather than larger coil area and basic equipment costs. Kinda cheating on the price quoted to consumers. TRANE and other tier 1 companies are following in MAYTAG's footsteps in designing for shorter equipment life. Maytag eventally was forced to sell. They could not keep up with warrantee repairs. Typical marketing is still claiming 20 year life to explain the payback, but in reality the calculations are skewed. Rheem, York, ICP and all of the other second tier level manufacturers probably produce equipment closer to what TRANE claims they offer, but with a lower cost. Rheem has really cornered the gas modulating furnace market. The AC side is easily serviced. The units look good. Traditionally Goodman was a product that had zero quality control. Many units I installed in the 1980-1990's had a small problem. Never the same problem, but always a problem. This added time to installations. Very frusterating on a hot summer day. Goodman is the #2 manufacturer of HVAC in America. Goodman has much better Quality control today. One recent discussion was about how Goodman could meet 13 SEER without a TXV valve. No other company regularly does this. This means fewer mechanical parts that will go bad on a hot day. This $20 OEM cost part equates to about $100 less to the consumer. Adding a TXV valve increases AC efficiency and Goodman sells the upgrade part. The size of the condenser coil is larger than normal which allows this exceptionally good design. Kinda neat. I had a repair last summer on a air handler made by a small company in Dallas. 'First company" The unit did not have a schematic so I called them, hoping to get some help. They not only had a schematic, but it was tthe same design and even wire colors for more than 20 years. I was impressed. Then they told me they made product for York. I yawned on that claim. They then told ne they were a 100 million dollar company. This is not a billion dollar business, but something to be proud of. I would highly recommend thier airhandlers. They also make several models that also have hydronic and Freon coils built into the air handler, along with strip heat. The prices are very reasonable. This can allow preheating of hot water or hydronic floor heat. This is a sleeper product. The heating of floors in your climate area is very popular. Very neat IMO.

I never really noticed the noise of the previous equipment, nor do I notice the noise of the current equipment, probably because the 2hp pool pump near them makes more noise than all of them put together (to be replaced with an energy efficient variable speed pump next month). I guess I'm happy with it, but I'll let you know in five years. Wife is not happy that new line sets were run up the outside of the house, even though they're covered (copper in walls was too small diameter).

1. The best air handler would be the TAM7 variable speed model. Another choice would be the GAM5 model. It s high efficient as well but not var speed. Major difference is better dehumidification with var speed model. AHRI ratings below. Neither reach the qualifying standard for the Fed Tax Credit. 4563201 Active Systems XR13 WEATHERTRON TRANE 4TWR3036B1 *AM7A0C36H31 1225 36000 12.00 14.50 35200 9.00 22200 1 HRCU-A-CB 300 754 4563323 Active Systems XR13 WEATHERTRON TRANE 4TWR3036B1 GAM5A0C42M31 1175 35400 12.00 14.50 34400 9.00 21800 1 HRCU-A-CB 295 754 2. $500 not more than $750 upgrade charge for XR15 3. I would not recommend any air handler other than TAM7 or GAM5 unless it was for rental property. 4. A good price for XR13 3 ton would be around 6 K in my market. Yours may be similar. 5. Obviously the efficiency of your other system is poor by today's standards. But if you are happy with comfort and operating costs are satisfactory for your budget, then I would not replace it. Those models were real dependable workhorses. Of course, I would not spend any serious money on a repair. I assume you are having a PM performed on it once a year. If not, you should with a system this age. 6. I would get a price on Trane's XB14. Not as quiet as the XR13 but with correct air handler does qualify for Fed Tax Credit. I still like Trane/ AmStd HPs and they have demand defrost which eliminates/reduces nuisance and unnecessary defrost calls. I would assume a 10 KW heat strip. I would want HW Mdl 8321 thermostat. If you don't have a media filter cabinet, I would consider one. If keeping old refrigerant lineset, it must be the correct size and flushed properly. IMO

Irina, My cat 15y/o has kidney disease and I am treating her with "Kidney Support Gold" and "Old Friend" for over a year, which can be found at: http://www.petwellbeing.com/c/cat-products/condition/kidney--renal Try also the pro-biotics, they are quite helpful. The second type of supplements I am also using is "Feline Renal Support" from Standard Process. Ask any holistic veterinarian to help you purchase it as it's only sold through veterinarians. It can also be found from Dr. Gardner, just ask the company in the link below. For food, the best I could find is a low-protein raw using a special premix which is easy to prepare, you can find it at: http://felineinstincts.com/feline-instincts-crf-my-natural-kidney-support-diet/ Contact them to help you with the recipe, because it's easy to make but is not always very clear from the instructions. This is very good food and recommend it. They also sell a pouch of Chicken liver powder to sprinkle on the raw food to help the kitty eat, and another supplement called "Rena G.O", which I am trying now. And last but not least, if your kitty is feeling unwell, give her sub-Qs fluid asap. It will help to stabilize her. All the best to you and your kitty.