"The last time it acted up i checked and had the 24 volts coming from the thermostat to the board but no voltage from the board to the contactor which is what made me think a pressure switch may be locking the voltage out" I want to be clear about something... When you say "the board", do you mean the control board that sits inside your furnace\blower? If so, that's what I mean as well. That board does a lot of things (including the timed shut-off delay mentioned below) but as far as I know, all it does to turn the condenser unit on or off is sent 24 volts over two lines to the unit, specifically the contactor within the unit. There certainly may be more complicated control systems out there but that's the way traditional A\C systems were set up. In such systems, the control board has absolutely no idea of what any "pressure switch" inside the condenser unit is doing, no idea of whether you have no coolant in the lines, no idea of any sort of problem or situation that might exist within the condensing unit. When that control board wants to turn on the condenser unit, it simply sends 24 volts down those little wires. If you turn your thermostat down far enough to signal that you want the room cooler, the thermostat sends a signal to the control board in the furnace, which then turns the blower on by the coils, and then sends the 24 volts to the condensing unit. If in fact you have "no voltage from the board to the contactor" despite you adjusting the thermostat to start the cooling cycle, then your first concern would be to understand why the board or the wires from the board aren't working properly. If, on the other hand, you mean some sort of control board within the condenser unit itself, one that acts as a second brain (third if you count the thermostat) in the system and takes into account information from within the condenser such as high and low pressure readings before sending the 24 volts along to the contactor, then sure, you might well have an issue with that particular board or the pressure sensors or perhaps a whole bunch of things. Don't know. What I do know is that if you are indeed talking about this sort of internal control within the condenser itself and when you think it should be triggering the contactor but you can't detect any juice between the internal board and the contactor, then your problem isn't the contactor. The only way you can determine whether a contactor is bad is to send 24 volts to it. If you do that but the 220 volt lines within the unit aren't energized, then it's the contactor and indeed, because contactor issues can be all about carbon buildup on the contacts, you might have the symptoms you describe. But if the contactor isn't getting the 24 volts at all, you need to look for another answer. I strongly suggest that you turn this over to a repair tech given that you're no longer talking about replacing a $12 contactor in 15 minutes. Nick in Palm Springs

Appliances which run on 220v don't require a ground wire to operate. The ground is for safety and should be used though, should a compressor or other component short out. Your probably not getting 220v to the unit, 24v to the contactor or the contactor is bad. Other things are, a pressure switch has it off, the thermostat isn't operating properly, a broken wire or another control that's open. You might consider calling a pro if your not familiar with electricity and the system should be checked out to encrease it's performance and life.

weedmeister see furnace xv80 ..80% gas furnace. have you asked about American Standard? Am St & Trane are same mfg, more bells and whistles with trane. I see no mention of duct sealing. if you seal the ductwork, supply boxes and return airs then you get more of the air you are paying to heat and cool into your house. on an average we find 30% duct leakage. but you have to test to know what your amount of leakage is. otherwise its just a wag. no mention of loac calculation either.. 7 tons is a LOT for 2700sq ft. even with bad rule of thumb sizing of 500 sq ft per ton its big. when units are oversized they short cycle. meaning they don't run long enough to remove humidity. as it costs more for unit to start up as compared to what it costs for it to run. you want less start up and long run time. short cycling adds to your operating costs. equipment life is shortened. smaller units, sized with load calcs save you on equipment costs, but more importantly utility costs and more dehumidification. dehumidification is very important in our climate. one way to deal with oversizing is variable speed units. these units have the capacity to heat/cool on the 10 days a year you have lots of company, but also run in low speed for the rest of the time. low speed removes more humidity, and increases the efficiency. I find 15 to 17 SEER to be our sweet spot. less and operating costs are high, dehumidification is less. higher SEER has diminishing return on roi. have a conversation with the company about variable speed. dehumidification needs, smaller equipment and mastic sealing of ductwork. if they want a satisfied customer they will be willing to spend a bit more time on your install. you might also explore the option of heat pumps. the upcharge will be less than gas furnace. but will depend on electrical capacity & configuration. the ducts and heating system are in the attic? best of luck.

codeslinger First off,I am not a Trane basher. I live about 1 1/2 hrs down 26 from your area and have a Trane dual fuel system. But I would not have the XL16i for several reasons. 1.efficiency numbers are poor for such high end HVAC 2.performance numbers for both heating and cooling BTUs are very poor. 3.I don't believe Trane recommends the XL16i for zoning-it has about 70-100 split between low and high stage. 4.There are just too many anecdotal stories about issues relating to the XL16i. 5.The HW VisionPro IAQ feature "dehumidify on demand" is not compatible for the XL16i which is important for your area/climate. See below AHRI Performance numbers for various configurations. XL16i HP with matching var spd air handler 1236563 Active Systems XL16I WEATHERTRON TRANE 4TWX6024B1 4TEE3D31A1 22800 12.00 16.00 20000 8.25 12100 1236565 Active Systems XL16I WEATHERTRON TRANE 4TWX6024B1 4TEE3D37A1 22800 11.80 15.75 20000 8.50 11000 1 1106622 Active Systems XL16I WEATHERTRON TRANE 4TWX6024B1 4TEE3F31B1 22800 12.00 16.00 20000 8.35 12100 1 1106624 Active Systems XL16I WEATHERTRON TRANE 4TWX6024B1 4TEE3F37B1 22800 12.00 16.00 20000 8.50 11000 1 Good SEER-that's about all now the numbers for the XL15i 1383387 Active Systems XL15I WEATHERTRON TRANE 4TWX5024A1 4TEE3D31A1 25200 12.90 15.00 24000 8.50 14000 1 1383389 Active Systems XL15I WEATHERTRON TRANE 4TWX5024A1 4TEE3D37A1 24000 12.50 14.75 23600 8.50 13400 1 1383391 Active Systems XL15I WEATHERTRON TRANE 4TWX5024A1 4TEE3F31B1 25200 13.00 15.25 24000 8.60 13900 1 1383393 Active Systems XL15I WEATHERTRON TRANE 4TWX5024A1 4TEE3F37B1 24400 12.90 15.00 23800 8.30 13600 1 1382158 Active Systems XL15I WEATHERTRON TRANE 4TWX5024A1 4TEE3F39A1 25000 13.00 16.00 24000 9.00 13800 much better EER and cooling/heating BTUs for the XL15i and if you have the space, the 4TEE3F39A1 air handler configuration offers the best XL15i system configuration now take a look at Carrier's sgl stg Performance 15 with Infinity Air Handler and Controller 1125333 Active Systems PERFORMANCE 15 PURON HP CARRIER AIR CONDITIONING 25HPA524H30 FE4AN(B,F)003+UI 23400 13.00 15.50 24000 9.00 15100 1 not shabby numbers either. I agree with Ryan's comments. As far as Clean Effects and EACs, I see no problem as the fire related issue has been resolved. There may be a small price advantage for the built-in Clean Effects. As far as the performance/efficiency numbers, there is no difference. I am not a fan of EACs because of maintenance/cleaning responsibilities for the homeowner. There is something to say about the old adage "keep it simple". Most homeowners will not adhere to properly maintaining EACs. For over 99% of homes, a good 4-5" pleated media filter cabinet MERV 10 is more than adequate for IAQ and protecting blower motor and evap coil. Changeout is up to one yr interval, takes a couple of minutes, and is very easy. Foe two systems, you should be able to negotiate a good price on the 10 yr ext warranty-parts and labor. A price below $1k for two systems would be good. Ductwork install is relatively cheap as long as its sized correctly and insulated properly=R8. I see no reason to zone one room as long as it receives the recommended CFMs to match the load. I would want to see a written copy of Man J and Man D and review with dealer. If you do decide on the XL15i, you should insist on the HW VP IAQ stat. IMO