Question:
I am your customer and I need a quote for an air conditioner in
Metro Denver. The house is ~1900 SQ./FT and 2 years old. No problems with
heating just want to add air conditioning.
I have had 8 contractors come in and represent their company and product
line. My experience has been that one guy will tell you Trane, Carrier and
Lennox are the best systems on the market. The next guy will tell you Trane,
and Lennox are good but York is the best. The next guy will tell you
Janitrol is OK but Carrier is the best. You see where this is going.
My question to those in the field fixing these things day in and day out.
What manufacturer really does make a great system. I would like answers
based on the technology a manufacturer uses.
Answer:
Eight opinions is a bit excessive and if the
contractors caught wind of it they would most likely assume that your
quest was for the cheapest possible price, but based on your other
statements you seem to want to make an informed decision. Nothing wrong
with that.
Won't even touch the " who really makes the best unit" question.
As far as sizing an a/c unit, the best way is to run a heat loss/gain
calculation. Basing the decision on sq. footage alone is a guess at
best. I'm not saying that sq. footage calculations can't work, rather
the heat loss/gain calculation takes into account much more. If you
have a lot of windows,high ceilings,bad or nonexistent insulation,lack
of covered porches, direction house faces, etc. All these will be
taken into account with a heat load.
It is good that you recognize the value of a good installation. It is
much easier to reduce the capacity and or efficiency with a bad
installation than it is to take the time to do it right.
