Question:
My air conditioner went out today & my house is over 90 deg right now.
The one I had was a generic lemon & I want to buy a good one. Does
anyone know which is the best? I was thinking Lennox,Carrier,
Trane,Heil, or Rheem. I live in central Texas & it is HOT.
Answer:
The fun thing about buying an ac unit is that everyone claims theirs is
the best. Also, no contractors around here that I tried separate
equipment and labor costs. My advice is shop around. The only brand I
would question in the above is Rheme, I've heard these are pretty
low-end.
We just put in a 12 SEER York AC with a gas furnace, and so far, so
good. The outside unit is very quiet, which is a plus. I got bids from
contractors selling York, Amana, and Carrier.( four bids in all).
It seems that the more bids you get the more confusing it gets. Be sure
to ask how long it will take the contractor to complete the job. One
guy claimed it would take four days to do mine, while the others didn't
seem to think it'd take near that long. It was done in two days, and
they left early on the second day. You'll also probably get to deal
with at least one high-pressure sales type and one claiming that only
they can do the most excellent job for $400 more, and four days more of
course.
There was a significant price variation in the quotes I received. The
highest was at $5700 for an 80K BTU furnace and a 2.5 ton AC, and the
cheapest was $3900 for the same thing. I went with the cheapest, and
have no regrets.
