What is your location?

I will give you the x reference in next reply.

IMO

We live in Kentucky. Also our home is brick and we've added a 500+ sq ft room to the back of the ranch making our home a little over 2,500 sq ft. The add on can be a little cool in the winter and warmer than the rest of the house in the summer. Additionally we have another room at the front corner of our home with similar issues. Both of these rooms have three outside walls. It's not a major problem but something I wanted to add. And this is not the reason we are purchasing a new system and it isn't a major issue. Just wanted to provide as much information as possible. Thank you for responding.

Can someone tell us which American Standard units are similar to the Trane XB 14 seer AC and the Trane XR95 Gas Furnace 90%?

Additionally, can someone tell us which Trane units are similar to the AS Silver ZI 95 Gas Furnace and the AS Gold SI Allegiance 13 AC?

Finally, why would the AS dealer recommend the Gold SI Allegiance 13 with the Silver ZI 95 Gas Furnace and not the Gold XI 95 Gas Furnace?

XB14 AS Silver XI Air Conditioner
XR95. AS Silver ZI Furnace

AS Silver Zi 95. Trane XR95
AS Gold SI Allegiance 13. Trane XR13

To your final question, you can not/should not pair a high eff outside condenser 15+ SEER without a var speed air handler or furnace or at least a furnace with a high eff blower. I personally would not want the XR95 furnace or AS equivalent. Would want the XV95 model or at very least the XT95 furnace model. Identical furnaces also available in AS product line. Both of these furnaces are similar, the XV with high eff var speed blower, the XT non var speed but high eff blower (less expensive). The XV95 is 2 stage, the XT95 is single stage.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the feedback.

This post was edited by UofLFan on Sat, Jun 15, 13 at 10:21

Jan,

I got your email, but I have to reply here because your email is not public.

I know you are considering moving up from a 3.5 ton to a 4 ton AC. What is the typical summer high temperature in KY? Do you have high humidity? It is hard to tell whether 3.5 or 4 tons is the correct size. It would be good if you had a load calculation to confirm this. My gut says a 2500 sq ft ranch house with 17 windows in the south is probably OK with 4 tons.

I think a 100K BTU (95% AFUE) is over sized. How cold does it get in the winter? You should be fine with a 80K BTU furnace.

My vote would also be for the XV95 furnace or the AS equivalent. Tigerdunes know the Trane AC models better than me, so follow his advice in this area.

The price quote of $9041 for the XV95 and XL16 seems high even for where I live in NJ. For that price I would expect a new line set, a 4 inch media filter, and a 10 year Trane labor warranty would be included. I fear it is the busy season in KY and dealers are firm on their prices.

Get a detailed quote before committing to anything. This includes model numbers of all equipment and details of what work will be performed.

This post was edited by mike_home on Mon, Jun 10, 13 at 8:41

Mike,

Thanks for responding. I'm new to this type of site and I didn't realize that my email was private. I will research how to change that.

According to The Weather Channel's website our hottest month is July and the average temperature is 89 with the mean being 80. We do have temps in the high 90's and low 100's and it can get very humid. And our coldest month is January but our winters have been pretty mild lately.

I haven't seen any load calculations but they did measure our home and they did ask plenty of questions. Guess we should ask to see the calculations and we should probably ask for a quote on the system Tiger suggested (XT95). I don't think he said which AC but maybe they always pair a specific unit with each furnace. I tried to email Tiger directly but I was unable for some reason.

Just so you know the initial quote from the AS dealer was a 3.5T 13 seer Gold SI condensing unit and matching evaporator coil and a Silver ZI furnace with a 95% AFUE rating and 1000,000 BTU input. The total cost was $6740. But you are saying that 100,000 BTU's is too high anyway ...correct? I don't think Tiger said anything about the BTU's but I will ask the dealers when we get quotes on the XT. Guess we should call the AS dealer and ask for quotes on their XT equalivant.

I don't see anything about BTU's on the Trane quote, but they do have the AFUE rating and it is 95%.

Thanks again to you and to Tiger, and when my hubby arrives from the lake I'm turning over the researching of HVAC's to him. :)

What size furnace do you currently have? I think an 80K BTU furnace would be sufficient, but 100K would not be terribly over sized. The size of the furnace is usually coded into the model number. For an 100K furnace you should see "100" within the model number. For AC equipment you should see "42" for 3.5 tons, and "48" for 4 tons. (1 ton = 12,000 BTU).

Ask the contractor how the sizes were determine. Contractors tend to oversize the equipment. Bigger is not better when it comes to HVAC.

The duct work has to be big enough to support the size of the equipment. If not it becomes noisy and the system will loose some of its efficiency.

This post was edited by mike_home on Mon, Jun 10, 13 at 8:39

Rudd 80 is written on the outside of the furnace. Is that the size or the brand name? Our AC is a 3.5 T and both were installed about 24 years ago when an addition was built on the back of our home. We have the original duct work which wasn't sized to accommodate AC; however, we haven't had any problems so far, and both of the contractors looked at our existing duct work and thought it would be fine.

This post was edited by UofLFan on Sun, Jun 9, 13 at 9:05

Rudd is the name brand. 80 is for 80% efficiency
or 80 afue.

you probably have ducts sized for heating which
is much lower velocity than a/c.

when you add a room onto a brick house there is an air gap
between brick & walls that allows extra air into
the room added on. air sealing these addtions will
help to keep them heated/cooled.

old ductwork wasn't sealed well and has a lot
of duct leakage.

having a blower door test to find leakate into
house & duct leakage test to find duct leakage
would probably keep you at same tonnage.

best of luck.

UofLFan

You fail to give the thermostat quoted for these systems.

New inset included? How about a filter cabinet?

I agree that an 80 KBTU 95% eff furnace would be fine for your location. My choice would be the XV95 or AS equivalent.

This is where Trane though hurts itself and their customers. There is not one system using the XV95 and Trane condenser that qualifies for Fed Tax credit without using a third party evap coil. I simply would not accept that. Plus I think the pricing you have received is in high side.

A suggestion is get a quote on a Carrier system, Infinity furnace paired with 2 stg Performance 17 AC condenser and appropriate ALA evap coil. You do want Infinity controller and filter cabinet.

IMO

My bad...

I did come up with 2 full Trane systems using the upflow 80K XV95 furnace that do qualify for Fed Tax credit. Suggest you discuss with your dealer. I am against using third party coils. See below.

5996430 Active Systems XR17 TRANE 4TTR7048A1 4TXCD063BC3 *UH2B080A9V4 48500 13.00 17.00 1 RCU-A-CB 345 Yes

5943130 Active Systems XL18I TRANE 4TTX8048A1 4TXCD063BC3 *UH2B080A9V4 48500 13.00 17.00 1 RCU-A-CB 345 Yes

IMO