Trane furnace / AC Quote Help

9 years ago

Hello, looking for some help / guidance on the recent quote I received for a new furnace and AC.

Background:

2 story home with finished basement, 2600 square feet, natural gas located north west of Toronto, Ontario Canada eh

Replacing a 16 year old carrier system that is 80,000 btu and 2 ton small AC.

I had three estimates. One from American standard dealer and two from authorized Trane dealers in my area. I am leaning toward trane as they came in much cheaper and I read they are the same / very similar...

Both trane contractors recommended the XC95m 80,000 BTU and will reuse my existing carrier infinity air cleaner and arpliaire 600 humidifier. Not one of the contractors would do a load calculation.

Trane Quote 1:
Furnace: XC95m 80,000 btu model
AC: XL 18i 2 stage, 3 ton model
Thermostat: comfortlink II
10 year parts, 2 year labour warranty
-- $ 9,500 tax incl

Trane Quote 2:
Furnace: XC95m 80,000 btu model
AC: XL 16i 2 stage, 3 ton model
Thermostat: XL900
10 year parts, 10 year labour warranty
-- $ 10,000 tax incl

Thoughts? Does this seem ok?

Should I go with XL20i AC so I take advantage of communicating feature?

Comments (3)

tigerdunes
9 years ago
I think you have two questions that you must ask yourself.

How important is a communicating system?

And if you do want a communicating system, do you want both the furnace and the AC condenser to have that communicating feature?

I will assume that heating is more important than cooling. If moving up to a 3 ton condenser from a 2 ton, I strongly recommend a thorough ductwork inspection as that would be a 50% increase in cooling CFMs. You have plenty of returns in your home?

I like the first quote best but might make some suggestions on the condenser selection. And I would want a Perfect Fit media cabinet added at a minimum.

IMO
hobbes_55
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks for the quick response.

I am not really sure what the benefits of having a communicating system are or the benefit / impact of having just the furnace communicate vs both furnace and AC.

I am lacking an air return near my upper master bedroom which does not get sufficient heat / cooling. Both contractors said my home is very "open concept" and doesn't need a new air return and the new furnace blower will improve this room. They also said that the 2 ton AC is undersized and should be 2.5 ton, but trane doesn't offer 2.5 ton in the 2 stage XL 16i and 18i.

In your opinion is the PerfectFit media cabinet worth getting / spending extra $ if I already have a new infinity air cleaner and media filter?

Thanks again for your help.
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hobbes_55
Original Author
9 years ago
I contacted the contractor who gave the first quote and asked about XL 20i. He said that was discontinued and last years model, so anyone selling that is not to be trusted. He said the new model is XV 20i and for 3 ton model that would be $700 more.

-- Is the XV 20i worth spending the extra $?

I asked about warranty... Said I could pay $650 for a 10 year labour warranty or just pay $110/unit/year for annual maintenance and that would extend the labour warranty if I did that each year up to 10 years.

-- is extended labour warranty worth it?
-- do these new furnaces / ACs really require annually maintenance? I have never had maintenance on my furnace or AC, ever, except to change filter each season. No issues...