Having a Goodman Furnace *installed*

[ERD50]

...

Here is a site about the humidity for Houston...

Humidity

.... it is most humid around July 11, exceeding 92% (very humid) three days out of four.
Relative Humidity ...

! Oh man, I hate heat with humidity, that's terrible!

Though I suppose that 95% is at night as it (relatively!) cools down, and the 50's (not bad at all) is during the day?

I looked at a weather station from that site near us, and it doesn't look all that different (humidity-wise) for July. Instead of your 90's/50's, we get 80's/40's (though 85% and 95% humidity is a big difference to me - from really, really bad, to unbearable).

But we get a lot less time in the hot/warm area. You get 63% warm + 35% hot, so ~ 98% of the time > 75. We get 40% warm + 13% hot, ~ 53% of the time above 75. --- warm (75°F to 85°F), hot (85°F to 100°F)

-ERD50

https://dbffkv15yp72v.cloudfront.ne...342/3bde7da/relative_humidity_percent_pct.png

 

[samclem]

We are coming up on year 7 of the Amana (Goodman) replacement and I'll be budgeting for a new unit starting with year 10.

When it's time to get a replacement, you might want to spring for a unit with a lifetime warranty on the compressor (and a 10 year warranty on everything else). At the place I normally look at AC equipment prices, these are only a few hundred dollars more expensive than the units with 10 year compressor warranty (and the pricier units are also higher efficiency, etc). For folks in southern climes, it might be worth it.

Hope it can be fixed for cheap, but at age 22 it may be near end-of-life?

Update: I think my AC has gotten a reprieve from the grim reaper--for now. The HVAC techs came out today and gave it a look. After checking it out they added 1 lb of R22 (cost: $90 ) and the air coming out is now 5 degrees cooler than before (delta T of 17 deg F, it was 12 deg F before the added refrigerant. I should probably decrease my blower fan speed to get a higher temp diff and better removal of moisture). Total cost for the service was $160, and I'm hopeful I'll be good for another year or two (at which time I would probably need to get a mortgage to pay for more R22).

Now I'm curious what causes most AC to fail.

While the techs were here, they tested the amperage draw of my compressor motor: 17 amps, and they said it was probably around 12 amps when new. They mentioned something about the windings loosening up, more heat, breaking down of the insulation of the wires, tripped breakers, and general angst in my future. So, at least in the case of our unit, longevity may be limited by the mechanical life of the motor. I'd guess ambient temps and being out in the elements influences that.

Rant: The R22 thing is a racket, and somebody is making some dough on it. My unit holds 6 lbs of it, and if I buy a new unit all that refrigerant must be removed by the HVAC company. Somebody "reconditions" it and resells it for $90/lb, but I get zero compensation for the value of the stuff when I turn it in. That must be some very special "reconditioning" process indeed.

 

[REWahoo]

When it's time to get a replacement, you might want to spring for a unit with a lifetime warranty on the compressor (and a 10 year warranty on everything else).

Made me look, and thank you for the nudge.

My Amana (Goodman) unit does have the lifetime compressor/10 year on everything else warranty. I had recalled only the 10 year number and thought that also applied to the compressor.

Guess I can spend the money I planned on using to replace my unit on something else!

 

[Sunset]

......
Update: I think my AC has gotten a reprieve from the grim reaper--for now. The HVAC techs came out today and gave it a look. After checking it out they added 1 lb of R22 (cost: $90 ) and the air coming out is now 5 degrees cooler than before (delta T of 17 deg F, it was 12 deg F before the added refrigerant. I should probably decrease my blower fan speed to get a higher temp diff and better removal of moisture). Total cost for the service was $160, and I'm hopeful I'll be good for another year or two (at which time I would probably need to get a mortgage to pay for more R22).

.......
.....

Did they fix the leak because that 1lb had to have leaked out somewhere.
Perhaps this is another racket in the A/C world.

 

[samclem]

Nope, they didn't search for or fix a leak. That would have been a lot more money and probably another trip (put in the dye now and add R22, come back in a week or so and spend time looking for the leak). It lost just a lb, could have gotten past the compressor seals over years. If/when it gets low again, it will be time to bite the bullet and replace everything with equipment using R410A. I might do that in the autumn anyway.

 

[Music Lover]

Rant: The R22 thing is a racket, and somebody is making some dough on it. My unit holds 6 lbs of it, and if I buy a new unit all that refrigerant must be removed by the HVAC company. Somebody "reconditions" it and resells it for $90/lb, but I get zero compensation for the value of the stuff when I turn it in. That must be some very special "reconditioning" process indeed.

I know an AC guy. He tells me that many of the people he knows in the business keep a portion of the refrigerant they remove for "off the book" jobs. 6 pounds removed may end up as 3 pounds on the paperwork with the other 3 pounds ending up in the tech's personal storage tank.

 

[Pilot2013]

There is/was a 10 year PARTS warranty on my Goodman coils... already replaced 2 of them. Didn't know there was a lifetime for compressor, but what good does all of that do if i just keep having to load in R22 every summer, or keep replacing coils?

Could have been the install (the contractor that built our house was a crook), but I don't know what else to do but replace the unit. My neighbor suggested that when I do replace the downstairs unit I go with split system rather than package system.

 

[Just_Steve]

Did they fix the leak because that 1lb had to have leaked out somewhere.
Perhaps this is another racket in the A/C world.

If they didn't repair the leak then they are in violation of their EPA certificate because they replaced over 15% of the total charge.

 

[samclem]

If they didn't repair the leak then they are in violation of their EPA certificate because they replaced over 15% of the total charge.

I don't think that is the case (unless something has changed very recently). IIRC, the 15% rule applies only to systems with more than 50 lbs of refrigerant (mine has a little over 6 lbs). So, it is mainly for commercial equipment. The 15% applies to "comfort cooling," with a 35% replacement limit for "process cooling."
And the limit is on annual leakage (users have to keep track of the cumulative amount added and compute a rolling average). So, even if the rule applied to me (i.e. my unit had a capacity of more than 50 lbs of R22), since I haven't added any refrigerant for many, many years, I'd still be okay to add more than 15% before I exceeded the 15% annual rate.

In any case, the cost of the R22 will probably serve as a very good inducement for people to fix any serious leaks, or
change over to an R410a unit (refrigerant is less than $9 per lb, or 1/10th the cost of R22).

All the above with the stipulation that I am not an HVAC professional or EPA lawyer, and I will happily submit to someone with better info.

 

[Just_Steve]

Samclem, you may be correct I would have to dig out my books to recheck, I have been out of the field for a while. The % just rung a bell with me.

 

[txtig]

I've got two HVAC units: one upstairs and one downstairs. The upstairs unit is a Trane, installed about six years ago. A few weeks ago, it began to lose its ability to cool. I called out my longtime AC guy and he tells me the coil has gone bad. It's under a ten year warranty, so the coil is free, but I have to pay for labor and Freon. I later found out that Trane manufactured a bunch of defective coils back in the time period when mine was built.

Well, on the Fourth of July, my downstairs unit stops cooling. This was the original AC unit installed in my house when it was new 23 years ago. My AC guy recommended that we stay away from Trane this time and he recommended Goodman. Based on his recommendation and the generally positive reviews on this thread, I decided to go with Goodman. He spent all day yesterday doing the install and we finally got cooled back down by bedtime.

Hoping that Goodman turns out to be a good decision for me.


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[Dawg52]

I've got two HVAC units: one upstairs and one downstairs. The upstairs unit is a Trane, installed about six years ago. A few weeks ago, it began to lose its ability to cool. I called out my longtime AC guy and he tells me the coil has gone bad. It's under a ten year warranty, so the coil is free, but I have to pay for labor and Freon. I later found out that Trane manufactured a bunch of defective coils back in the time period when mine was built.

Well, on the Fourth of July, my downstairs unit stops cooling. This was the original AC unit installed in my house when it was new 23 years ago. My AC guy recommended that we stay away from Trane this time and he recommended Goodman. Based on his recommendation and the generally positive reviews on this thread, I decided to go with Goodman. He spent all day yesterday doing the install and we finally got cooled back down by bedtime.

Hoping that Goodman turns out to be a good decision for me.


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Any idea how the Goodman price compared to Trane or other brands? Not asking for your price but just curious if it was about the same or less than a Trane.

 

[Looking4Ward]

I've got a single 5 ton Goodman unit for a 3,375 sf two story home. It's 10 years old now and much to my surprise does a very good job cooling this home even when the outdoor temp is 110 degrees. I'm sure the builder must have done a Manual J calculation when sizing the unit and the design of the home (only 2 windows on the east and west sides of the home) reduces the heat load a bit.

But it had a slow leak. I bought a 30lb tank of R-22 on Amazon for $475 and had an HVAC tech friend charge it up. It took 3lbs last summer and 3lbs this summer. This time we added a can of leak-stop ($50) to see if it helps with the leak. In any event I've got another 8 years of R-22 left.

 

[txtig]

Any idea how the Goodman price compared to Trane or other brands? Not asking for your price but just curious if it was about the same or less than a Trane.

A Trane system would have been about the same price as the Goodman that I bought. $8300 for a 4 ton, 16 SEER system with condenser, coil, furnace, air handler and new drip pan, installed, with 10 year warranty.


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