Heat pump quandry...

kaiser715

kaiser715

Doing hard time
Joined
Jun 1, 2006
Location
7, Pocket, NC
So...my house is 12 years old. Heat pump is a low-end carrier. Several houses in the neighborhood have already done major repair/replacement. From what I have read, life expectancy of these units is 10-12 years.

We are planning to put the house on the market in maybe 3 years...HP would be 15 years old by then (if it lives that long), and that would make the house somewhat of a harder sale.

What I am thinking...and tell me if I am crazy....is go ahead and replace it now, on my schedule. I got the cash (this is just a 2T unit...won't break the bank by any means). I'll get 3 years benefit of it before hopefully selling the house. And I won't be stuck 3 or 4 days w/o heat or a/c if I do wait until it fails.

What brought this on...we are fixing to do some other work on the house...outdoor unit is in the way of a deck I plan to build this fall....will cost $300 to move it, and it's just not worth that at all (and might die in the process)....so, won't build the deck like i want it if we don't do something about the unit.

So....totally crazy to replace a still-functioning, but 12 year old heat pump? Might die tomorrow, might last a few more years...house may be on the market in 3-4 years.
 
I'd replace it and build the deck how you want.
 
what you have now is likely 10 SEER, newer unit will be minimum 13 SEER, you'll realize some savings ( we've already seen a difference in the first month after replacing ours ) and it will be a selling point for future home sale.

we ended up with Carrier, thought about going up in SEER, but our house isn't near sealed up enough to realize the added efficiency.
 
X2 on replacing it now. 13 seer is all the rage and really is a key selling feature. If you can afford it, go Trane.
 
I'd say it's a toss up. As for selling the house, I don't think it will make a big difference. You might have to lower the selling price, with the old unit, but that will be negotiated. I don't think you can Raise your selling price, enough to cover your cost, when the unit will be 3-4 years old. I just had American Standard, 2 ton, installed, & very pleased. Even being a sister company to Trane, it's the older sister, but priced less. In my opinion, it's still a step above Trane.
 
13 seer is code required. You won't see payback on anything more efficient than that.

Whatever you get, try to find a quiet unit, especially if it's going to be near your new deck. Our 15yo Carrier is very, very quiet. The neighbors brand new Goodman is not. We can hear his unit inside our house.
 
rodney eppes said:
Even being a sister company to Trane, it's the older sister, but priced less. In my opinion, it's still a step above Trane.
Click to expand...

If it's priced less, you're getting less of something for your money. Manufacturers don't make premium and value lines just for fun, they take expensive features away to make a product that can compete in the market for cost conscious consumers.

Whether or not those features are worth the extra money is the question that you have to answer.
 
shawn said:
If it's priced less, you're getting less of something for your money. Manufacturers don't make premium and value lines just for fun, they take expensive features away to make a product that can compete in the market for cost conscious consumers.

Whether or not those features are worth the extra money is the question that you have to answer.
Click to expand...
I probably mis-quoted that! Should have said, my installer Didn't try to Double his profit, like 4 other quotes, I had!:D
 
rodney eppes said:
Even being a sister company to Trane, it's the older sister, but priced less. In my opinion, it's still a step above Trane.
Click to expand...


Trane makes the units.
They sell them to AS and AS retails them.

Trane uses AS to deinventory legacy products and designs.

That said they are a bit cheaper and if you do your research the best value on the market. But there are some AS lines that represent the Trane liquidation of poor designs...

Ive got AS units on my house and would buy again just do your research on the exact model.
 
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