About 15 years ago we put a second floor addition on our home. In May, the 1st floor unit A/C stopped working. My neighbor is in the business and gave me a good price to replace the whole downstairs system. It took 2 months to start the work as he is busy and in demand. I accept that going in, we have A/C on the second floor so it could be worse. The tough part was getting the 0% loan from our gas company that requires energy efficient system. Finding the energy compliance things in stock were hard.

Reading up most articles say expect a life 10-15 years. This time slightly bigger unit of 3.5 tons up from the old 3 ton.
Maybe I am naive but I thought they should last longer than that. I am having a Goodman unit installed, never heard of them before the Google search. About the middle of the road. $7300 for the job.

How long have your systems lasted?
My worry that unit 2 is the same age and could go at any time.

Nothing is built to last anymore. I have a 25 year old Carrier unit that's cooling my house right now. In the past, the condenser unit had a relay switch fail- easily replaced and up and running in no time; a shot of Freon a couple of years ago; the fan on the condenser unit had to be replaced a couple of years ago. That's it. Replacing the filters at regular intervals is all it requires. I guess we're approaching end of life for the unit. I'd love to see this thing make it to 30, though.

My impression is that no household appliances are built to the same quality/durability standards as stuff from the 1990s and before. It's sad, really.

And yes, I would have a hard time laying out thousands of dollars and going through all that hassle, only to be told "We'll need to do this again in a decade or so." I find that ridiculous, and to be perfectly honest, immoral.

Replaced my 19 year old unit last year because it was running longer and longer all the time and you couldn't get parts for it.

My next door neighbor has a 21 year old unit that's still working okay.

I'm just grateful that while hot out we have not suffered through the extreme hot weather the rest of the country is seeing.

My house was built in 2008 and I had to replace both my units in March 2021. So I got 13 years out of them in the Phoenix heat.

Replacing two of them at the same time isn't cheap. Two 4 ton units were just over $21k.

Of course, a lot depends on how hard you run them,(thermostat setting) and how many months a year they are in use. I lived in NJ for a number of years, and as I recall the AC was not worked near as hard as ours is in Texas. I would expect you should get 15+ years out of it but I wouldn't gamble on much longer.

Here in Texas, our last unit lasted 14 years. A Trane. We just put a new system in this spring. An American Standard (basically a Trane) 4 ton and it was $10,000 which included the gas furnace, and two years of twice a year check up and tune up. After that we pay $50 for these services which I think are a good investment if for nothing else, piece of mind.

More than 20 years ago the outfit I worked for was a Goodman dist. It did not have the name recognition as other brands. But we sold a lot of it and it was good eq. It was a huge company that was rebranded by many other companies at that time. Do not know about them now. But my guess is you are good to go. Hopefully a 15-20 year run. Installation is key to just about any Hvac system longevity.
Try and stay cool. It is miserable out there these days. Better days ahead soon I hope weather wise.

Avoid Lennox like the plague- they sure aren't what they used to be. I have a 5 year old Lennox and nearly every major part has had to be replaced - OU inverter, condenser coil, compressor, UV Board - you name it. It's under warranty but getting Lennox to replace the parts has been like pulling teeth. They've tried to say its out of warranty and any other excuse they can find, just in case I don't have my documentation in order (which I did). Then it takes them weeks to get the parts - all during the hottest time of the year.
Not sure who exactly makes Goodman - many brands fall under the greater umbrella of the major manufacturers like Lennox and Carrier - hopefully Goodman isn't a Lennox in disguise! If so, be sure to get the extended warranty with labor included... well worth it.

Goodman is Goodman still as far as I know.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
Goodman is Goodman still as far as I know.

Goodman is a subsidiary of Daikin (Japan), I believe all or most of their units sold in the US are made in Texas.

Daikin is the largest HVAC company in the world, their brands include Amana, GMC, Goodman, and Janitrol.

I have two Trane units that are beasts . One of them is a survivor from the 2016 flood . It was under 4 feet of water for two days . AC guy cleaned it up and recommended that I replace it with the other unit that didn't survive . I told him that when it dies he'll be the first to know .That was six yrs ago .

quote:

Originally posted by stoic-one:

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
Goodman is Goodman still as far as I know.

Goodman is a subsidiary of Daikin (Japan), I believe all or most of their units sold in the US are made in Texas.

Daikin is the largest HVAC company in the world, their brands include Amana, GMC, Goodman, and Janitrol.

I can confirm, there is a huge Daikin facility in Waller Texas not far from here.

My understanding is that Daikin is a quality product.

I will strongly consider them when time comes around again.

HK Ag

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
Nothing is built to last anymore. I have a 25 year old Carrier unit that's cooling my house right now. In the past, the condenser unit had a relay switch fail- easily replaced and up and running in no time; a shot of Freon a couple of years ago; the fan on the condenser unit had to be replaced a couple of years ago. That's it. Replacing the filters at regular intervals is all it requires. I guess we're approaching end of life for the unit. I'd love to see this thing make it to 30, though.

My impression is that no household appliances are built to the same quality/durability standards as stuff from the 1990s and before. It's sad, really.

And yes, I would have a hard time laying out thousands of dollars and going through all that hassle, only to be told "We'll need to do this again in a decade or so." I find that ridiculous, and to be perfectly honest, immoral.

Agreed, we have a 40 year old Carrier unit that is original to our home. We had to put 2 lbs of R22 ($100/lb) in it this year which is a great deal cheaper than replacing it.

Virtually all our neighbors are on their 2nd/3rd/4th units. Our AC guy tells me to run ours until it drops because the new ones are garbage from a longevity perspective.

He also told me there is a new refrigerant coming out soon so the current one will go the way of R22. Translated, if you have a unit that uses r410, stock up on it if you believe you can hang onto your current unit as it will get expensive once the current supply dwindles.

quote:

Originally posted by Dzozer:
Avoid Lennox like the plague- they sure aren't what they used to be. I have a 5 year old Lennox and nearly every major part has had to be replaced - OU inverter, condenser coil, compressor, UV Board - you name it. It's under warranty but getting Lennox to replace the parts has been like pulling teeth. They've tried to say its out of warranty and any other excuse they can find, just in case I don't have my documentation in order (which I did). Then it takes them weeks to get the parts - all during the hottest time of the year.
Not sure who exactly makes Goodman - many brands fall under the greater umbrella of the major manufacturers like Lennox and Carrier - hopefully Goodman isn't a Lennox in disguise! If so, be sure to get the extended warranty with labor included... well worth it.

Huh. I have a Lennox system that is going on 5 years old and it's been rock solid, no issues whatsoever.

OP: Goodman is a lower end brand that *used* to be looked at as builder grade junk but I think it's gotten a lot better in recent years. I see them all over the place here in PA

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

quote:

Originally posted by Dzozer:
Avoid Lennox like the plague... If so, be sure to get the extended warranty with labor included... well worth it.

Huh. I have a Lennox system that is going on 5 years old and it's been rock solid, no issues whatsoever.

Consider yourself lucky - Lennox has already settled one class action lawsuit - looking like they are going to face another. I'm joining for sure!

Consumers report costly issues with Lennox air conditioners Even after a million-dollar lawsuit, people say the evaporator coils still leak within a few years of installation

One other thing to consider when deciding to keep or replace an old (15-20 year) system is efficiency. Although it seems the older systems were more durable, newer systems are quite a bit more efficient than the old beasts. We replaced our 14 year old system this spring and this year's electric bills are lower or just about the same as last year, even though 2022 is on pace to be one of the hottest with long stretches of 100+ degree days we haven't seen in number of years. I'd guess my bills would be 20% 30% higher with the efficiency level of the old system. I suppose you could argue that it would take many years to recoup to cost of a new system, but the fact of the matter is, it will eventually need to be replaced, and they are not going down in price.

Improperly installed units sure do shorten their life. Some HVAC guys take the easy way and just install a larger than necessary unit. Customer gets a cool house, and no possibility of complaints about inadequate cooling. Everybody is happy, right? Until the constant short cycling compressor dies a premature death, plus efficiency is crap.

I just replaced a high efficiency furnace in one of my properties. Previous owner had it installed in 2005. The HVAC contractor said that the previous 3.5 ton unit was oversized, but it was probably making due by operating at slow speed. We installed a 3 ton replacement.

quote:

This time slightly bigger unit of 3.5 tons up from the old 3 ton.

That makes no sense to me assuming the first unit was sized correctly. The addition of a second level should make your A/C work less since there is conditioned space above the first floor now. If anything I would think he might suggest dropping 1/2 a ton of his calculations said so.

What reasoning did he provide for the larger unit?

I had to replace a 19yr old attic system about 3 years ago. There is good and bad to it. The upfront cost is quite painful but the new system is so much more efficient that our power bill dropped by $50/month in the summer. So the ROI isn't immediate but it is there.

The system cooling the main floor is 22 years old and running fine. But it doesn't run near as much as the upstairs unit.

You're paying a premium based on the time of year as well as the circumstances of the outcome of the covid crap and current economic conditions.

My experience is the newer systems are more efficient but generally at the cost of complexity, life span, and $. So do they really save us anything in the long run? Maybe but I'm not sure.
My all electric, small (1,700 sq ft) house was built in 2002 so the original Trane heat pump is now 20 years, I forget the model, X 13i I believe, being 2 stage, variable speed, it was a step up in efficiency from what they recommended at the time but not one of the real efficient models. I'm happy it's lasted this long and a couple more years would be welcome, but has a fairly easy life because the house is well insulated and the AC is only on for maybe 4-6 weeks a year. The heat portion gets the most use but when outside temperature drops below the mid thirties (and I'm home) I heat with wood and just let the air handler run. I've had a total of 3 service calls, 2 capacitors and the outside unit's fan/motor assembly was replaced when the motor bearing wore out.
When it fails I'll talk to the same company who sold and maintained it but Lord knows wnat it'd going to cost.