PennSilverTaco's HVAC BS MegaThread!

Those were the good old days lol.

 

I disagree lol. If you lived closer to me, I'd sell you all my take outs and we'd both be happy.

 

Would you accept a price that still allows me to make a profit? I prefer to pay $40 or less, but for complete systems (air-conditioner/heat pump and air handler/furnace), I can do up to $50 depending on size. The 2.5-ton 2009 ICP, the 3-ton 1991 Trane XE 800, and the 1977 2-ton Tappan were all free; I get window A/C units for free all the time, but there are greedy bastards out there who for example think that somebody wants to pay $350 for a 1992 Bryant condenser just because it works.

 

I've never bothered to break down a broken down AC's value if i'm honest. I just hate storing the stuff until I get around to cutting them up more than anything.

 

@Lt. Dangle

Based on what I've heard, 1990s Bryant units weren't anything special and I believe they were just rebranded Payne units. I know of a 1993 Payne central A/C at a commercial property in Doylestown that still works. I am not entirely sure when Carrier, Bryant, Payne, International Comfort Products were purchased by United Technologies but I think it was sometime in the early 1990s...? Higher-end unit units from Carrier and Bryant have always had their own distinctive style, but the builder grade stuff looked virtually identical in my opinion.

My opinion of 1980s Bryant units is higher than that of their 19980s counterparts, because they just seem to be higher quality. There is a shopping center in Buckingham that still had a good number of the original 1980s Bryant heat pumps in use last time I was there.

 

A 2013 ICP 2.5-ton A/C and 60,000 BTU gas furnace got me like $82 if I remember correctly, and a 1993 York 3-ton heat pump and air handler got me $158. The biggest condensers I've ever gotten my hands on were both 4-ton units, a Goodman heat pump and a Heil straight-cool A/C. The Heil was a complete system, and I got like $200 for that if I'm remembering correctly. The 1991 Trane XE 800 and indoor coil that with it got me a combined total of nearly $150. Trane and American Standard condensers do not bring as much money because the coils are aluminum instead of copper. Copper and condenser coils are where all of the money is in central A/C units. Heat pumps bring more money than straight-cool A/C units, because they have more copper in them due to the reversing valves.

 

I'll post up a pic of the receipt from my latest scrappin trip when I get a chance.

 

I started working in the industry for a Bryant dealer in 1996, so Bryant has always been special in my heart. I will say Bryant AC's had a nasty habit of shorting out the compressor and melting the 3 wire hook up off blowing out all the refrigerant in about 4 seconds. It is quite the send off when a unit just absolutely, totally fails in the most colossal way possible lol. Never seen another brand go out with guns blazing like that. Those were late 80-90-early 00's units, can't remember the years exactly, sorry.
Definitely 90's though.

I left the Bryant Dealer and went to a Carrier dealer immediately and I always felt that the only difference between a Bryant and carrier was paint color and model numbers. Part numbers were even the same. Carrier used to hang their hat on the "Made in America" thing, but they have since left the US and still charge a premium price.

 

My friend's parents, both successful attorneys, consulted me in the spring of 2010 when their 1998 Trane XE1000 5-ton heat pump failed.

The house was built in 1987 and had the original "Trane Plus Air Handler" from 1987 and still worked. The 1998 Trane had a bad compressor. I picked, from a list of three or four choices, a Bryant Evolution 2-stage 16 SEER heat pump. Installed, the system was like $7,500 after government rebates. That system was installed on June 3rd, 2010 and aside from routine maintenance has never had an issue.

Funny you mention how Bryant and Carrier are virtually identical. The contractor could not get a Bryant variable-speed handler in the proper size, so a Carrier air handler was substituted. Like I said, nearly 4 years and the system works flawlessly!

 

Let's put it this way, my local Bryant supply house is run by what I deem to be flaming assholes. I get all my Bryant and Carrier parts from the Carrier supplier, RSC, right down the street. I refuse to give Bryant warehouse a penny of my money.

Absolutely no need for me as a Contractor to deal with bryant when Carrier is here.

Swapping similar makes is real standard when the size you need is backordered in one manufacturer. I do it as needed as well with brands I am dealing.

 

All of the houses in this neighborhood have Goodman equipment, and all but two houses have dual systems for the 1st and 2nd floors. My neighbor had Horizon Services comes to service their equipment, and the tech was a nincompoop. He put something back together incorrectly on the 2nd floor unit, and the system suffered some electrical meltdown when turned on. The tech was fired, but Horizon still screwed my neighbor. The furnace was still good, so they replaced the coil and outdoor unit; Horizon only paid for half of the parts and labor, and wouldn't let may neighbor get the full 10-year warranty on the new equipment. As a result of that fiasco, the house has a Goodman gas furnace with a Lennox A/C unit and indoor coil. The downstairs unit is still all Goodman. One other house in my neighborhood with dual units had one Goodman unit replaced with a Rheem, but I have no idea if the indoor system was replaced. All of the other houses, including mine, still have Goodman. The oldest houses were built in 2013-2014, and the last ones were built in 2016-2017, so the original HVAC equipment in this neighborhood is anywhere from 7 to 11 years old.

 

@Lt. Dangle

The newest of the houses in my old neighborhood were built in 1994 I believe, so that means the newest houses are now thirty years old. I believe that this one of two (possibly three) houses that still have the original Comfortmaker-branded Snyder General air-conditioner...

 

God those suck to work on lol. All the electrical stuff is in a little box at the bottom on the back of them. I haven't seen one in years. The condensor fan wires are a mile long and usually by the second or 3rd fan motor replacement, the zip ties have rotted away and the wires ended up dangling in the path of the fan blades lol. Those used to be very popular in my area (Central Ohio) 30 years ago due to all the cookie cutter suburban builds here.

They are also branded as ArcoAire.

 

I believe there is a 1994 Arcoaire-branded Snyder General at fire station in New Hope, PA. Why were they so popular in cookie cutter neighborhoods? Why didn't they go with Carrier or York? Toll Brothers still uses Carrier, and a lot of builders use Lennox...

 

@Lt. Dangle

I got a 1998 Whirlpool window A/C for free; I obviously plan on scrapping it, but tomorrow I'm gonna fire it up just for grins and see if it still works...

 

Cheap.

 

Doesn't seem like they are particularly bad units though; I still see them in use on a fairly regular basis. My guess would be that lack of replacement parts would lead to one being taken out of service rather than a major problem...

 

A lot of these "cheap" brands can last for years and outlast the name brand units. Typically the odds are against it, but usually the difference between the cheap stuff and the good stuff is options as far as models go, noise and efficiency.

 

So was a Snyder General branded as an ArcoAire or a Comfortmaker in 1990-1994 equivalent to a Goodman in about 1995-2004? I feel like the old Snyder Generals are just weird, and a pain in the ass to service, rather than being outright bad.