New heat pump, old air handler..bad?
Question:Ok, late last summer I had to have my heat pump/conderser replaced as the 20 year old Carrier unit finally died. My home warranty company covered the replacement but install a Goodman. I have come to find out now that Goodmans are not necessarily the best brand and are not all that efficent when the outside temp gets above 100 (which never happens here in AZ...lol). Anyways, I still have the old evap coil/air handler and I am wondering if that is a problem. During the summer months it is tough to keep the house cool at all. Would replacing the air handler with a matching unit be worth the cash or no?
Answers:
It is never a good practice to mix and match indoor units with another brand of outdoor unit. The engineering that goes into making the air conditioning work to it's maximum ability cannot be matched by another brand.
I am surprised that this situation has occurred as it is definitely not the right thing to do.
I can only assume that to change the indoor unit would have been a nightmare and they opted for the next best thing.
I am not surprised you are having capacity problems during high heat load conditions with this setup.
I would contact the warranty company and make some serious inquiries.
Yes it would definitely be better to replace the indoor with a matching unit but only after you request that a heat load analysis for your home be carried out (by experienced and technically competent company - not joe joe's backyard cleaning service, if you know what I mean). Just to make sure the machine can do the job adequately in the first place. Believe me all this will save you money in the long run.
Good Luck
I would just install a high efficiency window or through wall unit it augment the central system.
Your installer, let you down. Any good a/c man will tell you the air handler/evaporator and condenser should be replaced together as a unit.
Goodman makes name brand units for people like Carrier. I have lived in several houses with Goodman, or, Goodman made units and have had no complaints.
It's very possible your system is now mis-matched.
New regulations require higher efficiency units and if your outside unit was replaced last year then you could very well have a 13Seer condenser matched with an 8-10Seer air handler. The brand doesn't matter so much as the way it was designed to work. Goodman isn't really the "cadillac" of units but it should work fine unless the air handler is incorrect.
The home warranty company should be questioned about this. For them to install a new, high efficiency condenser without changing the air handler to match is wrong.
Your System will work just fine, I have been in working in the HVAC field for about ten years. If the tech that came out to look at your system did their job not only is the unit sized for the house but they should have check the indoor coil/air handler to see if it needed replacing. Plus after the new heatpump/condenser was put in it should have been tested before they had you sign off on the work. As for the unit itself Goodmans are a good system they just don't have the big price tag. I have never had a problem with them and I work with them all.
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