This is going to be a long review, so grab your favorite beverage and have a seat because I am going to take you through the entire process.
First a bit about me. I grew up in a mechanical shop so I have been around refrigeration all my life. As a result, my BS detector is pretty strong when it comes to AC repairs or installs. Always being fascinated with the technology, every home that I have owned has had the latest and greatest HVAC system including the home I own today, which we built in 2004 and had a bright and shiny Carrier Infinity installed. The builder took a shortcut and had an unauthorized contractor install it, and I suspect it was not correctly installed. We have had nothing but problems including two compressors fail.
Fast forward to today. We decided to bite the bullet and have our system replaced. Having done my research on every main brand, I started with the top rated local HVAC contractors. The first thing I would tell them as they arrived to quote me was that I didn't think the home had ever had a Manual J calculation done. What is a Manual J? It's a very involved calculation where they measure every square inch of your house, inside and out, windows, roof pitch, direction your home sits and so on. They plug in all these numbers and they are given the requirements not only of the home, but also of each room.
One of the things I wanted to have done is have my home zoned. My home is nearly 3000 square feet on one floor, with one five-ton unit. Due to the unusual construction of my home, the bedrooms were always hot or cold when the rest of the house was perfect. This was the perfect time to have that fixed and have a zoned system put in.
Each one of the contractors came out and spent about thirty minutes with me, then went away to send a quote. One was a Carrier dealer, one was Bryant, one Amana, one was Trane and the other American Standard. Two of them never even contacted me with a quote.
I was about to sign with one of them when I got an email from Jonathan Frank, President of Prodigy Heating and Air. He was very interested in my situation but I was concerned about the distance to my home which he assured was no issue. Great, he came out the next day.
When he arrived, he was wearing a COVID mask. He was very friendly and professional, and before I said anything he told me that he was going to do a Manual J calculation. REALLY? So he spent over three hours at my home, inside and out measuring. Up in the attic measuring. He finished and said he'd be sending me a quote within the next few days.
I got the quote, which was higher than the others but not by a huge margin. But the scope of the job was much bigger than all of them. Most impressively he had also sent a cad drawing which was quite accurate for him doing a hand drawing. The Cad drawing showed every room, and every vent and duct size needed and how he had laid out the four zones. He told me that most of my ductwork was not sized correctly and that some of my registers were too small and even the refrigerant lines were the wrong size. So his intention along with changing the AC unit and furnace was to replace every single bit of my ductwork. Plus to do the zoning, it would make it easier. He also arranged the financing for me, which worked out well. We decided to go with Prodigy and John emailed me and told me that there was a newer model furnace coming out that was better, and did I want to wait? He'd give it to me for the same price and sent me the model number so I could check it out. Sure, the old one was hanging on. So we waited a couple of weeks. The system he quoted was a five ton Carrier Infinity Greenspeed plus a Carrier Infinity condensing gas furnace along with all Carrier made zoning equipment.
The day of the installation they got here on time and started right away. Very efficient, before I knew it the old condenser was on the truck and the new one in place. His guys worked all day the first day in the attic, pulling out a mountain of ductwork. I had no idea how much was up there. Another thing, my old ductwork was R6 insulated and he replaced it with R8.
The second day the guys worked hard in the attic getting the new plenum put in place and the main feeds to the four zones Another big pile of old ductwork appeared which was hauled off. They were also replacing the cheap plastic AC registers my builder used so that was started inside. Tomorrow will be a big day, they will finish which will entail installing three thermostats, one in each bedroom which will require running the wiring. Every one of his guys have been respectful and efficient.
Day three and the rest of the week they worked hard getting everything finished. John wanted to upsize some of our registers but when they got into it, discovered the framers had framed solid around them so changing them took a lot more effort than expected cutting into the framing.
By the end of the day on Friday, They finished and everything was perfect! read more