Nothing stops a TRANE? Ha Ha Ha

[xromad]

I had a brand new (not cheap) Trane furnace and A/C installed on 30 May this year.  The AC actually works quite well.  Thought I might want a little heat on Sunday.

Furnace won't come on.  Repair guy comes out, draft inducer bad, be back Wednesday.  Today they install the new one.  Now there is some other problem.  Maybe Friday.

Going down into the 40s tonight.  Not very pleased.  Owner of installation company is "on vacation, not in cel range".  Nice.

Thanks for reading.  I would recommend some other furnace brand to you.

 

 

[EricB]

I have had a new Trane on my house since 2011. Never had an issue. The AC runs 24-7 for 6 months out of the year and then the heat runs for about 4 more months so it is not off most of the time, up on that roof is hit hard with 110+ degree sun all day in summer.

Edited September 26, 2018 by EricB

[Valmet]

I’ve had a Carrier since 2012 and it’s been going strong. 

[Oneshotonepill]

16 minutes ago, xromad said:

I had a brand new (not cheap) Trane furnace and A/C installed on 30 May this year.  The AC actually works quite well.  Thought I might want a little heat on Sunday.

Furnace won't come on.  Repair guy comes out, draft inducer bad, be back Wednesday.  Today they install the new one.  Now there is some other problem.  Maybe Friday.

Going down into the 40s tonight.  Not very pleased.  Owner of installation company is "on vacation, not in cel range".  Nice.

Thanks for reading.  I would recommend some other furnace brand to you.

 

 

Highly unlikely, but possible, that the new induction blower is bad.  Sounds like a bad and/or incomplete install. Trane has the worst warranty in the industry. Hopefully it gets taken care of. 

 

[Maccabeus]

One of our units just went out this spring, so I was doing a lot of online review reading as we considered a replacement unit.

What I came away with is that they are all junk now.

People who had older units, 8-15 years old or more all bragged about how theirs was still running strong regardless of brand.

In contrast, it seemed like every complaint was from people who had put in units in recent years (or sometimes weeks or days), again, regardless of brand.

Not a scientific study.  YMMV.  Good luck if you're searching for a new one.

[Brown Hawk]

I have a friend who actually repairs if at all possible, and he says the same.  He was repairing a furnace that was ~25 years old.  When asked if it should be replaced, he asked them how long they planned to stay in the house, he told them to keep it - “It’ll save you the price of two new installations and will still be going strong when you’ll have to replace it to sell the house.”  

YMMV. 

Hawk

[janice6]

After 10 years my 93% efficient furnace wouldn't heat.  It was determined to be a relay failure.  They don't do component replacement but replace the entire board.  It cost $300.  I can see a relay contact failing, it is not unusual when switching inductive loads.  I felt 10 years was a good run without problems.

My point is that the repair man pointed out that if I had a furnace warranty I wouldn't have to spend $300.  But when I asked what it would cost he said it was $10 a month.  I couldn't help but laugh at the logic.  Spend $1200 so I wouldn't have to spend $300...…….  

[Hauptmann6]

As much as I hate working on Tranes, I would say either you got unlucky(bad parts from the factory happens) or a bad install. The part that worries me is that the dealer didn't have either part in stock.

 

All high efficiency furnaces(the better brands at least) made in the last 30 years are fairly reliable and should give you few problems. The quality hasn't gone down. The problems are generally issues out of the box/or people nit picking on new installs(the stuff people complain about imagined or not).

 

What has gone downhill in the last few years are AC units. Ever since the price of copper skyrocketed about 8-9 years ago, the coils have been made thinner and thinner(universally) and most have changed to aluminum coils in the last couple years. I see alot of them leaking under warranty. They did have a problem for 2-3 years with TXVs sticking as well. That was a due to the company that produced them scaling up production 3-500% along with new additives to the refrigerant not playing well. Those issues have been solved.

[Hauptmann6]

Janice, is your 93% furnace a Bryant, Carrier or Payne? And was it made before 2009ish?

[Wayward Son]

I put a Trane furnace and a\c in about 2001. Lightning fried the circuit board, not a fault of the unit.  A bird crawled in the pipe that leads to the induction motor and stalled it.This year I had to replace the squirrel cage motor.

that's pretty much the extent of the problems I've had.

 

[Al Czervik]

3 hours ago, xromad said:

Going down into the 40s tonight. 

 

Dang, you above the arctic circle? ?

[janice6]

2 hours ago, Hauptmann6 said:

Janice, is your 93% furnace a Bryant, Carrier or Payne? And was it made before 2009ish?

I had to go look.  But, yes it's a Bryant and before 2009.  I have been quite happy with it.  Even on our coldest nights, -30F it has held up well.

The repair guy said he had a replacement board in the truck.  He also said that the board is common to a variety of major furnace manufacturers.

 

[Citra47]

4 hours ago, xromad said:

I had a brand new (not cheap) Trane furnace and A/C installed on 30 May this year.  The AC actually works quite well.  Thought I might want a little heat on Sunday.

Furnace won't come on.  Repair guy comes out, draft inducer bad, be back Wednesday.  Today they install the new one.  Now there is some other problem.  Maybe Friday.

Going down into the 40s tonight.  Not very pleased.  Owner of installation company is "on vacation, not in cel range".  Nice.

Thanks for reading.  I would recommend some other furnace brand to you.

 

 

Ummm, I think the owner is down in Florida - complaining about the heat.

[Dukenukem]

I had a York 96% furnace installed here 3 years ago.  Previously there was an old Sears furnace that would sometimes blow the panels off itself when it lit.  I'm told that was caused by a cracked heat exchanger.  The old one had a hell of a blower on it but the new one uses about a third of the gas.  It's also under warranty for a long time which I assume yours should be as well.  The new furnaces are way more complex than the old ones and more finicky too due to the electronics and moisture they make as well as really thin heat exchangers.

[Walt Longmire]

22 minutes ago, Dukenukem said:

I had a York 96% furnace installed here 3 years ago.  Previously there was an old Sears furnace that would sometimes blow the panels off itself when it lit.  I'm told that was caused by a cracked heat exchanger.  The old one had a hell of a blower on it but the new one uses about a third of the gas.  It's also under warranty for a long time which I assume yours should be as well.  The new furnaces are way more complex than the old ones and more finicky too due to the electronics and moisture they make as well as really thin heat exchangers.

I don't want to pony up the funds for a new circuit board for my boiler, so I put a surge protector on the power supply.

[willie-pete]

It could be worse.

 

 

[Huaco Kid]

10 hours ago, Al Czervik said:

Dang, you above the arctic circle? ?

Right?  I often heat our house to the mid-40's.

I'll have to turn it up when pansies are around.

[xromad]

I get home last night and went to check it.  Turned the thermostat up and go out to the furnace.  I hear the draft inducer come on (!), followed by the burners lighting. Hmmm.

Few seconds later the blower kicks on, BANG POW DING BANG POW and the smell of new furnace fills the room. The smoke detector goes off, cat departs the fix. But the noise stops and things keep running. I Silence the alarm.  Heat is being pumped into the house, all is well and quiet.  WTF? But a pleased WTF.  The noise sounded like a fairly good sized fastener getting knocked around by a fan.  It worked fine the rest of the night.  

Shortly after the startup described above I got a call from the owner of the dealership.  He says he'll talk to the tech and get back with me.  Tech says he got there with the new inducer and the old one was working.  Took it out anyway (and probably dropped a bolt) and found a chunk of expanding foam in it!  But he said a downstream vacuum sensor wasn't working, which was why he said "Friday".

They're coming back out tomorrow to look everything over again, and look for the bolt/screw.  Once this is squared away we'll discuss the parts availability, or lack of.  I was taken aback when he said Wednesday for a new inducer.  Because I had a case of the ass over this, I also contacted Trane corporate.  Really great news there!  "All we can do is expediate a part in 5 days"!  Miffed, I is.

 

But the AC did work great this summer!

 

thanks for reading, and commenting.  I'm learning a lot about the subject!

 

 

[Wayward Son]

15 hours ago, willie-pete said:

It could be worse.

 

 

 

When I had my squirrel cage motor replaced I was talking to the technician and he told me that the new refrigerant is quite flammable.

[RenoF250]

On 9/26/2018 at 5:16 PM, Al Czervik said:

Dang, you above the arctic circle? ?

We have been getting into the 40s and I have the windows open.  House gets down to 61 or so.

[Hauptmann6]

On 9/26/2018 at 9:09 PM, janice6 said:

I had to go look.  But, yes it's a Bryant and before 2009.  I have been quite happy with it.  Even on our coldest nights, -30F it has held up well.

The repair guy said he had a replacement board in the truck.  He also said that the board is common to a variety of major furnace manufacturers.

 

Have it checked every other year. They are known for bad secondary heat exchangers. They rust and plug up internally, and sometimes rust through. Make sure you have a good CO detector near your bedrooms. Smell the exhaust every now and then. If it smells harsh have it checked IMMEDIATELY.

[Hauptmann6]

1 hour ago, Wayward Son said:

When I had my squirrel cage motor replaced I was talking to the technician and he told me that the new refrigerant is quite flammable.

 

R410A has a pretty low flammability rating.

If I had to guess, The compressor had issues, the tech started the unit, and under pressure the electrical plug passthrough on the compressor case blew, and the compressor oil and refrigerant caught fire due to the high voltage arc. Or some dumbass added R290(propane) to the system and it blew.

[Walt Longmire]

I fired up the wood stove. Very small fire. 

[Oneshotonepill]

On 9/27/2018 at 5:22 AM, Huaco Kid said:

Right?  I often heat our house to the mid-40's.

I'll have to turn it up when pansies are around.

I keep our house at 78°F. 

I turn it down when the pansies are around.

[DWARREN123]

I believe it has to do with less quality in the parts and electronics. I had a broad go out because of power loss and a blower motor go out on a 3 year old unit.

Many parts are interchangeable on newer units but on the computer controlled ones the most expensive thing is the soft ware to diagnose and set them up..

This is especially true on commercial/.industrial use units.