I have a 12 year old 3.5 ton 12 seer Carrier electric heat pump. I'm told that parts are rusting (coils?), it has a small refrigerant leak and basically it's got about 1-2 years left. I have a quote for a 3.5 ton 14 seer Carrier Performance series ($8,000, installed) and I'm being told that the new Carrier will be much more efficient and cost less to run (50% less.) Does 2 seers really make that much difference? Is the Infinity a better product?

Forgot to add, I live in the southwest and it routinely gets over 100 degrees in the summer. Dry heat & all that - but 100 degrees is still HOT.

50% seems like a steep claim. I moved from a 10 seer to a 13 seer and did not see at big savings. This was also on a 1300 sq ft house and I live in Oklahoma. We can get hot weather, but not as much as you. It's really a complex question as to how much the unit runs, size of house, etc. 13 seer is the standard here these days for new units. You should ask for the price on the base unit for comparison.

It may very well be more efficant but no way will it cut your cost by 50%. More like 8-15 %

50% is not at all likely!

Ideally you can get a 10% savings per SEER jump, but realistically its probably less. I'm guessing somewhere in the 10-20% range but depends on your ductwork and other factors.

It is always best to get multiple quotes from multiple vendors on various SEER ratings.

soooooooooo if you do the math... say your elect is 70 in the winter... 170 adverage for 4 hot months... ====100 more.. save 20% = 20.00 dollars for about 4 months... 80.per year... ok so maybe its 100 a year... 16 sweer over 13 is about... about 7 to 9 hundreds... maybe a 10 year pay back? /... if it don't brake down because of the 2 speed conpressor... so I don't know...

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Originally Posted by tableclocks

soooooooooo if ya do the math...say your elect is 70 in the winter.....170 adverage for 4 hot months....====100 more..save 20% = 20.00 dollars for about 4 months....80.per year....ok so maybe its 100 a year....16 sweer over 13 is about ....about 7 to 9 hundreds....maybe a 10 year pay back ??/...if it dont brake down because of the 2 speed conpressor...............so i dont know.........

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And the electric costs are not going to sit still for the 10 years

1-Old seer/new seer
1-12/14
1-.857
=.14
or 14% savings

With that said SEER is a crappy way to rate equipment. EER and COP are much more real numbers. Manufacturers have rigged the SEER test for years to make their equipment look good and they never perform in the real world like they do in the lab.

just talk, the efficiace of eny system is how well you mantinthe equipment make sure you filter is clean but never the less 10 seer unit 3.5 ton running amps 30,and 13 seer running amps is 7 the difernts is the amps
you figure volts x amps = watts, you pay to electric company by k. watts I M. MECHANICAL ENGINEER GRADUATED UNLV.

13 seer 105. Degree be come 11 seer not 13 seer all the time, thas why sesonal, eer mean year aroun so make shure yu buy e.e.r not seer hoppy this hint will helpyou

If youi run you a/c on cool at 65.degre and i run my a/c at 75.degre who will save more??
Every thing is relative. If you drive you.r car 100 milles at sped of 90 and i run my car at 55 milles n hour who save more you or me??

sooooooooo 10% of about your A/C cost... about... 600.00 per season... cost of elect for the a/c only... might be about 60.00... x 10 yrs === 600.00