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YoshiMon · May 13, 2009, 03:22 PM

My AC system is getting rather old. 20y on the outside condenser unit and 17y on the indoor air handler. So I've been doing a fair amount of reading as well as having had some estimates done for a new system. Living in Florida if the system dies it would be no fun at all.

Now as I've had the sales people out I've learned a bit and as far as it goes I'm not to worried about any of the other issues that I'm going to have to deal with by putting a new system in. Save for the size, notably the depth, of the closet where the air handler resides.

I've got about 24" to work with from the back of the wall to the door. And since the wall goes to one of the master bedroom's closet I'd prefer the unit not be on the wall itself such that I might get vibration noise. The width is 24" and 56" of height.

Now most of the current air handler units look to come in at 22-20" deep which seems like it's going to be way too close. The only models that I've been able to find that is smaller are the Trane 2/4TFE's. At 19.4" it would be bigger than the current unit but still should work fine.

My question comes in with Carrier. Their website is woefully short on details unless your looking at their commercial units so I was wondering if they had any air handler units that would work for me. Thanks in advance.

YoshiMon · May 13, 2009, 07:12 PM

Just as a quick follow up. I've been thinking about this a bit more and the real issue I guess, and I could be off here, is how much room the piping will need off the front of the unit.

As long as the back of the unit is not on the wall, say a 1/4 of an inch at least or so, I should be OK? Then I just have to worry about the clearance of the piping.

So how tight can those bends be? Say if I use a 21.5" deep unit that would be .5" off the wall I'd then have 2" of clearance for the pipes to make a 90 degree bend. Seems like it is viable but I'd love some expert opinions on how tight those bends could/should be.

Joshdta · May 13, 2009, 07:16 PM

2 inches should be OK if a street 90 is used, as long as your new system does not require a exturnal txv valve

YoshiMon · May 14, 2009, 05:31 PM

So I finally tracked down some specs on the small Carrier air handler, called a fan coil by Carrier. As promised by the salesperson it is indeed small. Only 15 3/16" deep! (38 1/16" tall, 22 1/8" wide)

My worry is that it being that small it can't be as efficient as a larger unit. (The combo that they propose is a 13 rated SEER.) The limitations on the coil size alone seem very restrictive. I however have done just enough research on this issue to be dangerous so I'm not sure if there is even really an issue here.

T-Top · May 14, 2009, 06:58 PM

Its hard to say with out a model # what they are selling you. Do you trust them? If not it may be time to move on and get some one else

YoshiMon · May 15, 2009, 09:24 AM

The Carrier combo offer is a 24ACB330 condenser unit and a FF1ENP030 air handler. I've had a total of 4 estimates so far, still waiting on the quote from another Carrier dealer. And so along with the two Carrier quotes I've got two quotes for Ruud systems as well.

I'm likely going to see about a quote from a Lennox dealer and maybe see if I can wrangle a quote out of someone, be it someone new or someone I've already had out here, on a Trane system as well.

I feel like I just now have gotten a good handle on everything to make an informed decision save for this size issue on the air handler.

As such... do I trust any of them? Hehe, what a loaded question! As a rule I don't trust any sales person. Not out of spite, most of them have been quite nice. Rather just the old rule, let the buyer beware. Hence why I'm here trying to get some expert opinions. :D