Recommendation for home air conditioning replacement?

[Rob Base 2.0]

It's time to replace our home AC unit. Any suggestions?

Should I buy from Home Depot, Lowe's, etc.?  Then I have to have a separate contract for someone to install it once I buy

Or a company that does it all- sells and installs?

Other tips?

[dee27]

Tag Athena. I think she bought an AC from Costco. DH said Carrier or Trane if you mean an AC that cools the entire house.

[empress of self-improvement]

Apr 13, 2017 18:58:33 GMT -5 dee27 said:

Tag Athena. I think she bought an AC from Costco. DH said Carrier or Trane if you mean an AC that cools the entire house.

How about Lennox? I think that's what ours is. We need to replace ours as well. Right after I get around to applying for a grant to pay for the cursed thing.

[NastyWoman]

Apr 13, 2017 18:58:33 GMT -5 dee27 said:

Tag Athena. I think she bought an AC from Costco. DH said Carrier or Trane if you mean an AC that cools the entire house.

Athena is on vacation so it may take a while before you hear from her

[Anne_in_VA]

Are you looking to replace a whole house ac system or just a room?  

[Rob Base 2.0]

Plan to replace the whole unit that is outside.  It's a central (whole house) AC

[Deleted]

We got Lennox through Costco. They came in a bit under a local contractor for the exact same unit.

Just settled into my hotel in Panama- beautiful place, tomorrow totally unscheduled. Looking forward to it!

[mroped]

Lennox would be my choice! Anything else BUT Carrier!

[Cheesy FL-Vol]

Apr 14, 2017 6:35:24 GMT -5 mroped said:

Lennox would be my choice! Anything else BUT Carrier!

We are going to have to be replacing ours in the very near future as well. Why Lennox over Carrier please?

[Deleted]

And not Amana.  We had an Amana unit fail after only a few years- out of warranty, of course.  Apparently they sold their good name to a cheap-crap-made-in-China outfit.

[TheOtherMe]

Apr 14, 2017 10:25:36 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

And not Amana.  We had an Amana unit fail after only a few years- out of warranty, of course.  Apparently they sold their good name to a cheap-crap-made-in-China outfit.

Had cousins who lost jobs when Maytag and then Amana went down.  They would all three tell you this is true. 

[Anne_in_VA]

We have Trane and it seems to be working very well.  We replaced an older less efficient unit with the Trane unit about a year ago.  We replaced the old tank style water heater with a tankless one around the same time and are seeing a savings of about 1/3.  Since both were replaced at the same time it's hard to know how much of the savings can be attributable to either.

[Deleted]

I went on Angie's List to find a company with good references, etc.  We had to replace both the a/c and gas furnace.

We've been very pleased with everything except that it took two weeks to get it installed.  Do not wait until you need it.    Ours was installed in mid-June.

[countrygirl2]

Carrier moved their production to Mexico and left Indiana for the most part. We try buying American when possible.

[empress of self-improvement]

Apr 15, 2017 9:35:30 GMT -5 alwaysbeoptimizing said:

Apr 13, 2017 19:27:39 GMT -5 empress of self-improvement said:

How about Lennox? I think that's what ours is. We need to replace ours as well. Right after I get around to applying for a grant to pay for the cursed thing.

Angieslist and find someone. Unless you're an extreme diy, you want one company to install equipment and sell it to you. One transaction

I also want the money to pay for it. DH has MS so, for him, air conditioning is a medical necessity. I just need to sit on my lazy ass and print and fill out a grant form from the MS Society to get help paying for it. Then I may hit Angie's list or Houzz for an installer. I think we need some new ducts as well but that will have to come out of my pocket. Bleah.