Carrier Air Handlers Reviews - Carrier air handlers carry the name Infinity Series for the top of the line models, Performance Series for mid-range models, and Comfort Series for economical models. Carrier manufacturers air handlers for residential, light commercial, and heavy commercial applications. Carrier air handlers are used in light commercial and residential applications ranging from 1.5 tons to 5 ton models.
Carrier Air Handlers Reviews | Consumer Ratings
Carrier lists air handlers on their website as fan coil units which is basically another word for air handler. Carrier is usually tip top for information about their products as much of the information is straight forward about the features they offer and what those features do for the customer. That is good for the consumer as you do not have to be a Sherlock Holmes to figure some mysterious feature that some remote marketing team came up with to make their product look spiffy. On the downside, Carrier is a premium product and many of the parts for their products are proprietary. Think of Carrier as a Cadillac and expect Cadillac service from the Carrier HVAC Contractor that services the system for you.
Carrier Air Handlers Reviews | Consumer Ratings - Select Features
Selected features of various Carrier air handlers include:
- Advanced diagnostic boards in select Carrier air handlers
- 10 limited parts warranty in select Carrier air handlers
- Variable speed fans in select Carrier air handlers
- Baked on urethane base coat and polyester top coat for durability in select Carrier air handlers
- Washable filter in select Carrier air handlers
Carrier Air Handlers Reviews | Consumer Ratings - About Carrier
Carrier is owned by United Technologies which is the same parent corporation of Bryant, Heil, and Tempstar among other popular HVAC brands.
See our other Carrier Reviews
Carrier Air Conditioner Reviews – Consumer Ratings
Carrier Gas Furnace Reviews - Consumer Ratings
Carrier Heat Pump Reviews – Consumer Ratings
Carrier Package Unit Reviews - Consumer Ratings
For more information on Carrier and their latest models and efficiency ratings please see the Carrier website.
Carrier Air Handlers Reviews | Consumer Ratings
I am replacing my 10 year old Ruud air handler with a Carrier 4 ton Air Handler with a new Carrier 15KW Heater. What % improved heating efficiency can I expect. I was told the Ruud has 3 heater strips and the Carrier will have 5 heaters.
My system will use R 22 what is the alternate if the R 22 becomes unavailable
Thanks for your comments
Electric heat is 100% efficient however it costs more to produce over other methods such as using a heat pump or gas furnace. As far as increased efficiency it is difficult to calculate from the older to the newer without given variables to make the calculation. If the old is 15 kw electric then any added efficiency is negligible because, as stated above, electric heat is 100% efficient so there will be no difference from the old to the new. With a newer electric furnace, it is possible to see an increase in efficiency but only if the new blower motor is more efficient than the old. And again, that is negligible unless the new air handler has a variable speed ECM motor.
Now if the controls are set up properly with your new furnace and the heater strips are staged using a good indoor and outdoor thermostat then you could see a big improvement in efficiency (demand based control). However,most electric furnaces use only simple controls and while they stage the heat strips on slowly that is done to prevent a major surge of turning a 15 kw load on all at one time.
R-22 is still available but it is being phased out. Almost all the manufacturers who make R-22 quit production a few years ago so the only R-22 left now is what is in stock and what they are recycling. Recycling it requires the old refrigerant to be brought up to virgin like so even the recycled is likely to be as good as new. There are alternate “drop-ins” that can be used in place of R-22 however, in the market today is R-410A which is what is replacing R-22. If your old condenser goes bad then the new condenser will likely have to be R-410A and you will have to replace the coil which either in the air handler or in a case near the air handler. I also recommend replacing the line set also to prevent any cross contamination of oils from R-22 to R-410A as the oils are not compatible.
Good luck!!