[Porsche986S]

I know this is a very general question but overall if installed correctly how is the Goodman heat pump quality ? I have a 24 year old Trane that is on its last legs and I have quotes for replacement from a Daikin dealer and an independent that gave a quote for a Goodman . Online reviews for what they are worth seem to suggest older Goodman ( 10 years ago ? ) were not so great but quality has greatly improved . I know Daikin purchased Goodman a while back and they share a manufacturing facility in Texas .

I am going to have a heat pump dual fuel installed with LP furnace as that is what I have now . Prices between the two vendors are within 500.00 of each other with a slight nod to Daikin with 12 year warranty vs Goodman with 10 . I am looking at 16-18 SEER units if that matters .

 

[roughneck]

Daikin and Goodman are the same company.
Goodman gets a bad rep by selling to anyone with a pulse who then hacks the unit in or otherwise does a poor quality installation, either intentionally or not.

 

[yuri]

Daikin and Goodman are the same company.
Goodman gets a bad rep by selling to anyone with a pulse who then hacks the unit in or otherwise does a poor quality installation, either intentionally or not.

I agree.

Actually Goodman joined with Amana about 10 yrs ago and Amana has always had high quality old school Maytag quality ACs.

The tier 3 line of Goodmans were Amana clones and just as good as the tier 3 Trane/Lennox units.

Goodman was very clever and got into the builders grade units when there was the housing boom 20 yrs ago and had taken over Janitrol which became known as Junkitrol.

They have since eliminated the crappy builders grade quality. There are cheaper units made by Nordyne which you find in mobile homes etc and there is a market for very basic cheaper somewhat noisy units due to pricing.

Point is Goodman is a company with 3 tiers of quality same as Lennox and others.

I would not be afraid to buy their unit. Daikin is a HUGE huge company in Asia like Siemens is in Germany/Europe and makes high quality units.

Point is like Amana the quality transfers when they take over another company and I am sure Goodman has gone up with that takeover also.

 

[user_12345a]

Cabinet quality may not be so good* - internals should be fine.

*Thinner metal, sharp edges.

Goodman/amana does cut corners on their higher end furnaces now - the communication is only between the outdoor unit and furnace and a regular single stage thermostat is used - algorithm manages staging.

Daikins still allow for communicating stat as well as regular inputs with staging done by the stat.

One nice thing about daikin is their higher end furnaces can be paired with variable capacity heatpumps that maintain full capacity down to like 0F outdoor - good for saving propane if you're in a very cold climate. (not all variable capacity hps maintain capacity well as it gets colder - many don't)

They also have a unit that maintains capacity better than conventional single and 2-stage but still drops off.

You do need to get complete model numbers and not just compare brands.

 

[Old Thomas]

Goodman is very popular where we have a home in NY. At our place in FL not so much, they are considered lesser to Trane and Carrier where AC runs most of the time.

 

[Porsche986S]

Appreciate the feedback gentleman . The Goodman is what I call a conventional heat pump but is two stage dual fuel with a 60K LP furnace . The Daikin is an inverter dual fuel with a 40K LP furnace . I have a Mitsubishi mini split in my two car man cave so I know inverter style is very efficient . I am in the mountains of north Georgia so not a cold climate but we have winter night time temps in the low 20's and on rare occasions in the teens .

I know the Daikin will be cheaper to run in regards to electrical use at least based on the mini split in the garage . Our home is 1500 sf of conditioned space on a single level but has a full basement . I also know that Mitsubishi makes heat pumps with a conventional air handler so it ties into existing ducts in the home . I have not explored that too much yet but that might be an option . As an example they have a PVZ-A36NHA system which is 36K cooling and 38K heating that is 19.3 SEER that can be purchased online for 5440.35 with free shipping . Just need to purchase a wired thermostat and then have the system installed . Again I appreciate the feedback guys thank you .

 

[roughneck]

I would not suggest buying a system online and having a system installed.
If you buy it yourself it’s best to install it yourself.
Otherwise it’s best to let a contractor supply and install the equipment.
This is due to lack of warranty for customer purchased equipment, as well as the general low quality of techs willing to install customer purchased equipment.

 

[yuri]

In the long run these very exotic high end inverter units are going to cost a fortune to repair.

Most have a 10 yr parts warranty and the parts easily last 10 yrs. We are finding that with ECM motors lasting 10 yrs plus a month and then dying and are quite expensive to replace.

The circuit boards for modulating furnaces are VERY expensive and all have ECM motors too. Point is when the repairs are going to start at $1000-1500 you may wish you had a more conventional unit.

IMO the repair costs will eat the savings up very quick.

However Fujitsu makes some very reliable inverter mini splits and the boards last a long time but you pay more to buy it. Probably worth it.

The rest of these inverter units don't have a long track record and I would stay away. Unless you live in Florida or Texas and have huge expensive AC costs I would stay away from them.

They work well with zoning systems and if you are wealthy and want super fine temperature and climate control then they are good. There is a definite market for them.

 

[user_12345a]

The main advantage (aside from advantages in a zoning application) of some inverter heatpumps is the ability to maintain decent heating capacity in very cold weather instead of reverting to propane/oil or heat strips.

May be worth higher repair costs if heating bills are slashed dramatically.

 

[Old Thomas]

I never buy the newest technology or the highest efficiency units. If there are 5 options from basic at #1 to super high tech at #5, I buy a 3 or 4. #5 will have technology that is not proven over time and will have more expensive limited availability propriety parts and not all techs are familiar with them. AC units are available to 20 SEER or more. I bought 15 at our NY house and 16 at our FL house.

 

[user_12345a]

Inverter technology is very proven, it's been used in mini-splits for over 10 years. It's now starting to penetrate the ducted a/c market.

Daikin has been making inverter mini-splits for a while, now with them owning goodman they offer that style unit paired with a furnace.

 

[Porsche986S]

Some very valid points brought up . While I am VERY happy with the Mitsubishi mini split in my man cave I do fear that if anything goes wrong the skill set of local techs in our small rural setting may be limited on their ability to troubleshoot/repair . Or I might be 100 % wrong on that , I did buy the unit myself and have a local pro install it .

So that fear is in the back of my head on this HVAC purchase , like anyone else I like the idea of saving $$$ on monthly bills like electric and LP . But the complexity of high tech efficiency comes at a price come repair time . Anything I purchase will be better than the 10 SEER I currently have . Appreciate the feedback gents thanks .