Heat Pump / Air Handler Matching

16 years ago

I have a rental property where recently the heat pump was replaced. Heat pump was a Trane (don't know model no., think it was XE1000).

Property management had a licensed HVAC contractor diagnose the problem, and he ended up replacing the Trane outdoor unit with a Ruud 2.5 ton unit, model no. 13PJA30A01.

However, it hasn't worked right since. The unit will cool some, but according to the HVAC contractor a valve on the air handler keeps freezing. The air handler (Trane) is 3 years old. The Trane air handler model no. is 2TEC3F30.

The HVAC contractor said he could not replace the valve because he is not a Trane dealer and could not get the part, so a Trane dealer was called out to replace the valve.

However the valve still freezes up.

The HVAC contractor who installed the Ruud heat pump says the coil is contaminated. Said he tried cleaning it out but didn't work, and the entire air handler (only 3 years old) should be replaced and he'll do it at his cost (almost $1,000).

The Trane dealer says the Ruud heat pump is not compatible with the Trane air handler (100% sure) and I need to get the first HVAC contractor (who installed the Ruud heat pump) to show me some documentation that shows he properly matched the 2 units, but he's positive he won't be able to.

The HVAC contractor who installed the Ruud heat pump says it's compatible with the Trane air handler because they're the same capacity (2.5 tons) and SEER rating and said that Ruud tells him they are compatible, but he can't get any documentation. Says Ruud told him since it's R22 they've already gotten rid of their information on those systems.

How do I know which HVAC dealer is correct?

And, if the coil really is contaminated, do I really need to replace the entire air handler which is only 3 years old?

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Comments (2)

tigerdunes
16 years ago
mav

sorry for your trouble but you have a real mess on your hands.

the fact is you have a mismatched system.

how old was the outside HP condenser that was replaced? what was the reason it was replaced? an obvious question was why was a Trane HP condenser not installed rather than a Rudd?

you probably need to have a third party check the Trane air handler and see if in fact it is contaminated and ruined.

do you know if the Rudd condenser is R-410 refrigerant or R22?

putting cost aside which I know is difficult, you most likely will have to do one of two things.

1.replace the Rudd condenser with a Trane condenser assuming the Trane air handler checks out.

2.replace the Trane air handler with a matching Rudd air handler to the Rudd condenser.

someone has advised you wrong and you have made a bad decision mismatching condensers and air handlers of different brands.

IMO
mav6000
Original Author
16 years ago
Tigerdunes, thanks for the reply.

The Trane heat pump (outdoor unit) was older. I'm not sure how old, but I think about 10 years old. Three years ago, the air handler was replaced and at that time, property management used a Trane dealer. The air handler installed was higher rated higher SEER so that in future when the heat pump is replaced, it could also be higher SEER (than existing 10 year old unit). In these last 3 years the Trane air handler has worked great with the older Trane heat pump.

The HVAC contractor who installed the Ruud heat pump is not a Trane dealer and property management uses him now for some reason. He is the one who said the outdoor Trane heat pump should be replaced.
He says that the Ruud heat pump is compatible (matched) to the Trane air handler. He said since the capacity (2.5 tons) and SEER rating are the same, they are matched, and said Ruud told him they would work together. He said brand name does not matter for match.

What he is saying is that whenever the outdoor unit (Trane heat pump) went bad, it must have contaminated the coil in the Trane air handler and it should now be replaced, which he's offered to do "at cost".

The Trane dealer tells me the Ruud heat pump is not compatible with the Trane air handler and the air handler is OK and the first guy should replace the air handler for free since he didn't match them correctly.

Both guys are licensed HVAC contractors and both seem 100% sure.

Which leaves me in limbo on what to do.

What I'd like to know is, how does the HVAC contractor, or the customer, positively confirm that a heat pump and an air handler are matched? It's my understanding there is certain criteria, and brand name match isn't necessarily it.

Is there any way I can get any type of documentation from any industry website or manufacturer website that will show the 2 units are mismatched?

Thanks
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