The Carrier furnace will require the Infinity Cpntroller.

The Trane furnace will require a true 2 stage thermostat. I recommend HW Prestige 2.0

Either of those furnaces will be fine. Both come in 60 K and 80 K sizes. You can later add a matching AC condenser and evap coil. I don't know much about York.

If the extended warranties being offered are dealer warranties or third party warranties, tred very carefully.

Be careful on using existing thermostat. No need to purchase an Infinity furnace without the Infinity controller. For the Trane you need a true 2 stage thermostat, not a thermostat that operates a two stage furnace off a timer or algorithm that will always go to high stage whether needed or not.

IMO

Hi Tigerdunes.

Thanks so much for your insight. While I was researching the need for the Infinity Control on the Carrier, I also asked the contractor quoting that one. I will paraphrase their response.

I wouldn't need the Infinity Control since I am not replacing the AC. The control would be able to control humidity. The furnace is doing the staging of the gas valve through the control board and they would set up airflow controls through the board.

SYSTXCCITW01-A vs SYSTXCCITN01-A

aside from the WiFi, would there be any loss of functionality between these two controls?

I have an existing 4 wire t-stat. Will they need to fish additional wires?

Thanks!

delete duplicate

This post was edited by what2choose on Mon, Sep 29, 14 at 12:26

"The furnace is doing the staging of the gas valve through the control board and they would set up airflow controls through the board."

Having the staging controlled by the furnace is a poor way to set up a multi-stage furnace in my opinion. You get very little benefit of having multiple stages.

The Infinity controller requires only 4 wires.

Be careful on using existing thermostat. No need to purchase an Infinity furnace without the Infinity controller. For the Trane you need a true 2 stage thermostat, not a thermostat that operates a two stage furnace off a timer or algorithm that will always go to high stage whether needed or not.

IMO

Thanks Mike.

Tigerdunes, you mentioned the following: "If the extended warranties being offered are dealer warranties or third party warranties, tred very carefully."

Can you describe what I would be looking out for here? Is it if the dealer goes out of business, then I am out of luck for the remainder of my labor warranty? Since Carrier only sell their products to licensed dealers, I guess there is the potential for higher costs for service since it would only be those techs that can come out and be able to obtain the parts to correct the issue right?

I was quoted $525 for the Infinity Control. SYSTXCCITW01-A

Does that sound reasonable? When I look online, the prices are about $55 cheaper, but the control looks nothing like the one on the Carrier site. Is it just an older version and are they compatible with the newer systems?

Thanks!

$55 cheaper online? Any warranty? What Mdl? Latest version? Wifi capable?

Really?

And just who the heck is going to install it? And stand behind it?

I am done here. Good Luck. You may need it.

IMO

Tigerdunes,

Didn't mean to offend you in any way. Just seeing if I am being taken on the cost of the Infinity Control. I would purchase it and have them install it when they come to install the furnace.

Thanks for your help previously.

Contractors need to mark up equipment to stay in business. Buying it yourself and having them install it an attempt to "beat the system" would not fly with them.

That is a fair price for the Infinity control. It is a quite expensive thermostat. However, you don't need it on the TN6 since it's only a 2 stage furnace. IMO it's only worth it if you have the MN7 furnace (modulating) or a variable speed outdoor unit. You can re-use your existing thermostat (as long as it can do 2 stage), or if you want wifi connectivity I would just as soon get the wifi thermostat of your choice, but no Nest, please.

This post was edited by hvtech42 on Sat, Oct 4, 14 at 22:20

Disagree with above post. An absolute waste to purchase an Infinity furnace without the ubiquitous Infinity controller. Don't kid yourself and shortchange a great furnace's full functionality.

IMO

I would have agreed with you with the last generation of Carrier's furnaces, where they had both "Performance" and an "Infinity" furnaces, the only difference between them being support of the Infinity control. In that case yes, it would be a complete waste to spend extra for the "Infinity" version if you weren't going to use the control.

However the TN6 is the only furnace in Carrier's lineup with 2 stages and a variable speed blower. Most people who are spending extra for that furnace are doing so for the variable speed blower and 2 stages, not the Infinity control. What extra functionality does the Infinity control bring that really matters to the consumer? Error codes to the thermostat, and the ability to call up static pressure and inducer RPM are nice, but not game changing. You won't lose the Infinity's dehumidify on demand if you hook it up to whatever 3rd party thermostat you use. I am NOT a fan of the interface of the new Infinity Touch control, I like the Honeywell line much better.

The Carrier 58CVA is also a 2-stage furnace with variable speed.

What is the most important for me is the control algorithm used to manage the two stages. I am pleased how the Infinity controls my furnace and AC. The Honeywell may as good, but I have no experience with it.

I think the diagnostics the Infinity controller provides is important. We see so many furnaces installed incorrectly or with unacceptably high static pressures. That is where the Infinity controller provides great value.

Will just have to agree to disagree with HVtech.

1. Correct staging of 2 stage heat based on demand, not a timer or algorithm that will always go to high stage whether needed or not.

2. Diagnostics

3. Dehumidify on demand in AC cooling

IMO

The other great feature of the Infinity controller is it only uses 4 wires. When you have 2-stage heating and cooling and a humidifier you may need 7-8 wires with a 3rd party thermostat.

>The Carrier 58CVA is also a 2-stage furnace with variable speed.

You got me, LOL. That furnace is great for a more Southern climate, but where I am we are rarely putting in 80s anymore, and in the few cases we are, they are usually for budget-constrained situations where people are not spending for the Infinity line. Plus the OP was asking about condensing furnaces anyway.

>1. Correct staging of 2 stage heat based on demand, not a timer or algorithm that will always go to high stage whether needed or not.

You can get that with any 2 stage stat, no need for the Infinity control. I wasn't suggesting putting this on a single stage stat - I completely agree that is a waste of the furnace's ability.

>2. Diagnostics

Agreed, that is a nice feature, and the primary benefit to the Infinity control over a 3rd party stat (on a 2 stage system). It's up to the OP whether that's worth the price premium.

>3. Dehumidify on demand in AC cooling

Again there are many thermostats that will do this that are far less expensive, or you can just wire up a humidistat.

>The other great feature of the Infinity controller is it only uses 4 wires. When you have 2-stage heating and cooling and a humidifier you may need 7-8 wires with a 3rd party thermostat.

True, but the Honeywell Prestige IAQ and VisionPro IAQ, which are really the ideal thermostats for a furnace like this, use modules that install by the equipment and only require 2 or 3 wires to the thermostat location, respectively.

This post was edited by hvtech42 on Sun, Oct 5, 14 at 23:45

Thanks for the opinions and follow up.

I'm almost there on pulling the trigger on the Infinity and Control. My concern is that originally, the contractor was going to reuse my original stat and set the staging to happen at the board.

I can see that there are four wires at my current Honeywell stat so that will be the same four wires they will use and MIke has confirmed that the Infinity control uses four wires.

Question: How can I be sure/confirm that it is staged at the Controller vs at the board when the system is installed? How should I pose the question to the sales guy or discuss this with the installers upon installation?

Thanks!

When the Infinity control is connected, all the DIP switch settings and built in algorithms at the board are automatically overridden. Carrier assumes that if you bought the Infinity controller you want it controlling the staging, not the furnace board. The contractors won't need to do much of anything to configure the system. That's the cool thing about the Infinity control, it pulls the model numbers from the equipment and sets itself up accordingly. All they'll have to do is tell it that you have a conventional single stage A/C outside, the type of filter you have, and whether or not a humidifier is present. Then it will do an airflow check and you'll be good to go.

Thank you hvtech.

This is good to know. I just didn't want to spend the extra money and then find out they didn't do "extra" work to make sure the Control was the one to stage rather than board.

Interesting you mentioned the humidifier that I figured if they were here, I might also do that one too instead of DIY. So if the Control is taking care of the humidity as well, does that piggy back on the four wires or is there a need to fish additional wires for that too?

What is the consensus of having the Control adjust the humidity vs having the humidistat on the return duct do the adjustment?

I would just let the Infinity controller take care of the humidifier. There is no need to run more than the 4 wires. The furnace has humidifier terminals on it. When the Infinity controller wants to turn on the humidifier, it sends a signal over the communication wires which closes a relay on the furnace controller.