Thoughts on the Goodman GSX13 Air Conditioner

[DADoES]

 
Hmmm.  My Carrier heat pump circa 2004 has as yet the original condensor fan motor.  The evaporator blower motor was replaced a couple years ago but vague indications are there was some incompetence and/or nefariousness on part of the servicer related to that situation.

 

[washman]

Thanks I will try that

once he gets done with his appointments at the VA this week.

 

[mieletag]

Just happened to think, the four numbers may be after a W or M in the serial.

 

[washman]

I do know

It is the achiever series with TXV on evap side and condensor side as it is a heatpump not sure of build date but they got it in summer of 2002 to replace and dilapidated, out of date Arcoaire.

 

[washman]

Seems to run fine

I changed out the Aprilaire filter again, it was pretty dank looking so I found a place called discountfurnacefilter.com that offers said filter for 30.71 and 7.75 Fed Ex ground. They ship from Dayton OH and I get it in about 2 days.

Now that we've had some warm days, not hot by any stretch, I can keep the tstat @ 76 during the day and unless I'm coming in from raking out straw in the yard, I find that pretty comfortable. I go down to 75 at night. I have an Acurite weather station and the house will drop to 72 at night so the AC gets a break overnight and I am not waking up sweating.
I'm running overall 56% humidity, more on rainy days (which we have a lot here now).

The Aprilaire tstat is working well. I had to adjust the "swing" a bit as the factory settings left it not calling for cooling until I really noticed the heat buildup. Otherwise it does just fine. It is a manual unit but I don't find myself having to muck with the temp settings, just leave it at 76 during the day and off to work I go.

The Goodman outdoor run runs pretty quietly. I have to get around the back side of the house to actually hear it run.

Here's my unit installed. That yellowish goop is the effing expanding foam sealer I bought to fill in a rather large hole cut in the siding. I found out the hard way these are NOT reuseable. In other words, you better have lots of stuff to seal up lest you clog the thing from non use.

 

[washer111]

That humidity seems a bit high, Ben.

Our ancient unit here at home, despite being about 1.5-2tons oversized for the space (House is about 1500sq. ft) manages to keep the humidity right on about 40%, at an 80ºF setpoint, when the outdoor temperature is around 80-85ºF and humidity somewhere around 70-80%. Not sure if thats because its R-22, and yours is something else, or maybe blower speeds... Still, it felt worthy of consideration.

 

[washman]

I would agree washer111

But keep in mind, due to R38 insulation in attic along with modern energy star rated windows, the AC does not really run that much. For instance, the outdoor temp needs to be about 80 or above before the AC kicks in (I usually keep it at 76). It really has not been super hot here so having said that, it would explain to an extent the higher than typical indoor humidity.

 

[washman]

Update

Since the temp has now approached what should be for a normal summer, the AC is running more frequently. And the humidity levels have dropped somewhat. I'm running between 47 and 56 percent over a 10 day period.

 

[appnut]

The heat pump I had to get last October, has a humidity sensor in the t-stat.  I'm keeping it at 45%.  It's keeping the house about 2 degrees cooler than the set temp to attempt to keep the humidity at that level.  It manages to keep it around 50 percent and lower at night.    

 

[gusherb]

Maybe you might wanna consider reducing the blower speed so when it does run you'll be pulling more moisture out of the air, especially since it sounds like even 1.5 ton is more then your home needs. Or at least check to make sure the blower speed is set accordingly for a 1.5 ton system. is it off all day when RH is in the 50s?

 

[washman]

It's a 2 ton system gusherb

And yes, the humidity creeps up a bit when I am at work at I put the t-stat to 78. The house will get 80-81 on a typical day w/o the AC running with full sunshine (which we have not had much of lately!)

When I am around all day weds, sat and sun, the humidity is in the range I noted.

 

[gusherb]

Oh, I was reading 1.5 ton somewhere but yeah 2 ton is probably too big for your home. I don't remember your exact square footage but homes these days could easily get away with 1.5 ton up to 1,800 sqft or so if they're not full of windows. Our main levels load calc came in just a hair over 24,000 BTU's needed, its 1,900 sqft and lots of glass on the sunny sides at a design indoor temp of 72 And outdoor temp 92 degrees. The 2.5 ton system could hold 72 well into the high 90s maybe even low 100s.

My upstairs RH can creep up into the mid 50s pretty fast on cool damp days, I have the Honeywell Prestige thermostats dehumidify mode setup so it slows the blower down if RH goes above set point and this summer that feature has been a godsend with all the wet cool days we've had. Usually pulls RH back down into the upper 40s within 5-10 minutes.

 

[washman]

Still running good

Had some "hot" by PA standards days recently. The Goodman didn't break a sweat no pun intended. I did finally get some condensation on the suction lines, but I digress.

I am pleased with the performance of this unit. I runs quieter than the WH/Heil at the condo and is quieter, by a large margin, that dad's non eco-certified R22 RUUD heat pump.

Naturally time will tell how well it holds up. Research indicates Goodmans sometimes blow the start capacitors. This is easily changed on my unit. I also learned the indoor coil is all aluminum. Research again indicates this is more reliable than copper but I'll hold judgement until I have had the unit for a while.

Last month light bill totaled $68.16 (220v Union made Bradford-white 50 gal. WH)

West Penn Power, A First Energy company, is charging me 7.3 cents per kilowatt. Also a digital "smart" meter was installed during construction.

 

[gusherb]

That's an extremely good electric rate. Ours is around 10 cents a KWh here, and they plan to raise rates in order to fund a grid modernization by 2020.

Our July usage was the lowest I've ever seen it, coming in at 1,440 KWh's. Usually it's 1,900 for July. It was that cold. I expect August to be 17-1,800 Kwh's.

 

[washman]

Well summer is over

and the AC unit gets break. Suffice it to say, it ran very well, kept me comfortable at a reasonable price in terms of energy usage. It is a mixed bag labor wise: the Furance was built in a union plant, the AC was built in a non union plant. Both are in Tennessee!

So now I have one season of AC behind me, getting ready to shift to heat mode. I'll see how the furnace carries the freight this winter. This is my first rodeo with GOodman brand HVAC products. Naturally like anything else, they work fine when new. Time will tell how well they hold up. As I have learned, a good installation is key. You can take a top of the line Trane and do a hack job and will perform like shit and probably give up the ghost before the warranty runs out.

So far as I can tell, my unit was correctly sized and installed. I feel that will go a long way towards satisfactory performance and longevity.