After much research I'm unable to find one maybe two HVAC manufacturers that fit the following criteria I'm looking for.
High efficiency unit
The "smarts" of the HVAC unit MUST BE controlled internally (to allow for use of a non-proprietary thermostat so that it can easily adapt to Hubitat)
So far Goodman is the only manufacturer I've seen that does this all others require use of their proprietary thermostat in order for the "smart" of the unit to work (variable speed compressors and fans)
This thread should be useful for those being forced to purchase a new unit do to the elimination of recently prohibited R-22 refrigerant.
I also was looking at those Goodman gas furnaces and A/C. According to the installation manuals, without their special thermostat they are crippled, but they still will modulate the gas valve and/or the blower motor and/or compressor.
They apparently use some type of time based algorithm to step the machines up and down. Not perfect, but will work with a normal 2-stage or more thermostat. To get the full features, you need their thermostat like everyone else. The install manuals graph out how the units adjust over time if you haven't seen that.
I am happy with my 3 year old Goodman A/C and ~20 year old Goodman furnace. I want/need a smaller furnace (currently 100K BTU and needs to be 60K BTU) and would buy Goodman again. They are one of the only ones to put their install and owner manuals online so you can research ahead of time.
There are options for R-22, it isn't illegal to use it, it is simply not being manufactured any longer. They can use up existing stock or from what I understand even use recycled R-22 until it is gone. There are also apparently drop-in replacement refrigerants too. If your machine is older, it might be worth upgrading, but it will take a while to recoup the cost for the efficiency improvement.
So I recently replaced my central HVAC in an all-electric house. The previous system was a Trane XL15i (installed 2006) 3-ton outdoor unit and a Lennox furnace/air-hander with 12kW BTU heating strips that dated back to 1995. The old system was an R-22 system.
I went with a two-stage Lennox heat-pump and a variable speed furnace with 10kW heating strips. Still controlled by my old ecobee3 (although I had to run new wiring to the thermostat and heat pump). Blower speed is controlled by the furnace and the ecobee decides when the system runs in stage 1 v/s stage 2.
Hugely impressed by the improvement in comfort, and the new system is using less than 50% as much power as the old system did. It mostly cranks away in stage 1.
I currently have a "Magic Chef" (yes really) 31 year old propane furnace and about a 5 year old R-22 A/C compressor that the HVAC guy sold really cheap due to the refrigerant going obsolete. I plan on switching to an all electric heat pump system now that my whole house has generator back up, and using the propane tank to run the generator as needed. I also have a fireplace for my main source of heating.
When it gets closer to time for my purchase I will be doing a price comparison of the two stage vs the variable speed. The variable speed is the most efficient and the newest tech (which I like) but it will boil down to the cost/benefit between the two. I would like to go the variable speed route, but even non-proprietary thermostats really haven't yet adopted this tech.
I was trying to search the forum for that spreadsheet you posted a few weeks back of your energy usage differences and wasn't able to find it.
Problem is that the variable speed compressors are modulated in manufacturer-specific ways, so there's no non-proprietary way to control them. That was the main reason I went with a 2-stage unit. The variable speed units would be more efficient, no doubt about it. But comparing my house to a friends house, the increase in efficiency is not as substantial as going from a single-stage unit to a two-stage unit.
The thing was pricy though. Purchased through Costco, with parts & labor, I spent $10700. But the installers were super-professional, re-did Manual J/S/D calculations, recommended three or four choices with pricing. And didn't leave a mess - couldn't have had a better experience.
I can't find that graph either. But I'm happy to send you any data you want.
I have a propane backup generator also (but old-fashioned manual transfer switch).
Right now with my current setup my A/C uses on average between 800-1000 Kw per month (around $100-$125 more) so yes it may take a bit to recover the ROI but I don't plan on moving in my lifetime so should be good.
I hear ya, that's my most dreaded part because not only will I need to have done similarly as you have I also want the outside unit moved to the other side of the house, as this house when built didn't have central A/C and the moron's who installed it afterwards obviously knew nothing on installing them as my current outside unit is directly under a window and 2 feet from the front door blowing the exhaust air at them.
They also installed on the duct vents directly in the center of the house instead of the outside walls by the windows like "normal" houses have, been a real challenge bringing the energy efficiency up on my house.....I would like to move those as well, but don't think I can stomach more than about $13k for the project.
That seems excessive, but depending upon the house, location, and size of A/C might be normal?
My 1300 SF house in Michigan uses about 1300KWH per month (average) and that includes a hot tub, water heater, stove, and heat pump plus all the typical lighting and computers etc. The hottest month of the year is typically July, and that is usually about 1000KWH.
What part of the country are you from? In Michigan we have a heating dominated climate. I did something against recommendations and oversized the heat pump by 1 ton. I used a 3 ton two-stage Goodman 16 SEER. I did that so I wouldn't have to run the backup (very expensive) propane furnace very much. In the summer, the A/C runs in first stage only, and it is a tiny bit oversized, but the tradeoff for heating was worth it for me. I can heat the house probably 85% of the time without backup heat.
I agree. I think @waynespringer79 is in MN. So a climate more similar to yours than mine (southern Louisiana).
My old AC used about 800-1200 kWh per month in the summer. July and August used to be ~1200 kWh; May/October were about 800 kWh; June/September were about 1000 kWh.
The new 2-stage HP used 273 kWh in May, 410 kWh in June, and 391 kWh in July (so far). The improvement in efficiency is just phenomenal. The saving in the summer is ~$50-60/month.
I'm in Oklahoma, and the house has VERY poor design of the HVAC setup as I describe above, insulation needs extreme updates as well as door/windows. Before I began my "smart home" journey and actually monitoring energy consumption/usage. I had summer months of 2400-2600Kw used and in the winter time nothing under 1400Kw (with most heating provided by fireplace and an occasional space heater or propane central unit) Summer bills were around $300/month range now around $215
Now that I've updated all refrigerators/freezers cut those Kw/day in half. The TV's I had were about 12-15 years old and using 6Kw/day now the newer ones use under 2Kw/day.....I've reduced my monthly down to just under 1000Kw/month winter and last month was the hottest so far and was the first so far to exceed 2000 with 2004Kw for last month. I've cut down about 400-600kw/month by appliances and such.
I'm hoping to do another 400-600 with a "modern" HVAC but in reality I will need the insulation, window/door to probably get that good as currently on a 100 degree day, for every 15 minutes my A/C is NOT running the temp inside the house raises 1.5 degrees.....but looking at @aaiyar's figures I may not be to far off.
We have 1 of each Rheem and Carrier 2 stage variable speed systems. Both require their rip-off thermostats to utilize all the system functionality. The Rheem thermostat is a lot better than the Carrier even if neither are as capable as a Nest from 2013. There is a Rheem Hubitat driver that works. Not so for Carrier. Both have phone app and Alexa connectivity so it's reasonably easy to tweak when away from the thermostat.
