Archived from the Tools In Action forum (Around The House). This thread is read-only.
My new-to-me home came w/ a now 7-year-old Carrier central air conditioning system, w/ this air handler and compressor. Last year, in the height of the southern Florida high summer temperatures the system failed because the air handler blower motor died. Unfortunately, that part was unable to be obtained, despite multiple calls by me to the service company and to the manufacturer, w/ them telling me the lead time would be many months. Eventually I took matters into my own hands and found, then purchased a used part on eBay and installed it myself, restoring normal operation.
That part failed again after less than a year and I was DONE w/ this system and determined to get a new Trane A/C installed instead. My advice if going this route is to do as I did and select an installation company from the list one the Trane website after entering the Zip Code. There are MANY companies that will sell a Trane, but IMO it is waaay better to select an authorized installer. Trane makes that EASY.
My research led me to select the Ultimate Trane home air conditioner system. This consists of: a Trane 5TAMXD06AV41DB Hyperion Variable Speed Air Handler w/ a Trane BAYEAAC10LG1B 10kW resistor heater; a Trane 5TTV0X48A1000BA 20 TruComfort Variable Speed Air Conditioner w/ WeatherGuard 4 ton compressor; a Trane Link UX360 Smart Thermostat and SC360 System Controller and a REME HALO Whole Home UV Air Purification System. I didn’t need a heat pump system because of the very infrequent requirement for heating at this location.
They also installed a Intermatic AG3000 Surge Protection Device inside the 4 ton compressor wiring compartment.
There are several things I really like about this high-end system. Those favored features include: the epoxy coated evaporator coil; the positive pressure air handler cabinet and the double-wall air handler cabinet, w/ a full plastic interior liner sandwiching the insulation. The manufacturer provides a full 10-year parts and labor warranty, 12 years on the compressor. The seller also provides full coverage on replacement Freon over that term.
The smart thermostat is amazing, in many ways superior to a Nest thermostat. For me THE most important requirement for me was EASY operation and LARGE readable measured and setpoint temperatures. I didn’t want to have to get my reading glasses to change the setpoint. This fits the bill.
It also permits displaying three of five smart parameters. Those five parameters are: weather forecast; interior humidity. compressor speed (percentage of full speed), dealer contact information and system status. I chose the first three.
Of course, all the thermostat and system monitor / control features are also available on the smart phone application. The dealership will also be contacted automatically if a problem is detected.
What I don’t like about this system is the insane level of complexity. It is just begging for something to break. Fortunately, everything is fully covered for a decade. I REALLY like (and miss) the dinosaur days when voltage was applied to the fan and to the compressor, using a relay, and those motors ran. Easy peasy, sometimes a motor capacitor dried out. requiring replacement after an easy capacitance measurement, then fixed. Sometimes a relay contacts needed cleaning, no problem.
One cool thing (pun intended) is that the air handler is positive pressure instead of negative pressure. This is because the blower is on the bottom, instead of the top. The manufacturer has a large exterior sticker detailing that feature. The benefit is that this air handler will leak a small amount of air to the garage or attic, instead of sucking air from those locations, then into the house. This air handler leaks a small amount of air (ALL air handlers leak a small amount of air, except others suck air on those leaks) because it isn’t a space capsule or a submarine. It has nicely gasketed panels and doors, but it isn’t airtight.
Really, really, really liked the inexpensive and plentiful R-12 (automotive) and R-22 (home) refrigerants that were outlawed by Algore. The replacements are MUCH more expensive and MUCH less effective than those initial refrigerants. The benefit of the replacement blends are touted as being less damaging to Ozone layer. That benefit was effectively neutralized when recycling equipment was mandated to service companies, instead of intentionally dumping the Freon into the air when service was required.
My over-the-top implementation included me preparing for this service by sanding / filling / painting everything in the vicinity of my air handler, located in my garage, ceiling, walls, trim and platform. Once the old air handler was removed, then that process continued for the remainer of the wall, trim and support platform that was exposed by the equipment removal, prior to again being obstructed by the replacement. The rest of the garage is waiting on me to remove the filled shelves to finish the painting, but this spot is now done.
My VERY strong recommendation is to closely watch over the workers, especially at key stages. Despite me screening during the selection process to ensure the workers use a Nitrogen gas purge prior to brazing the copper refrigerant lines to prevent internal damaging soot, the worker connected all that to my system, but started brazing, prior to opening the Nitrogen flow, until I alerted him to his error, grrr. At least they properly used a vacuum pump to evacuate the system prior to introducing my virgin Freon into the system.
The other significant detractor is the cost. This system is very expensive.
New Trane Evaporator w/ Epoxy-Coated Coils
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New Empty Double-Wall Trane Hyperion Variable Speed Air Handler Being Installed
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New Trane Hyperion Variable Speed Air Handler Being Installed w/ Evaporator on Top and Blower on Bottom
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New Trane Hyperion Variable Speed Air Handler Installed
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New Trane 20 TruComfort Variable Speed Air Conditioner w/ WeatherGuard 4-Ton Compressor Installed
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Intermatic AG3000 Surge Protection Device Installed Inside Compressor
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One interesting feature I neglected to mention, both the air blower motor and the compressor motor have infinitely variable speeds, determined, selected and controlled by the computer brain running the system.
Another feature is both the air handler and the compressor are very quiet.
Very cool and thanks for sharing. Mine is about 7 years old. As you said to watch over them, I would have no idea, lol. Good you caught his mistake. I have a boiler system for my furnace, so when I remodeled my house, I stuck the air handler in the attic. I am just hoping I will never have to replace the whole system because it would be a pain to get it out. I was told that the motor would be the biggest thing to replace and the air handler would not have to come down. Who knows, I just keep hoping it never goes bad to the point the whole air handler needs to be replaced. Thanks for sharing and looks great.
Thanks much. Yes, access on my system could not be easier!
Good luck w/ your system. My experience is that availability on “old” parts is the biggest issue. It wouldn’t surprise me if your motor also has an integrated computer, like existed on my 7-year-old system. Pretty sure that computer was the failure point on mine.
In my mind, I’m 100% convinced that my problems were caused by nearby lightning, typical for Florida.
The company included this Intermatic AG3000 Surge Protection Device on my compressor.
I just purchased and will install a second identical part on the exterior of my air handler service disconnect box. IMO this is inexpensive and provides solid failure protection.
THE BEST way to maximize lightning surge protection is w/ short wires (less inductance) placed adjacent to the device that needs protection.
Liking the waterproof enclosure, good for exterior attachment to a knockout on the exterior compressor service disconnect box. Also liking the internal green indicator lamp to visually show that the protection hasn’t been exhausted, as they deteriorate after each event.
Good to know. I will see if I have that on my system or I can install. For a $100 it’s worth it.
wingless wrote:
On 6/17/2026 at 9:35 AM, wingless said:The company included this Intermatic AG3000 Surge Protection Device on my compressor.
I just purchased and will install a second identical part on the exterior of my air handler service disconnect box. IMO this is inexpensive and provides solid failure protection.
THE BEST way to maximize lightning surge protection is w/ short wires (less inductance) placed adjacent to the device that needs protection.
Liking the waterproof enclosure, good for exterior attachment to a knockout on the exterior compressor service disconnect box. Also liking the internal green indicator lamp to visually show that the protection hasn’t been exhausted, as they deteriorate after each event.
Got the second surge protection device.
Removed the first from inside the compressor wiring enclosure.
Added green electrical tape to the white wires on both, as they will be properly connected to ground.
Installed both onto the exterior of the service disconnect boxes, as per the manufacturer’s instructions, one for the compressor, the other for the air handler.
Didn’t follow the US NEC Code and put two wires into the service disconnect box screw lugs, instead of the specified one per lug. Connected to the line side of the switches.
Really like getting the additional lightning protection for these A/C devices, especially in southern Florida. The parts are sooo expensive and frequently difficult to obtain.
Really like the bright green LED, indicating protection active. Light turns red when protection exhausted.
Added Green Electrical Tape Over White Wire for Proper Connection to Ground
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Installed onto Air Handler Service Disconnect
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Installed onto Compressor Service Disconnect
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Wired Using Not Permitted Two Wires Per Lug
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Nice, job. I somewhat handy but not this handy. That’s awesome you can do so much. Think about not only the cash you have saved over the years, but you always know it was done the right way and someone didn’t cut corners.
Grrr
My AMAZING new system failed, in less than a month.
The “thermostat” computer display says: “A2L Sensor 1 not connected to MCB – Err 202.01”.
The Dinosaur Days of apply power and the motor runs was great. The thermostat would close a contactor (relay), causing the motors to run. Sometimes the inexpensive motor capacitor would degrade, easy to measure and easy to replace. Sometimes the relay contacts would get dirty, easy to clean.
They are coming tomorrow to restore normal operation.
Keep us updated, curios on this turns out.
The repair / restoration of normal operation has been completed. It required two visits (two days) to have all the parts required to resolve the problem. (Of course the A/C breaks during the heat of summer).
The fully computerized system has a sniffer in the air stream, in the air handler near the evaporator coils, to detect if Freon gas has leaked, to then shut down the compressor. The problem on my system was that this Freon detection system discontinued communicating w/ the computer. The reported fault indicated to the service company exactly what was causing the problem. The system automatically reports problems to the service company, probably for them to ignore until I call.
There are three components to the Freon sniffer, all located inside the air handler: the sniffer board, attached to a bracket holding it near the epoxy-coated evaporator coils; an interface cable, connecting the sniffer board to the interface board and an interface board, attached to the back side of the computer board.
On the first day / repair attempt the technician swapped out only the sniffer board, but the fault remained. On the second day / repair attempt the technician then also swapped out the interface cable and the interface board. After all three parts were swapped out the thermostat / computer display stopped showing a system fault and normal operation resumed.
One thing that was nice was that the new interface board included the attached snap in standoffs. That was good as the removal of the old board resulted in some of those plastic standoffs breaking.
The technician related that my issue was the current fault that would be reported on new systems, either at new installation of within a month. Mine almost made a month before failing. He also let me know that a different part caused issues on new systems, reported a year earlier.
The thing that I found surprising was that this Ultimate Trane System was their most popular system for new installations. I found it surprising because of the high cost. This system is two to three times the cost of a similar sized system. I’m guessing my area generally selects higher end instead of lower cost, but I still wasn’t expecting that trend.
Of course, no charge. It is great to have a 10 year bumper-to-bumper warranty, ESPECIALLY on something w/ this level of complexity.
Thermostat / Computer Display Screen Saver After Two Days of no A/C
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Detached Freon Sniffer Board
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Installed Freon Sniffer Board
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Detached Interface Board
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Installed Interface Board
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Wow 96 degrees inside, that is crazy. I would go insane, I can’t sleep when it’s that hot, lol. I am glad it is fixed and they solved the problem. I always find it funny how these board break. No moving parts or anything. You think they would last a long time but I hear them breaking all the time with washers, dryers, well all most anything. Either way glad it back and running and you can get the house cool again.
Thanks, me too. Pretty sure there was a defective part, that was working well enough to last for almost a month. I was sweating off body parts while working on my hall bathroom remodeling project w/ the elevated air temps. VERY glad that normal interior temperatures have been restored.
One very unique thing about this system is that both the compressor and the air handler motors are computer-controlled to operate at infinitely variable (1% increments) speeds.
Besides the benefit of decreased electricity consumption and lower audible noise, there is a huge benefit from this system that I haven’t seen mentioned elsewhere.
Unlike conventional single-speed or dual-speed A/C systems IMO it should be possible to over-size this system. As an American, it has been ingrained that “bigger is better”, but that adage doesn’t apply to a home air conditioner.
The HUGE problem w/ an over-sized home air conditioner is that the operational time will become unacceptably short. The short run time is a problem because decreasing the internal home air temperature is only one part of the A/C function. The other function, probably of greater importance, is to also decrease the internal home air humidity.
The humidity is decreased by the warm humid internal home air flowing through the cold A/C evaporator inside the air handler. Just like the outside of a glass of ice water outside on a hot summer day, water vapor in the air contacts the cold evaporator fins to condense the water out of the air, to then be routed to a drain.
The A/C function of decreasing the internal home air humidity is hurt by an over-sized A/C because the operational run time becomes insufficiently short. The thermostat measuring the air temperature gets “happy” too quickly when the compressor is over-sized, preventing removal of enough humidity.
This Ultimate Trane Home A/C has variable speeds, causing the system to operate for longer duration at a lower speed.
In my case, I selected a 4 Ton compressor, matching my previous system, which was / is sufficient to properly cool the house. However, when my eldest daughter visits, this system is currently incapable of attaining the cold Artic-like temperatures she desires. It would have been possible for me to instead have installed the larger 5 ton compressor, permitting attaining lower internal air temperatures when desired, while still satisfying the requirement to decrease the internal home air humidity, when operating the system at normal temperatures.
FYI, my new-to-me 33 year old southern Florida home has typical construction for the region. There is: a concrete slab floor, no floor insulation (no basement); cinderblock exterior walls, covered on the exterior w/ textured stucco and 1″ firring strips w/ Sheetrock on the interior, no wall insulation and a wooden truss roof, w/ Fiberglass above the ceiling Sheetrock. The truss attic has soffit vents, gable vents and some houses have ridge vents, mine doesn’t have ridge vents.
My plan, when things cool down more, is to increase the attic ventilation by adding a large thermostatically-controlled whole house fan to force air to exhaust from my gable vent. I will construct a large sealed box in the attic near the vent that will draw air from the soffit vents around the house perimeter to then dump out through this vent.
That project will likely also include: verification that the existing soffit vents are not obstructed by insulation; increasing the existing insulation thickness and possibly also insulating most of the top part of the truss, against the roof, after installing a formed vent trough.
All these changes will improve the house efficiency, decreasing the A/C requirements and permitting this existing new A/C system to attain lower internal air temperatures.
wingless wrote:
7 hours ago, wingless said:…
That project will likely also include: verification that the existing soffit vents are not obstructed by insulation; increasing the existing insulation thickness and possibly also insulating most of the top part of the truss, against the roof, after installing a formed vent trough.
The insulation of the upper truss, against the roof, will have this Owens Corning Raft-R-Mate installed first, to ensure that roof Fiberglass will have sufficient ventilation to avoid / prevent moisture problems. It is easy enough to install, or snap in half for standard width truss spacing.
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Yes, when I did my addition, I had no idea about how important the right size AC unit is. One the guy explained it to me, i was glad I new. I always just assumed, bigger is better.