Yep, it's hot in Texas once again, and looks like one of the relations' central air conditioning system is fixing to go tits-up. I'm wondering what the best replacement unit would be. Was under the impression that most manufacturers get their compressors from the same couple of companies, and many of the other parts seem pretty off-the-shelf, too. Are all brands pretty much the same in terms of quality, reliability and features, or is there one or two really outstanding ones?

The best central air conditioner you will ever come across is the one you read about right after you have installed whatever you just bought.

So far this has worked for me with tires, VCRs and replacement windows.

Good luck.

I would have to say carrier is a good brand of air-conditioner to have installed. I used to instal carrieer heat-pumps,furnaces,air-handlers,and air-conditioners. I have seen alot of junk out there due to installing many carrier units. Carrier is a good brand and has a decent warranty also. Check into carrier.

Get a Trane!  Haven't you seen the commercials?  They say in the commercial that the Trane is the best.

As long as it's a Carrier or a Trane I wouldn't worry about the rest.  Get the highest tonnage rated compressor unit you can.  I want icicles coming out the vents.  What you DON'T WANT is one of those "Energy Efficient" units.  All that means is the compressor is too small for the installation.  Sure it costs less to run on an hourly basis, but the damn thing runs ALL THE TIME when it's hot and half the summer won't keep the house cool.  Made that mistake in 1980 in a house I built in North Dallas.  Go for pure frigid cooling power.

Funny thing how things happen when customers dont want to pay up, what do they think people like crawling around in crawl spaces, and attics for nothing.

Working with the general public was a kick in the pants. One time we were doing a total install of a whole central air heating/cooling system the total works duct system, furnace, air-conditioner. There was three of us on the job. Anyway we went up into the attic to spot for pulling thermostat wire and lo and behold we found a nice science project going on in the attic. This guy was growing pot up in his attic and forgot to get most of the stuff out of it. He made sure to get the plants out, but that was it. There were grow lights, tin foil for reflection, pots with soil in them all lined up nice and neat, and the attic just reaked pot to. Kinda funny. The three of us installers kept wondering why the cops kept driveing by the place 3-4 times aday. Oh so many stories.

On a serious note make sure to get good detailed bids for the  install of an air-conditioner.  A good bidder will know how to counculate the tonage of a unit and what size of a coil you will need at your furnace.
My first choice would be a carrier, good units,
reliable and pretty quiet to. second choice would be Bryant, third would be trane. Dont go with something like sears or some off the wall brand, I cannot count how many of those off the wall brands that we re-placed because they were so cheap. You will get what you pay for.

I had a new Trane furnace and air conditioning system put in last spring and I have not one complaint. I read or the salesman told me that Trains compressors are so well built that after 30 years they still have not had to change their design.

What about that new 2 stage unit, i read about it in a consumer guide i think. 1st stage is real low voltage an does most the cooling, 2nd stage kicks on only if conditions get far enough out of whack that 1st can't do the job. S'posed to be REAL economical compared to 1 stage units which is the current standard. I don't know might be BS but the article made it sound good.

Up until about a week ago I would have said to go with Carrier, but they ripped their nickers in my book when they decided to stop providing financial suppoprt to the Boy Scouts of America due to the moral integrity the organization instills in young men. They instead chose to appease gay rights activists. Get a Trane.