Due to my wavering on the River Water / GEO combination, my installer is recommending Westinghouse 24.5 IQDrive. Looks sweet. I was looking at Carrier Greenspeed early on in my investigations. My installer is VERY thorough with a great reputation in GA. He's been in and done all the sizing and leak tests etc., so I'm inclined to trust his judgement. I can't find many sites (other than the manufacturers), that talk about the pro's and cons of Westinghouse / Nordyne. They obviously are not common - the IQ drive yet. I've seen all teh video's and "sales" pitches now of both GreenSpeed and IQdrive. Thoughts anyone (yes I know it's a GEO forum) but you guys seem to know a lot about a lot!
I have a Greenspeed project underway. I have investigated the IQ drive system. It is marketed under several names not normally associated with HVAC - Frigidaire, Maytag, Tappan. During my initial investigation of IQdrive there was no zoning capability. That may have changed. Meanwhile Carrier married the Greenspeed to the well-regarded Infinity zoning system, giving an advantage. Variable cpacity systems shine brightest in multi zone applications. FWIW, Carrier is a much more significant player in HVAC (they invented it) than Nordyne / Westinghouse. The foregoing is opinion and conjecture based on relatively little installed system base / measured comfort or energy conservation data, so take it with a grain or two of salt.
I'm with Curt. The first thing I think we I see Nordyne is "home owner warranty". In other words old furnace failed within a year after the house was purchased and somebody installed a Nordyne for the very few bucks the home warranty people were willing to pay. Nor is their equipment hailed for longevity in the industry. Carrier/Bryant on the other hand chose to ignore a heat exchanger problem for more than a decade threatening peoples safety until a class action law suit put an end to it. They still continue to employ clam shell heat exchangers while virtually everyone else has moved to serpentine tube. That said, if you need warranty work, I like your odds of finding a Carrier/Bryant/BDP/ Payne/Weathermaker dealer than a Nordyne dealer. Virtually every manufacturer has a skeleton in their closet, so make sure you pick one that is likely to be there if you have trouble. j
