• So far, we could not be happier with our choice of our new Trane Heat Pump and with choosing Air Systems to install the system. • Why we chose the Trane XV18 (3 Ton model). • Our house was built 34 years ago and we have been the owners for 10 years. The original two Trane heat pumps have run very well during our time but the larger unit began to leak Freon (R22) so it was time to consider a new system and given our experience with Trane reliability, the brand was high on our list. • It has been difficult to find unbiased measures on what system is best on the web. Everyone has their opinions. We relied on the Consumer Reports reviews and found that American Standard and Trane (now owned by the same company and built in the same factory) to be rated the highest. • We paid extra for the XV18 not only for the increased SEER efficiency but also the quiet operation and how the variable compressor and fan can precisely hold any temperature you set it to. • NOTE: This is not an inexpensive model. We do expect a reasonable return on our investment in electric bill savings but also feel that it will be a good selling point if/when we decide to sell the house. • Why we chose Air Systems to install our Trane System • I read that it is prudent to get at least 3 estimates. I ended up getting 5 (with Air Systems being the last): three estimates for companies that installed Trane Systems, one that installed American Standard and one who installed American Pride (A Goodman/Amana Company) • One of the first estimates was from Jon Wayne Service Company. Jon Wayne only installs American Pride Brand Heat Pumps. Goodman and Amana are rated pretty low in Consumer Reports but I received a “Half-Off” equipment in the mail so I thought I would at least get an estimate and if the savings was significant enough, I would consider using them. They seemed thorough in checking out the house and had a very polished sales pitch but in the end, to our surprise, even with the coupon their estimate ended up being by far the highest for a similar sized system that was rated one of the lowest rated in reliability. • Champion AC installs Trane systems and I noticed they had a remarkably similar sales approach to Jon Wayne (a visual tiered system that seemed to make upselling easy). The price estimate seemed high (ended up over $5,000 more than I paid to Air Systems). • Had two other estimates. The American Standard guy never even left the ladder to look at the existing system (located in the space above our second floor kitchen) and gave me an estimate that was crazy high. The last estimate was low in price but the estimator missed a few challenges that the others pointed out with the install (size of new system would not have fit in the footprint of the old system and would require it to be completely reconfigured with new ductwork). • I was starting to get extremely frustrated. I started to scrutinize the reviews more and really liked the honesty, responsiveness and quality of work reflected in the reviews for Air Systems. I sent a text to Air Systems and within a few minutes I received a call from Mr. Carlos Jimenez (I believe he is the Co-Owner of the company) and we scheduled a time for him to come out. Carlos came out to look at our old system and sent us estimates based on different SEER levels. The estimates were good and we felt that Mr. Jimenez showed us the pride of a business owner and not a salesman. • In conclusion, we could not have been happier which our choice of system and the installer. The workmen were friendly, hardworking and left the house cleaner than when they came. Big enough company to be able to handle the job efficiently (they had 4 trucks at times to our house during the 2 ½ day install) but small enough to have the company owner checking in a few hours every day to make sure things were being done right.