Central air conditioners

Carrier Infinity 24ANB1 Variable-Speed Air Conditioner

Name: Carrier Infinity 24ANB1 Variable-Speed Air Conditioner
Brand: Carrier

Carrier 24ANB1Factory Authorized Dealer network 62% data complete

$7,000 – $13,000

rough estimate, installed — no seller data yet

Installed price varies more between contractors than between brands. Get three quotes.

Variable-speed cooling-only condenser, SEER2 up to 21, designed to pair with a gas furnace.

Our take

A cooling-only condenser makes sense in exactly one situation: you are committed to gas heat and want the best available cooling. If there is any chance you will electrify heating in this equipment's lifetime, a heat pump costs marginally more and gives you the option. Consider carefully before buying a machine that can only do half the job.

Best for

Gas-heated homes replacing an air conditioner only, with no intention of changing the heating system.

Watch out for

A heat pump does everything this does plus heating, usually for a modest premium. Get both quoted before deciding.

Before you buy — install and sizing lessons

Reported issues about installation, sizing, or the dealer/installer — not the equipment itself. These don't affect the ratings above; they're what to ask your contractor about before you sign a contract.

Sizing and capacity in practice · sizing

Brand-level signal, not a match to this specific model: an owner reported the Carrier condenser that came with their house was oversized for it, and started making a high-pitched noise that temporarily cleared after hosing off the outdoor coil but returned once it dried — consistent with a refrigerant or airflow problem compounding an oversizing issue, not a one-off.

"The AC unit that came with the house was an oversized (for the house) Carrier product." — StarsFan4Life (homeowner) homeowner, 2010

Central air conditioning problems · Owner/trade forums (misc.) · 2010-06-23 · read it in context

Compare against

Rheem RA19AY / Ruud UA19AY Inverter Air Conditioner, 5 ton

Current Rheem/Ruud R-454B 5-ton communicating inverter condenser. Rheem's designated test combination with the RHMVY6021SEACAJ modulating air handler delivers 54,000 BTU/h, 17.5 SEER2 and 10.5 EER2.

Rheem RA16AY / Ruud UA16AY Two-Stage Air Conditioner, 5 ton

Current Rheem/Ruud R-454B 5-ton, two-stage cooling-only condenser. It is the middle Rheem/Ruud replacement path between single-stage equipment and the fully communicating inverter system.

Trane XV20i Variable-Speed Air Conditioner

Variable-speed cooling-only condenser rated to SEER2 20.5, built around Trane's Climatuff compressor.

Bryant Preferred 148TAN04800W Air Conditioner

Two-stage cooling-only condenser, SEER2 18, EER2 14, built on the same Puron Advance platform Carrier sells as its own mid-tier line.

Before you buy this

Ask the contractor for the AHRI certificate number for the specific indoor/outdoor combination being installed — ratings apply to matched pairs, not to the outdoor unit alone. Ask whether they will perform a Manual J load calculation rather than sizing off the equipment being replaced. And check your state and utility incentive programmes: there is no federal tax credit for a 2026 installation, so those programmes are now the only incentive money available, and many require approval before installation.

Specifications

Efficiency

Seasonal cooling efficiency?

Well above the federal minimum — meaningfully lower running costs over a full cooling season.

Manufacturer submittal and specification sheets · tier 3

SEER2

SEER2 replaced SEER in 2023 under a harder lab test (5x the airflow resistance) — never compare a SEER2 number to an old SEER number; a unit that used to test at 14 SEER now tests at roughly 13.4 SEER2 for the same hardware.

How it holds up on the hottest afternoons?

Strong peak-day performance — built to keep up through a sustained heat wave, not just an average summer day.

Manufacturer submittal and specification sheets · tier 3

13.5

EER2

Manufacturers publish this far less consistently than SEER2 — if it's missing, that itself is worth asking about if you live somewhere with real summer heat.

Sizing

How much house it cools?

Enough cooling for a mid-size house, roughly 1,600-2,200 sq ft

Manufacturer submittal and specification sheets · tier 3

36,000 BTU/h

Rated capacity

This is a rough guide, not a substitute for a Manual J load calculation. Bigger is not better here — P1's single largest regret cluster is buyers whose unit is oversized for the house, which short-cycles, fails to dehumidify, and leaves rooms feeling cold and clammy at the same time.

Design

How it throttles output?

Runs long and low instead of blasting on and off — the strongest defense against the short-cycling/poor-dehumidification problem an oversized system causes.

Manufacturer submittal and specification sheets · tier 3

variable-speed

Compressor / burner staging

Which refrigerant it uses?

Current-generation refrigerant. Mildly flammable (A2L-classified) — confirm your installer is trained and equipped for A2L brazing, charging and leak detection.

Manufacturer submittal and specification sheets · tier 3

R-454B

Refrigerant

As of 2025, new-build equipment must use a refrigerant with GWP <= 700, which rules out R-410A — a unit still spec'd in R-410A is pre-2025 inventory. The federal deadline that would have banned *installing* existing R-410A stock was reversed in May 2026, so it remains legal to install; what changes is long-run service cost, not legality.

Comfort

How loud the outdoor unit runs?

Quiet enough to sit next to.

Manufacturer submittal and specification sheets · tier 3

51 dB(A)

Sound level

This is the rated sound level of the unit alone, not what you'll actually hear at a specific window — that depends on siting, mounting and what's nearby, none of which any certification measures.

Ownership

How long parts are covered?

A full 10-year parts term, in line with the rest of the market.

Manufacturer submittal and specification sheets · tier 3

10 yr

Parts warranty

On an inverter system the control/inverter board is a common costly failure, and the board is a part, not the compressor — a strong compressor term paired with a weak parts term is a 5-year warranty on the thing most likely to actually break.

How long the compressor is covered?

A long compressor warranty — but check the parts term below; a compressor covered for 10-12 years paired with a much shorter parts term is a headline number, not full protection.

Manufacturer submittal and specification sheets · tier 3

10 yr

Compressor warranty

Many manufacturers require registration within 60-90 days of install to get the full term — miss the deadline and coverage silently drops to a shorter base warranty.

Cost

What people typically pay?

Quotes usually start around $7,000

EnergySage equipment guides · tier 4 · unverified

$7,000

Typical installed cost (low)

Installed price varies more between contractors than between brands. Get three quotes.

Top of the typical range?

and run up to about $13,000 for harder installations

EnergySage equipment guides · tier 4 · unverified

$13,000

Typical installed cost (high)

Every value above is stored with the document it came from and the date it was read. How we resolve conflicting sources →