Lennox
Independent major: Dave Lennox Signature down to Merit, known for high-SEER communicating systems. Parts run dealer-direct more than most brands — plan the truck accordingly.
The family: Lennox, the Allied Air set (Armstrong Air, AirEase, Ducane, Concord), ADP coils and air handlers, and Magic-Pak wall units.
Same family: Armstrong Air, AirEase, Ducane, Concord, ADP (Advanced Distributor Products), Magic-Pak
What they make
Split system A/C (straight cool)
Covered in the simulatorOutdoor condenser plus an indoor furnace-and-coil or air handler — the most common machine in single-family homes and garden-style multi-family.
The whole sim is built on this machine: every wing of the board and the guided no-cool flow apply directly.
Start a guided call →Practice: whole system dead →Practice: outdoor unit dead →Practice: runs but won’t cool →Practice: no air inside →Practice: acting possessed →Practice: blows fuses →Practice: gauges on →Practice: wrong part, wrong size →A2L start-up guide →
Heat pump (split)
Lessons carry overA split system that also heats: one reversing valve decides which coil condenses. Everything a straight-cool split has, plus the O (or, on some brands, B) circuit and defrost.
The HEAT PUMP wing of the board works the reversing valve; the guided flow routes heat pumps to escalation until its playbook ships. The electrical side transfers one-for-one.
Open in the Copilot (reference) →Practice: heat pump →Practice: whole system dead →Practice: outdoor unit dead →Practice: runs but won’t cool →Practice: no air inside →Practice: acting possessed →Practice: blows fuses →Practice: gauges on →Practice: wrong part, wrong size →A2L start-up guide →
Gas furnace
Covered in the simulatorThe indoor half of most split systems outside the Sun Belt: burners and heat exchanger below, the A-coil above, the 24V control system inside.
The control side — door switch, transformer, board, blower, low-voltage fuse — is fully modeled as the sim’s indoor cabinet, and the guided flow applies on cooling complaints. Combustion-side diagnostics are on the roadmap.
Start a guided call →Practice: whole system dead →Practice: no air inside →Practice: acting possessed →Practice: blows fuses →
Air handler / fan coil
Covered in the simulatorThe all-electric indoor cabinet: blower, coil, and controls. In multi-family it hides in closets and mechanical rooms; hydronic fan-coil versions swap the coil’s refrigerant for water.
Modeled as the sim’s indoor unit: control power, blower circuits, condensate float, coil airflow. Hydronic (water-coil) versions add loop diagnosis the sim doesn’t model yet.
Start a guided call →Practice: whole system dead →Practice: no air inside →Practice: runs but won’t cool →Practice: acting possessed →Practice: blows fuses →Practice: gauges on →A2L start-up guide →
Evaporator coil
Covered in the simulatorThe indoor coil itself — cased or uncased, A, N or slab — often replaced separately from everything else, which is where mismatches are born.
Freeze-ups, restrictions, airflow starvation and mismatched-coil audits are all on the board, and the guided flow’s superheat/subcooling paths read straight through it. Match by capacity and metering device, never by badge.
Start a guided call →Practice: gauges on →Practice: runs but won’t cool →Practice: wrong part, wrong size →A2L start-up guide →
Package unit
Lessons carry overThe whole system in one outdoor cabinet — on a pad beside the house or on the roof. Gas/electric, straight cool, or heat pump.
Same parts, one cabinet: contactors, dual-run caps, PSC/ECM motors and the refrigerant circuit fail exactly like the board’s scenarios. The guided flow’s split-system routing doesn’t fit a single cabinet, so it escalates package units by design.
Open in the Copilot (reference) →Practice: runs but won’t cool →Practice: blows fuses →Practice: gauges on →
Ductless mini split
Reference for nowInverter-driven outdoor unit feeding one or more wall, ceiling or compact-ducted heads over a communicating line. The fastest-growing machine in both segments.
Inverter boards, communicating controls and electronic expansion valves — not the contactor-and-run-cap machine the board models, and dedicated mini-split tickets are on the roadmap. From the A2L start-up guide, the refrigerant handling, nitrogen and deep-vacuum discipline transfer; its charge-to-subcooling step does not — these machines charge by weight to the manufacturer’s line-length math, behind flares torqued to spec. On the call itself, flash codes and the manufacturer’s service data lead.
Tech support
Tech support here is the guided Copilot with your Lennox info already loaded — one question at a time, evidence before parts, and everything you enter rides into the service report.
Opens the guided Copilot with Lennox already on the equipment card.
Reading Lennox model numbers
Lennox writes series-dash-size: 14ACX-036 reads 14 SEER / ACX line / 036 = 3 tons; XC16-048 is the Elite 4-ton. Allied Air brands (Armstrong, AirEase, Ducane, Concord) use 4SCU/4SHP-style prefixes with the same trailing size. Furnaces (ML195, EL296V, SLP98V) put AFUE in the name and heating input elsewhere — don’t read furnace digits as tonnage. Magic-Pak all-in-ones put cooling capacity in the TRAILING block (…-241/-301/-361 = 2 / 2.5 / 3 tons); the digit right after MHP/MGE is the series generation and the middle token is the efficiency class — neither is a size.
14ACX-036-230— Lennox Merit split A/C, 14 SEER, 3 tons (036).4SCU16LS148P— Allied Air split A/C, 16 SEER, 4 tons (48).
Thirty years of these units
1990s–2000s: 10ACB/12HPB R-22 era. 2010s: 13ACX/14ACX/XC lines on R-410A. 2020s: EL/SL variable-capacity and A2L transitions.
Lennox residential packages (LRP14/LRP16) put tonnage right in the model: LRP14AC36 = 3 tons.
Dating a unit from the serial
Lennox serials lead with plant digits then two year digits (e.g., 5807C… → 2007). Allied brands differ — check the family table. Serial 5807C12345 → 2007 build.
Common rule — spot-check against the manufacturer’s table
Need the wiring? The practice board’s ladder diagram is live and interactive — the same circuit these units share, with a meter on it. Open the board →