Home furnace recommendations

[john70t]

It's that season of year again, and time to start thinking ahead. lol.
Currently have a couple Lennox Pulse-Air systems that are working fine, but recently wanted to get a complete tune-up(new spark plug/flame sensor/capacitor/+whatever). It's noisy(2 mufflers), and farts and gurgles when the thermostat battery is low.

I've been told by a couple HVAC companies that new parts are no longer available from the manufacturer, although I've gotten inspection 'tune-ups' over the years.

A). One is needed for a rental.
(Older 2 story+ basement ~2500sq.)
Tenants pay the bills.
CO alarms for both of course.
I'd go big with a 2-stage or something quality if the price is right.
I want the tenants to live the same as I do.

B). One is for the home.
(Same layout, but ~1400sq and better insulated.)
Now has a 18K btu, which cycles air (fan-only mostly) more frequently than I'd prefer....every half hour to an hour on average.
Thermostat is in the coldest room, unfortunately, and affects this.

What do you cold-weather pelicans use? Price? Noise? Reliability?

[JJ 911SC]

Lenox are overrated...

After 17 years I upgraded to another Bryant, mainly for the service offer.

You should price it as what would be the cost for 20 years.

Presently the first 10 years is part and labour free and after 10 years about $100 a year after. Add the yearly service and so on.

His competitor (Carrier) was cheaper to start with but the yearly service was double the price.

Furnace Ratings as Determined by Consumer Ratings: Furnace Ratings by Brand

Rheem
Bryant
Ruud
Coleman
Trane
Goodman
Amana
Armstrong
Heil
Olsen, Airco
Frigidaire
Comfortmaker
Payne
Gibson
York
Tempstar
Arcoaire
Lennox
Luxaire
American Standard
Janitrol
Carrier
Weatherking
Ducane
Burnham
Heat Transfer Products

[recycled sixtie]

I sleep in the basement near my furnace. It's a Trane(as the ad says nothing runs like a Trane). I don't think its the cheapest . It's a high efficiency two stage furnace. It has not quit in the five years we have had it. It's reliable and pretty quiet.

So far so good. There are certain things I don't skimp on and the furnace is one....
Cheers, G.

[john70t]

recycled, I've heard of love/commitment but don't you think that's going a bit too far?

Seriously though, thx for the recommendation.

[recycled sixtie]

Originally Posted by john70t

recycled, I've heard of love/commitment but don't you think that's going a bit too far?

Seriously though, thx for the recommendation.

I enjoy our basement - cool in winter and cool in summer. Admitting I sleep next to a freezer and a furnace in one day in this forum is a first and probably the last.

I am sure there are other good furnaces besides the Trane.
G.

PS It would be interesting to note which furnace co. has the greatest sales. Sometimes the best seller may be the best or may not be. I said that back in the 90's about a van and bought a Chrysler van....it was the cheapest, the most popular but not necessarily the best. Stay warm John!

[john70t]

Hey, I've done it too, and liked it.

My dream someday is to build a berm house.
There is a constant 50 degrees about 4 feet underground. Free energy.

Water flooding and radon are the easy fixes.

[rcooled]

I've had the same Bryant furnace for the last 30 years. I only started doing semi-regular maintenance (cleaning mostly) for the last 10, but it's still running strong. I'd buy another one in a minute.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by JJ 911SC

Furnace Ratings as Determined by Consumer Ratings:

Just saying.....

I would think one would throw this study out the window in about two seconds after a brief review. The stats clearly state this on EVERY model. They love it or they hate it. Indicating if it works, it kicks a*s, if it breaks, it sucks.

Consumers don't know "eff-all" about furnace operation. Me included.

I bet that most issues are caused by evap drainage clogging, resulting in overflow into the innards of the furnace. Ask me why I say that. :-)

[Aragorn]

Have had good luck with a couple of Goodman furnaces. Good warranty and reliable.

I think most of the issues I have seen with people having problems are related to poor installation. Had one furnace guy state that it looked like one installer set a vent pipe up so water would pool in an elbow and block the air flow causing a service call. He said the joint wasn't glued so the repairman would only have to loosen the strap, pull the joint and drain the water for an easy $100-$200 service call.

I would recommend checking out the local furnace companies with the BBB and local friends. Finding a good furnace is only half the battle. Finding a good reputable installer is the key. A bad install will make a good furnace look like a lemon.

[johnsjmc]

If buying a new furnace 2 stage is good and also consider a DC fan motor. They cost a couple hundred more but use much less electricity over their life.
If living in an area where winter temps are only a bit below freezing I would also expand my search to consider an air to air heat pump. They are very efficient down to about freezing.
I have a goodman unit in Florida. I don,t remember what brand my gas furnace is up north.

[recycled sixtie]

Originally Posted by Bob Kontak

Just saying.....


I bet that most issues are caused by evap drainage clogging, resulting in overflow into the innards of the furnace. Ask me why I say that. :-)

I remember the last 2 furnace failures in the last 35 years caused by mundane kind of stuff as mentioned here. Way back 35 years ago the furnace quit at 1 in the morning. The framing in the house started cracking as it cooled off. The simple problem was a broken wire causing the furnace to totally fail. The second was the electric motor quit. It was a really old furnace and it was time to get a new one.

High efficiency furnace in our case seems to heat the house better, more evenly and use less gas. The Trane warranty was for 5 years but my wife managed to talk them into 10 years. After we got the new one installed I said that I had wished that we had got it done sooner.....

Drilling through the concrete walls to put pvc pipes in is a little messy. The installer managed to cut a telephone line in the process of installation......
G.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by johnsjmc

If buying a new furnace 2 stage is good and also consider a DC fan motor.

When I had my lennox (DC motor) replaced with a much simpler Trane (ac motor) furnace the repairman told me the DC motors can spin for two days using only a small nine volt battery.

[flipper35]

Geothermal heat pump. I can verify it works down to -30 and inexpensive to operate.

[flipper35]

Geothermal heat pump. I can verify it works down to -30 and inexpensive to operate.

[johnsjmc]

Originally Posted by flipper35

Geothermal heat pump. I can verify it works down to -30 and inexpensive to operate.

Ground source heat pump is ideal but way more expensive to install properly. (like 15-20 k vs 3-5 k) I have had one house heated by geo heat pump and a couple with air to air heat pumps.
If you are far enough south then an air to air HP is almost the same cost as a good condensing gas furnace but still both are much cheaper than a GS HP.

[flipper35]

Darn double post above. Must be really enthusiastic about it.

Ours cost more than a regular combustion furnace but it will pay the difference in under 7 years. We run the A/C quite a bit in the summer and it saves considerably more then.

[onewhippedpuppy]

We had two new systems installed last year, I think they are Ruud. We bought the basic model, make sure you compare the energy savings vs cost to see it it adds up. I think we would have needed 15+ years in the house to break even, I'm hoping to move within a few years. They are still huge improvements vs the original ones, which were installed in 1989.

[herr_oberst]

Goodman. I like it. It replaced a Trane that was costing me money in parts every year until it finally spit out another controller (2nd in 5 years). My buddy who owns a H&C wholesale company told me to avoid 90% efficiency furnaces as long as the government will allow me to - reason being is when the systems that make it more efficient fail, it costs more in parts and labor than any savings in fuel costs.

[billybek]

My two stage high efficiency (Trane) has saved me enough money since the install that I could easily just replace it and not repair it.
I looked into a new ignition module for it when I had an intermittent glitch (bad pin) and found it was replaced with a new "kit" that was half the cost of a new furnace.
The funny thing is the mid efficient furnaces have all the same controls. Not too much saving there if it breaks.
While the old furnaces were made to last 30+ years, these are more like appliances that need to be replaced every 10-20 years. Such is life...
You would also be surprised as to how most of the brands of furnaces roll out of the same factory.

[Scott R]

My geo-heat pump is about twice as expensive to run as my home with LNG. And it struggles in the subzero temps. Granted I'm in the mountains.