Any furnace advice?

[DevilAlumna]

Our gas furnace decided to go on the fritz this weekend; not surprising, since it's original to the late 70's house. The repairman pinpointed the faulty part, but also found dangerously high CO levels, so he said he wouldn't fix it, that we should replace.

I've already checked Consumer Reports, and they say the repair record numbers for the top 8 brands (Bryant, Carrier, Trane, etc.) are statistically insignificant, so I'm pretty brand agnostic.

SO, knowledgeable OTB folk, what are your suggestions/recommendations for getting a new furnace? Any must-do's/don't do's? Thoughts on going with a heat pump + furnace combo?

[-jk]

Our gas furnace decided to go on the fritz this weekend; not surprising, since it's original to the late 70's house. The repairman pinpointed the faulty part, but also found dangerously high CO levels, so he said he wouldn't fix it, that we should replace.

I've already checked Consumer Reports, and they say the repair record numbers for the top 8 brands (Bryant, Carrier, Trane, etc.) are statistically insignificant, so I'm pretty brand agnostic.

SO, knowledgeable OTB folk, what are your suggestions/recommendations for getting a new furnace? Any must-do's/don't do's? Thoughts on going with a heat pump + furnace combo?

Did you get a second opinion?

Our HVAC folks have been trying to sell us a new one for 11 years. (Insert boilerplate text on high efficiency furnaces, etc. Our gas bill isn't that high.) The original came with the house and is 46 or so years old. They told us that the average life expectancy for a new furnace is about 10 years. It'd have to be pretty damned efficient to make up the cost. Especially again every 10 years.

-jk

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Our gas furnace decided to go on the fritz this weekend; not surprising, since it's original to the late 70's house. The repairman pinpointed the faulty part, but also found dangerously high CO levels, so he said he wouldn't fix it, that we should replace.

I've already checked Consumer Reports, and they say the repair record numbers for the top 8 brands (Bryant, Carrier, Trane, etc.) are statistically insignificant, so I'm pretty brand agnostic.

SO, knowledgeable OTB folk, what are your suggestions/recommendations for getting a new furnace? Any must-do's/don't do's? Thoughts on going with a heat pump + furnace combo?

You don't want to mess with CO. That stuff will kill you before you know you have a problem. Do you have a CO detector or two in the house? You should, regardless of what you do with the furnace.

That said, do get a second opinion on fixing your furnace, especially the CO issue. Maybe that leaky valve/connector can be replaced too, IF it can be found.

If brand quality is pretty even across the board, then go with the best service and best deal, hopefully from the same company. Check with the BBB for reported service problems. And I wouldn't get THE most efficient furnace, get something one step down but probably significantly less expensive.

[SouthgateWindsor]

Our previous house still had its 50 year old *boiler* when we moved in. We replaced the boiler with a Trane and our gas bill went down by a lot, I believe it was almost half but I can't remember exactly. Well worth it.

[Jim3k]

Some of the gas/electric utility companies give rebates on certain level of energy savings. That can knock off several hundred dollars from the actual price.

I'm in agreement with Ozzie that the second best is usually the best buy. It generally has all the same stuff as the top priced ones, but without the needless bells and whistles (computerized timer, zone controls and such).

The second opinion is always a good idea. The way some HVAC companies operate is to create a market by condemning units that don't need it. A second opinion will generally give you better information, particularly if you tell them you 'really' don't want to spring for a new unit. But CO is bad stuff and you do need to be certain that's clear. Not certain how they test for it, but you might want to make sure they are using the right methods/devices.

And, when I replaced our 35 year old unit last year, I had 5 companies bid -- boy, was that a trip! But worth every penny.

Wait for all bids to be completed before deciding. -- The nicest salesman may have the worst deal; the gruffest, the best. Or not. And the BBB is your friend. Check out the contractors. Some are disguised versions of another, due to mergers and buying names of companies; so make sure Company C isn't the same as Company A, but under a different dba. Many companies do this, but they don't usually hide the fact. I think they term this 'consolidating' or something similar.

There is a lot of snake oil out there, so stay dispassionate.

[greybeard]

Get your gas company to come out, which they will do for free. The downside, if it leaks, they will shut it down. The upside, if it leaks, it should be shut down. They will come out on the giddyup, I mean within a few hours.

[DevilAlumna]

Well, I'm already shut down... broke down, more like. We were planning on replacing later this summer anyways, so rather go ahead and spend on new, than spend on repair.

Thanks for all the advice, particularly on checking with the BBB about priors and DBAs'. I've got some recommendations through the "homeowners" newsgroup at work, so have a couple different folks coming out to give estimates tomorrow. (One for Bryant, one for Carrier, iirc.)

Now I've just got to talk my husband out of shelling out silly amounts of money for a totally hi-tech, wi-fi-enabled, espresso-brewing, remotely programmable-via-phone-or-car thermostat control. All I want is something that warms the house back up to 71 before I get up in the morning.

[devil84]

I second what Jim3K said. I got five quotes -- and it was a trying few days juggling estimators, phone calls, and comparing numbers! There was a HUGE range for essentially the same Trane 80% efficiency model. The nicest guy had the highest quote, and we went with the next to the lowest quote from the guy who wasn't quite as slick or nice as the others. It actually turned out to be Home Depot, who contracted with a locally owned-contractor, who wasn't quite as polished as his competitors, but his price, policies, and availability were great. No payments, no interest for 12 months on the Home Depot credit card didn't hurt, either.

One benefit of getting five quotes was that they were ALL for similar Tranes, and most offered the same models as an upgrade option. I didn't care about brands, just so long as I can find parts and service on down the road. Seems that everyone is working with Tranes here, so hopefully everyone will be able to repair them when that time rolls around.

We've had it for about a year and a half, and we've saved some on gas. We have two units, and the downstairs one is now 19 years young (and a fine unit it is, if it's listening!). We replaced the upstairs unit 18 months ago, which, from what I understand should focus on cooling efficiency (since hot air rises). There's a noticeable decrease in the gas bill in winter, but the savings promised by the advertising for increased efficiency aren't in the hundreds of dollars (our entire bill barely makes it to the hundreds in the cold months, so we weren't expecting huge savings). I'm glad we didn't go for the highest efficiency. Note that we're in the Triangle, so we have moderate heating needs. (For the AC, we've also noticed nice savings on summer electric bills. It would be difficult to save too much more by going with the highest efficiency.)

[Jim3k]

... have a couple different folks coming out to give estimates tomorrow. (One for Bryant, one for Carrier, iirc.)

Just so you know...Carrier and Bryant are essentially the same company. One claims it is a little higher end...not certain that it is objectively so.

But I'd look for other mfrs too: Trane, Lennox, American Standard, GE... You get the idea. Again, you may discover, as with Bryant and Carrier, that these brands are owned by one another. I knew some of that at one point, but don't remember the matches any more.

If you can get a quick read from Consumer's Reports, it might help.