Need help - Heating

[Joe D'Attilio]

A lil off topic but i know the experts are in this forum for heating questions.

My question is regarding my house not my workshop.

Furnace is 50-60 yrs old, home warranty expires end of the month, therefore Murphy's Law dictates 12/1 my furnace will take a "poop"

Our house is 1300 sq ft - 3 floors -insulation situation leaves a little to be desired:

What range of BTU's should I look for in a gas furnace?

Are there any other qualities/ options I should be looking for?

Type of furnace?

Any Brands better than others?

[Joe D'Attilio]

Cmon I know you guys are full of info out there...Help a fellow creeker out!

[Jim Becker]

Not really a DIY question, Joe. Someone needs to do calculations based on your home and duct work in order to size a system. I will tell you that many older systems are way oversized, so it may be surprising to you what you actually need with a new, high efficiency unit. When we bought new for the original footprint of our home (pre addition by a few years) the sizing was half of the older system and the results were much more comfort and noticeably lower gas consumption.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Not a clue Joe, although I have bought a couple Lennox brand systems this year. They seem like good units. Curious though, how did you get a warranty on a 50-60 year old furnace????

[Joe D'Attilio]

We just purchased our home last year; and the warranty was purchased with the house - my guess is that is omethig would've happened already the warranty company would highlight some clause to relive thier liability ...

Well I do appreciate the help as always - Guess I do alittle research

Thanks Steve and Jim

Not a clue Joe, although I have bought a couple Lennox brand systems this year. They seem like good units. Curious though, how did you get a warranty on a 50-60 year old furnace????

[Rollie Meyers]

A nickname for Lennox* is Lemonex, Bryant or Trane would be a better
choice.

* Lennox is not a favorite of a lot of service techs due to being a PITA to work on.

[Tom Godley]

You can go to hvac-talk.com - I have gained some valuable information from the members over the years.

As others have said - you need to have a heat loss done to determine the actual requirements. Most systems are not just oversized - they are way oversized. Don't just have someone replace the same unit without doing the proper calculation. This is very important with AC also - especially in our area. You will end up with a more efficient system and comfortable house.

The last two systems I put in were Carrier/Bryant variable speed units -- for both Heat and AC. I have been very happy with them. I installed the first after determining that Carrier made a top rated zone system. I was so happy with it I went with the same company and system for the second.

As with any product you will hear pros and cons about all the manufactures - it is more important to find a good installer. I also found the 10 year extended warranties offered by the manufactures (not the installers) to be a good value.

Also note that there are only a handful of makes -- many are different in name and color only.


good luck

[Bill ThompsonNM]

Do some research on efficiency of furnaces you're looking at also. When I bought a furnace in Massachusetts, I was lucky enough to find a very good HVAC dealer.. we went with a much smaller furnace that was over 90% efficient. It didn't use the roof exhaust, it just had a 2 inch PVC through the wall pipe that exhausted some low pressure water vapor. Between that and the smaller furnace we were more comfortable and our heating bills were less than half what they were previously.

[John W Palmer]

Had mine replaced last January. Both A/C and Furnace. The HVAC company I used did all the calculations.

Had a program and took into account square footage, window size, window direction, insulation, doors, ceiling heights, ductwork etc.
Pretty interesting. the program even said my returns were too small for the new air handler!

Like others have said, went WAY down on furnace size! House was built in 1983, 1800 sq ft good insulation and had a 125k btu gas furnace.
They installed a 2 stage Trane, 46k and 88K btu..........So less then half the size! Same size A/C just a whole lot more efficent!

Most HVAC companies around here do the load stuff as part of the pre-install work.

Oh, and bills are almost 1/2 to 1/3 what they were before and the house is MUCH more comfortable!

[Brad Townsend]

Here's another view. Unless the furnace is acting up, maybe leave it alone? Hard to say without knowing what you have, but back then, they built quality. Some years back (mid 80s I think), I had an energy audit done. I figured the guy would have a good laugh when he saw our then 30-year-old Green Colonial furnace. Instead he said "DON'T EVER GET RID OF THAT FURNACE". Said we would never find one of that quality again and we would be money ahead leaving it and paying slightly more for fuel, as a new one would never last long enough to pay for itself in energy savings. We sold that house in '93, but I think the furnace is still there. Been in my "new" house for fifteen years and am on my second furnace already.

[Chuck Thoits]

Here's another view. Unless the furnace is acting up, maybe leave it alone? Hard to say without knowing what you have, but back then, they built quality. Some years back (mid 80s I think), I had an energy audit done. I figured the guy would have a good laugh when he saw our then 30-year-old Green Colonial furnace. Instead he said "DON'T EVER GET RID OF THAT FURNACE". Said we would never find one of that quality again and we would be money ahead leaving it and paying slightly more for fuel, as a new one would never last long enough to pay for itself in energy savings. We sold that house in '93, but I think the furnace is still there. Been in my "new" house for fifteen years and am on my second furnace already.

Is'n it a sham that you can't seem to get things built to last any more.
Used to be you got a washer and dryer and it was for life now your lucky to get a few years out of them. Same thing with a furnace buy it once and you had it for your life time. (If you didn't move)

[Bryan Rocker]

I will post one additional comment about home warranties. They are basically junk. I bought a house 5 years ago and required a home warranty. The very first time I tried to used the furnace it wouldn't work. I called them out to fix it. They quickly said the furnace is shot, needs replacing. Now this house was 1500 sq ft upstairs with a full finished basement. I had a company come out and run the numbers and tell me what size they thought I needed, it was a 5 ton, 120K btu furnace. They warranty company said we will replace your furnace with a similar 3 ton unit. I said the 3 ton was under size for the house, they said tuff. After a long battle all they offered was $1200 towards a furnace from a company of my choice. The best price I was able to get was $8,500. Home warranties are just something to give the purchaser confidence, not much else IMHO.

Bryan