Home Furnace

[scalescratcher]

Well this am I woke to the sound of a howling bearing in my furnace. Unit is 25 yrs old and it's getting time to consider replacement. Don't want to start a "Ford vs Chevy" issue but could use some info on reliable furnace brands.

[tonka]

go with a well known brand like lennox or ruud. i prefer ruud myself. just stay away from oddball cheaper units cause they will cost you more later. personally i'd stay away from tempstar and goodman.

[bottomdweller]

nothing runs like a trane

[Macgyver55]

Knock on wood but I've had a Janitrol (owned by Goodman I think) for 21 years in my present home and I had one for about 8 yrs in my last house. Both performed flawlessly and neither one ever had a single service issue. Maybe I'm just lucky. My uncle had a Trane with multiple problems and he recommended I not buy one when I built my house. I'm thinking furnaces are probably like anything else you buy.....there are good ones and there are bad ones of any brand.

[Ryan Berger]

we deal with Comfort Maker which is made by Carrier,, most furnaces are made by one of about 7 major companys, just different names put on them,, Mac is right there are good furnaces and there are lemons,, I just replaced the old monster in my house with a new 92 plus afu furnace,, if your furnace really is 20 years old it is probably a 70 percent efficient furnace at best,, if you move up to a new furnace get at least a 90 percent efficient furnace, you will save yourself 20 percent in energy costs during the winter,, while you are at it you might want to look into getting your A/C replaced at the same time,, some companies will do a package deal, your ac is probably as old as your furnace and if it is it is at best a 10 SEER (seasonal energy efficiency rating) if you get a new one you could get a 14 SEER and save yourself 20-30 percent on your AC bill during the summer,,

just something to think about

[LwnmwnMan2]

We had the air go out last summer, put the 14 seer in and yes, you actually DO see the savings. I've got a buddy that runs Bryant.

I too woke up a couple of nights ago and have the same howling, and same thing here, the furnace is about 20-25 years old.

Anyways, LundDuckBoat, you say you deal with Comfort Maker. Are you a dealer?? If so, do you know anything about air exchangers?? Built in humidifiers??

[luckey]

Three years ago I replaced my 22 year old furnace and AC with the top Amana. 96% efficent dual stage, varible speed DC fan. The AC was 17 Seer dual stage compressor. On a month to month comparison, my gas usage went down about 50%.

[bode]

I put a goodman in 2 yrs ago. i never heard of them but was told they are one of the biggest manufacturers out there. High eff. and inexpensive. Just make sure you have a good installer. I seen the work by one man and it was always very neat but they sent out a new guy on my house and it shows..... bode

[IFallsRon]

We put in a Bryant Plus 90 four years ago and are happy with it. I think it went for about $1,700 installed.

[Whoaru99]

I'm all for the high efficiency, but remember with high tech comes with potentially high repair bills.

Guess what I'm saying in a nutshell (comes via my uncle who did HVAC install/repair for a number of years) stay away from the cutting edge technology unless you don't mind bleeding every now and then.