"aemeijers" wrote in message
...
Dr. Hardcrab wrote:

"ransley" wrote in message
...
On Jan 26, 11:37 am, Larry Weil wrote:
The furnace in my house is 16 years old. It is an oil-fired Sears 75000
btu forced hot air downflow furnace with a Becket burner. It was Sears¹
top of the line unit when purchased in 1992. Note that this is a small
house (approx 1000 sq feet), so 75000 btu is more than adequate.

I recently had the unit repaired, several internal parts had to be
replaced. The repair person said I would need a new burner soon,
perhaps in a couple of years. He said perhaps I should get a whole new
furnace at that time, and that it would cost approximately $4000
installed. I am rather leery as to whether this is really needed,
especially considering that the furnace has a lifetime warranty on the
heat exchanger (I know, it¹s next to impossible to collect!).

He did not say what it should cost to replace the burner but not the
furnace. Can anyone give me a ballpark figure on that (including
installation), as well as whether I really would need to replace the
entire unit?

Thanks for your help.

--
Larry Weil
Lake Wobegone, NH

If it is a 92%+ efficent condensing unit you have no reason to even
consider replacement. But repairman all want to sell you a unit to
make money when their work is slow.

I doubt very seriously that it is a condensing-type furnace. I'm guessing
they are lucky
if they are getting even 82% efficiency out of it. I agree that there are
some companies
out there that will try to get you to buy a new furnace when you really
don't need one...

Where do you get 92% out of OP's post? He said it was installed in 1992.

I was going to ask the same thing. I was NOT the one that said anything
about 92%. It was the poster I was replying to. That's why I stated that I
doubt that the OP has a condensing type furnace.



16 years is awful short life for a furnace, IMHO. I have known several
that made 35-45 years, including the 1960 furnace in this house, that I
just replaced a year ago. Still worked fine, but burned a lot of gas.

O.K. Now I will nit-pick. Look at the OP and you will see he said it was an
oil furnace and not gas. But you are correct on a couple points:

16 years IS a short lifespan for a furnace. But when it comes to oil, hot
air furnaces aren't much more efficient then they wer 30 years ago. There
are a couple companies that make condensing oil furnaces, but they are
pricey and then you are still only talking about MAYBE 87% efficiency.