On 01/27/2015 08:55 PM, Tony Hwang wrote:
Curmudgeon wrote:

A co-worker paid $260 to have a safety switch replaced on her high
efficiency furnace last season. This year was another $610 for a draft
inducer.
In my opinion, high efficiency furnaces are poorly engineered junk.


Hi,
IMO. this is too simplistic over statement. Of course old furnaces do not have inducer motor, but has safety switch. Maybe your coworker was not replacing filter regularly causing over heat.

My first power vent natural gas furnace was purchased from Sears in 1982. It was made by Heil-Quaker in Tennessee, if I recall correctly.
It used double wall steel vent pipe, vented horizontally thru basement wall and was supposedly around 90% efficient.
In the 10 years I owned that furnace, every moving part on it was replaced at least once.

My second power vent furnace was a Thermo Pride that vented thru PVC. It lasted around 18 years and required lots of repairs in the last six years of its life as well.

I currently have a Goodman. It's been trouble-free so far but I expect the yearly break-downs to start soon.