On Wednesday, January 28, 2015 at 6:15:11 AM UTC-5, philo wrote:
On 01/28/2015 03:49 AM, Ben Berndt wrote:
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.


Originally I had planned on getting the furnace replaced last summer and
when I asked for advice here, Goodman was the most recommended. One of
the reasons was that a "do-it-yourselfer" such as me would be able to
repair it. I inspected the unit and doubt if anything should present a
problem. The parts are guaranteed for ten years and since I'd replace
them myself don't think it's going to cost me a fortune to maintain.


Similar here with my 93% Rheem. There isn't anything exotic there
that I can't fix myself.


In the 35 years I've been in my house I've done 100% of the appliance
repairs myself. Compared to the industrial equipment I worked on for my
job, home appliances are not a big deal.


+1


As to the old "they don't make them like they used to" adage.

Yep, my old oil-burning furnace definitely had better sheet metal than
the one I just had put in. OTOH: If that oil burned could go six weeks
without breaking down or needing some type of maintenance, I was lucky.



BTW: I will get a fairly decent rebate from "Focus on Energy"


That helps too, same here.


It looks like anyone who gets a high-efficiency furnace qualifies for a
$150 rebate, but since I'm retired my income will qualify me for a
higher rebate. Will have to submit the paperwork to know the
amount...but it's up to $850

I got the fed tax credit back in 2010, which was ~$1200. Those
credits reduce the cost substantially and there isn't but a few
hundred dollars difference in the cost of a 93% furnace compared to
an 80% one.