A friend is purchasing a new furnace and is leaning towards the Lennox
G60 (medium effic., 2 stage heat). She has heard however that Lennox
reliability has declined over the past few years and is therefore not
recommended.

I would appreciate comments anyone may have on Lennox and suggestions
for perhaps something better (& available in Canada).

TIA for any assistance............

Laurie Forbes

On Tue, 23 Mar 2004 23:19:54 GMT, am (Laurie Forbes)
brought forth from the murky depths:

A friend is purchasing a new furnace and is leaning towards the Lennox
G60 (medium effic., 2 stage heat). She has heard however that Lennox
reliability has declined over the past few years and is therefore not
recommended.

I would appreciate comments anyone may have on Lennox and suggestions
for perhaps something better (& available in Canada).

I just went through that 2 years ago and settled on a Carrier
Weathermaker, a 96% efficient model with a lower-cost A/C unit.
The blower is a low-cost-to-operate variable-speed DC unit
which is so much quieter than my old low-efficiency CA model.
I don't recall what make that was.

The whole job was $6k installed, but it took 2 of them a week
to do it. I ran wiring for the unit and installed lighting up
there before they got to the attic to work. it came with an
electrostatic air filter as well. I'm extremely happy with it
even though natural gas went up in price. My electric bills average
$40 a month to run it, with (gas) peaks of $90 in the dead of winter
or (electric) during full summer with the A/C on.

I looked at Trane (my second choice), Lennox, Janitrol, and
Bryant. Carrier and Trane had the highest quality units that
I inspected, their personnel were of higher quality, and I
found that I had more trust with them. Trane was about $300
higher in price and I received an extra discount and the
e-aircleaner from Carrier as a deal maker. The others were
nearly the same price for a much lesser product.

They're quite an assembly of sheetmetal, I tell ya. It blew
me away when I saw him using PVC pipe for the gas furnace
chimney. Air out of the unit isn't much over 100°F!


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On Tue, 23 Mar 2004 22:28:03 -0800, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Tue, 23 Mar 2004 23:19:54 GMT, am (Laurie Forbes)
brought forth from the murky depths:

A friend is purchasing a new furnace and is leaning towards the Lennox
G60 (medium effic., 2 stage heat). She has heard however that Lennox
reliability has declined over the past few years and is therefore not
recommended.

I would appreciate comments anyone may have on Lennox and suggestions
for perhaps something better (& available in Canada).

I just went through that 2 years ago and settled on a Carrier
Weathermaker, a 96% efficient model with a lower-cost A/C unit.
The blower is a low-cost-to-operate variable-speed DC unit
which is so much quieter than my old low-efficiency CA model.
I don't recall what make that was.

I have a high efficiency furnace myself - started with a Carrier but
had to send it back because of a noisy draft inducer.

I looked at Trane (my second choice), ....

A Trane is what I tried next - draft inducer noise still bugs me
sometimes but it was not as bad as the Carrier (its the variable speed
aspect of it that seems to create reasonances and buzzes). The blower
motor (constant speed type) is quite quiet however.

They're quite an assembly of sheetmetal, I tell ya. It blew
me away when I saw him using PVC pipe for the gas furnace
chimney. Air out of the unit isn't much over 100°F!

They're pretty impressive alright - the "chimney" hardly feels warm to
the touch.


Laurie Forbes

am (Laurie Forbes) wrote in news:4061c458.593007
@news.spots.ab.ca:

On Tue, 23 Mar 2004 22:28:03 -0800, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Tue, 23 Mar 2004 23:19:54 GMT, am (Laurie Forbes)
brought forth from the murky depths:

A friend is purchasing a new furnace and is leaning towards the Lennox
G60 (medium effic., 2 stage heat). She has heard however that Lennox
reliability has declined over the past few years and is therefore not
recommended.

I would appreciate comments anyone may have on Lennox and suggestions
for perhaps something better (& available in Canada).

I just went through that 2 years ago and settled on a Carrier
Weathermaker, a 96% efficient model with a lower-cost A/C unit.
The blower is a low-cost-to-operate variable-speed DC unit
which is so much quieter than my old low-efficiency CA model.
I don't recall what make that was.

I have a high efficiency furnace myself - started with a Carrier but
had to send it back because of a noisy draft inducer.

I looked at Trane (my second choice), ....

A Trane is what I tried next - draft inducer noise still bugs me
sometimes but it was not as bad as the Carrier (its the variable speed
aspect of it that seems to create reasonances and buzzes). The blower
motor (constant speed type) is quite quiet however.

They're quite an assembly of sheetmetal, I tell ya. It blew
me away when I saw him using PVC pipe for the gas furnace
chimney. Air out of the unit isn't much over 100°F!

They're pretty impressive alright - the "chimney" hardly feels warm to
the touch.


Laurie Forbes


Although Consumer Reports has historically declined to recommend one
brand of house furnace over another, preferring to emphasize quality of
installation, they did finally decided to recommend Trane furnaces over
others brands as being more likely to give untroubled service over the
long haul.

Based on CR advice, I got several estimates and Lucky Me! the Trane was
the least expensive furnace, given the furnace options and installation
requirements that I had. It has proven to be a good furnace so far, but
I've only had it for a year, so that's not really a good trial. One very
good thing is that Trane dealers will do a heat-flow analysis on your
house as part of the estimate, actually measuring your windows and
performing the appropriate calculations, unlike the other dealers who
just made educated guesses (although they were close on their estimates
to the Trane calcs). My only regret now is that with rapidly rising gas
prices I didn't get the 90% efficient furnace instead of the 80%
efficient. If the Trane lasts as long as it should, I might get burnt by
"penny-wise, pound-fooish".

One important factor in my decision was that one dealer, who almost sold
me, said at the end of our interview that I didn't need a permit from the
County to install the new furnace. Guess what? I called the County and
they said "you sure do need one"! Even though the permit cost some
serious cash, and the furnace inspection was cursory at best, I rest
easier knowing that if for some reason I had a house fire the insurance
company couldn't put the blame back on me for not getting a furnace
install permit, and I won't encounter possible problems with future
remodeling projects or house sale.

--
John Snow
"If I knew what I was doing, I wouldn't be here"

Larry Jaques wrote:

On Tue, 23 Mar 2004 23:19:54 GMT, am (Laurie Forbes)
brought forth from the murky depths:

A friend is purchasing a new furnace and is leaning towards the Lennox
G60 (medium effic., 2 stage heat). She has heard however that Lennox
reliability has declined over the past few years and is therefore not
recommended.

We (in SW BC) have had Miller high efficiency condensing for several
years. Had a noisy blower but it was replaced under (5yr) warranty. If
your friend is doing a new installation consider that even medium
efficiency requires a class B chimney going up through the roof. The
high efficiency brings in combustion air and exhaust combustion products
through plastic pipes in the joists (basement ceiling, main floor) going
to and through the side wall of the house. No holes in the roof and
other advantages.

Ted

On Wed, 24 Mar 2004 17:34:11 GMT, am (Laurie Forbes)
brought forth from the murky depths:

I have a high efficiency furnace myself - started with a Carrier but
had to send it back because of a noisy draft inducer.

The only noise I hear is the sound of the air through the
ES intake filter in the hall ceiling. It's wonderful!

Sitting in the living room (the furnace is directly over
the wall separating the kitchen from the LR), I can hear
it start up, but that's quieter than a car passing by. I
can hear it only when there is no other noise in the house.


I looked at Trane (my second choice), ....

A Trane is what I tried next - draft inducer noise still bugs me

Is that the smaller fan which starts before the main blower
kicks in? I can hardly tell it's on before hearing the
rush of air for the main blow.


sometimes but it was not as bad as the Carrier (its the variable speed
aspect of it that seems to create reasonances and buzzes). The blower
motor (constant speed type) is quite quiet however.

What was the price difference? Mine's a 1,700sf shop with
attached house.


--------------------------------------------------
I survived the D.C. Blizzard of 2003 (from Oregon)
----------------------------
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--------------------------------------------------------

to the Trane calcs). My only regret now is that with rapidly rising gas
prices I didn't get the 90% efficient furnace instead of the 80%
efficient. If the Trane lasts as long as it should, I might get burnt by
"penny-wise, pound-fooish".



Yeah, oil fired is alot cheaper and safer.

On 24 Mar 2004 18:57:16 GMT, Hitch wrote:

Based on CR advice, I got several estimates and Lucky Me! the Trane was
the least expensive furnace, given the furnace options and installation
requirements that I had. It has proven to be a good furnace so far, but
I've only had it for a year, so that's not really a good trial.

I've had mine about three years now and apart from the inducer noise,
its been pretty good. I did have one problem with the control board
hanging in the cooldown period every once in a while (not good as the
heat never comes back on) which could be reset by cycling the power
off/on. All the service rep could suggest was replacing the board (at
an exorbitant cost of $550 Can, supply only). Since the problem
seemed to occur during periods of unstable power (I live in the
country), I installed a pretty good power surge protector in the AC
supply line and the problem has not reoccured to date.



Laurie Forbes

On Wed, 24 Mar 2004 16:45:16 -0800, Larry Jaques
wrote:


A Trane is what I tried next - draft inducer noise still bugs me

Is that the smaller fan which starts before the main blower
kicks in? I can hardly tell it's on before hearing the
rush of air for the main blow.

Yes - it is required to push the combustion air into the fire box and
the combustion gasses through the heat exchangers.


sometimes but it was not as bad as the Carrier (its the variable speed
aspect of it that seems to create reasonances and buzzes). The blower
motor (constant speed type) is quite quiet however.

What was the price difference? Mine's a 1,700sf shop with
attached house.

I paid about $1,700 Can for the Trane (furnace only, I installed it
myself) but the price I originally paid for the Carrier (about $1,400)
was not representative as the dealer screwed up (according to the
local Carrier distributor) and charged me only what *he* paid for it.
Both were 80 MBTUs, two stage and non-variable speed blower).



Laurie Forbes

On Wed, 24 Mar 2004 20:58:30 GMT, Ted Edwards
We (in SW BC) have had Miller high efficiency condensing for several
years. Had a noisy blower but it was replaced under (5yr) warranty. If
your friend is doing a new installation consider that even medium
efficiency requires a class B chimney going up through the roof. The
high efficiency brings in combustion air and exhaust combustion products
through plastic pipes in the joists (basement ceiling, main floor) going
to and through the side wall of the house. No holes in the roof and
other advantages.

The totally enclosed combustion path is an advantage alright but you
(at least I) still required the conventional chimney to vent the hot
water heater. The dealer BTW told me I should install a smaller
diameter liner in the chimney to account for the reduced conbustion
gas volume and thereby prevent condensation in the chimney but I
decided to try it as is and have had no problems.


Laurie Forbes

Laurie Forbes wrote:

The totally enclosed combustion path is an advantage alright but you
(at least I) still required the conventional chimney to vent the hot
water heater.

We put in a high efficiency HW heater as well. Same set up - no
chimney.

Ted