Furnace Advice Needed

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dalangdon

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My mom's furnace conked out today. Or rather, the gas company turned it off because of the large number of cracks in it.

This is really no big surprise: They got that furnace when I was in high school (1980 or thereabouts) and I'd been warning her that this was going to happen, especially since she has kept the house at 85 degrees for the last 15 years or so.

She's getting along with some electric space heaters for the time being, so everything is fine, but I'm wondering what a good replacement option might be.

Her heating contractor, who has been in business forever, and was a friend of my dad's, is suggesting a furnace by Everest (or maybe Everett?), which is a brand that I have never heard of. It's low efficiency, but wouldn't require the modifications to the venting that a high efficiency furnace would. (The guy mentioned that the current furnace chimney has asbestos in it, which has my crepe hanging sister in a tizzy)

The low efficiency part doesn't bother me, as even low efficiency furnaces are fairly efficient these days, and she's fortunate enough to not have to worry too much about gas bills, but I've never heard of that brand, and can't find anything about them, other than RV furnaces.

Does anyone have any thoughts? The new furnace goes in Monday, and I want to make sure it's not a tragic mistake ;-)
 
I think by law the lowest efficiency heater a contractor can install would be at least something like 83% - which actually isn't bad.

I have a similar situation. While the 24 year old heater here seems to be doing ok, the flue is also an asbestos-cement affair, which I believe is called transite, and I gather that with a high efficiency furnace, the flue won't heat up enough, and combustion gases will condense inside it, instead of being vented outside, causing corrosion and perhaps other problems.

It is not a given, though, that a high efficiency furnace cannot be installed. The solution is simply to bypass the old flue, and use a 90+% efficiency furnace that has an exhaust cool enough to be vented through a plastic pipe - and the condensed water vapor of combustion is directed to a drain.

Howevr, when you think of it, the difference between a "low" efficiency furnace and a high efficiency one is about 10%. It might take a long time to recoup the added cost of a high efficiency model. I would lean towards shopping around a little and then probably going with what the contractor recommends - although I've not heard of Everest. The important thing is to get your Mom some safe and relatively economic heat, right?

Oh, and I woudln't worry about the transite furnace flue. If undisturbed, it probably will be stable for mnay years and won't hurt anybody.
 
re furnace

Hello
I just got a new heating system from a CO called One Hour Heating and the unit was put in the next day! it is state of the art! the unit is supposed to save me up to 80% on my bills. I have a gas unit with AC. it is well worth checking out the CO. I was able to get o interest and no payments for one year.
the reason that I had to replace my old unit is because of the stupid,stupid home warrenty co! Dont ever get American home shield CO!!!
 
Rich is correct, to spend bunches of money on a higher-efficiency furnace and the added installation costs probably is not worth the investment at this point. There is the home's value consideration, but most people buying a home look to see the age of the unit and little else.

Your mom sounds lucky to have an honest and capable contractor that will also stand behind his work which will put her mind at ease and that is priceless!
 
EverRest

I was able to find the EverRest furnace manufacturer site, here's a link.

I noticed however that there is no contact info for the mfg on their site... which I think is a bit odd. It looks like EverRest is one of those captive brands that contractors like because the customer must go through the contractor for any initial sales, and for post-sale service. It gives the contractor some assurance that the customer can't price-shop for the same unit from somebody else (or from a box store or on-line furnace store). Since most areas have code that says a furnace must be installed by a licensed contractor, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. But if you went with a bigger brand name, like Trane or Carrier, then you'd have more options for sales and service. The lifetime heat exchanger part warranty that AB May offers for their Everest furnace is nice, but of course you'd still have to pay to have it installed... which might be kind of expensive since it would mean pulling the furnace apart to get to the guts. They use aluminized steel heat exhangers, which are ok, but some think that stainless heat exhangers last longer (there is some debate though about the relative merits of aluminized steel vs. stainless).

 
I would think green and go high efficency. Plus, you can get your mom a tax credit. Plastic venting is like tinker toys to install and cheap. Seal up the chimney and forget about it.

Her old furnace was probably at 60% efficency. A regular vented furnace is about 80% and the top high efficency I think is 92-95% efficency. Work out the math between an 80% efficient and a 90% cost difference. Assuming $100 in gas bill average a month, the more expensive one would save $120 a year times 15 years life span =$1,700. Then there is the tax credit which I believe is max of $2000 for energy star upgrades. Then there is the savings to the environment.

I sell real estate, and believe me, a "green" home is much more desirable than a non green home. People also ask when looking at a home the monthly utility bills. A high efficency HVAC system is a big selling point in terms of economics and psychoeconomics of home buyers. They want to do the right thing.

Green and energy savings are going to be a huge topic going forward and replacing with high efficency is the right thing to do. Do energy costs ever go down? The higher the energy goes up, the more money dollar wise is saved with the energy efficient model. Be proactive. Go green. Think beyond today's cost of things.
 
We put in a Carrier WeatherMaker furnace about 3 years ago. It is Forced hot air and a gas furnace at that. The installer didnt have a problem putting it in and we have a 2 in 1 pipe thru the wall to the outside. So far no problems with it and its very efficent. Doesnt take long to heat the house.
 
Thanks for all the info!

Believe me, If it were MY house, this furnace would have been replaced about five summers ago, but Dad was very depression-era. So is Mom, but she's a little more open to "new ideas"

I think we'll go with the EverRest. I'd like a more efficient furnace, but time is of the essence (it's COLD in Iowa), and it's hard enough to get Mom to pry open her purse for something like this - the efficient model is about 50% more.

Phillip, if we sell the house and they want to look at the heating bills, all is lost: Mom keeps the house at about 80 degrees, and when Dad was alive, it was even hotter! Luckily, people in Council Bluffs are simple folks who might not think to ask (that's why the real estate is so cheap ;-)

The come tomorrow to restore the heat. Such a drama for a weekend! The good news is that I might be able to convince her to get the damn walls insulated....

Thanks again for the help.
 
Dan,

I think we could swap quite a few parent stories!

Mine are in their 80's and still maintain their home. I always leave my coat in the car in winter, you break a sweat as soon as you open the door.

And I understand the purse thing. Dad still hasn't figured out the combination. And did I mention the volume on the TV?

I knew you'd understand.

Bill
 
Toggle, to put it simpley, she's old and she's cold. :-)

Although they did say that, in the aftermath of Chemo, she would probably feel a lot colder than she already did. Personally, I think the problem is the walls aren't insulated, and she feels drafts.
 
Dan,

Have you looked for any air leaks to the attic or even above the roof? Those can be real draft inducers. Check any fireplace flues, kitchen and bathroom exhaust fans (they all should have dampers). Next up would be ceiling light fixtures, and any remodeling that might have been done to the original home (the remodel here back in the 60's used cardboard to sort of seal around the range hood). Sealing air leaks takes little in terms of materials (a few tubes of caulk, a few cans of expanding foam, maybe some mastic, etc). Another area to check is the ductwork. If it's old and runs in an unheated space it could have cracks/separations that need to be sealed up. Also, the holes cut in the floor, walls, or ceilings for the registers need to be checked to make sure they aren't leaking cold air as well.

Good luck with the Everest. It looks like a good enough unit.
 
The furnace is in, and by all accounts it's working well. I'll be home for about two days over the holiday, so I'll be able to report more later, but the interesting thing is that they apparently installed it in the shell of the old furnace.
 

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