My furnace in new home

[washman]

GMSS96 Single-Stage,
Multi-Speed Gas Furnace
• Up to 96% AFUE Performance
• Multi-Position Installation

It was set up with single speed blower. I ran it again tonight as I was moving stuff in. Temp rise was on par with my current 80% AFUE furnace in my condo. When the output air was cool and all residual heat removed from heat exchanger, it kicked off.

What I have learned is when you call for heat like I did, say from 60 to 70, it does not come on right off the bat. First the direct vent blower comes on, runs for a bit, then you hear the ignitor kick on, flames start and shortly thereafter, the blower kicks on. I'd say it is about 75% of the time my current old school furnace takes to go from not on to the blower kicking on.

It is a 60,000 BTU output with a max temp rise of 65 degrees at 1200 CFM blower setting. I suppose it is sized right for 1024 SQ of living area. My garage is not heated due to building codes.

Bottom line, while the temps here have moderated, it does warm up the place quickly. Due to 2 intake grills in the living area, it is a tad noisy but noise from each vent in the living areas is virtually nil. Noise in the utility area where it shares space with my union made Bradford White WH is about the same as what I have now.

Heat exchanger is lifetime warranty
10 year warranty on the whole unit
10 year warranty on replacement of whole unit if heat exchanger fails. Which is kind of weird due to #1 above.

Since this is my very first hi eff furnace, I am certain there will be nuances that I will have to learn. Like the delayed start of the burner ignition.

I like the Aprilaire t-stat. Whilst it is not programmable, I like the fact it lights up then a button is pressed and has a nice large uncluttered LCD display. The buttons are soft touch as well; this lends an air of quality (even though the unit is probably made in China).

 

[gusherb]

I'm heating our 1,900 sqft main level, with tons of glass and high ceilings, with 60,000 BTU's output. It has so far kept the main level a toasty warm 72 on the coldest most windy day we had since it was installed which was when it was -15 and 50 MPH winds. The insulation is slightly above average for 1990 since the walls are 2x6 and not the standard 2x4, but your house should still be better insulated then ours.

At 1,024 sqft in a tightly sealed and well insulated home you probably need AT MOST 30,000 BTU's at what's called "design temp" which is used for sizing in the heat loss calc program contractors use called Manual J. Our "design temp" is 0 degrees.
I think the smallest single stage furnace available is only 40,000 BTU's output though, so no matter what it'd be oversized.

Did your old 80%er have a standing pilot or was it still electronic ignition? Ours was from 1990, when the HVAC industry was undergoing a big shift from standing pilot to electronic ignition in furnaces. Our furnace was basically a standing pilot model from the 1970s and they went and adapted an induced draft fan and electronic ignition system to it, it lit reasonably fast.

I've seen alot of newer ones take more then a minute for ignition and that drives me batty, our Trane's take about 30 seconds from the time the t-stat calls for heat to when the burners light (the fastest I've seen on a modern furnace with glow bar ignitor)

 

[frigilux]

Can't heat your attached garage due to building codes? What's up with that?

 

[gusherb]

Usually you just can't heat the garage with the same forced air system as the home, because that could easily distribute carbon monoxide across the home.
I've never heard of not being able to heat it at all due to code, unless that was misunderstood for what I mentioned above??

 

[norgeway]

You guys will think im crazy....

But im getting ready to tear out our 1990s Bard oil furnace and install a 1960s Thermo Pride!..Real metal and a firebrick combustion chamber, all mechanical controls and a belt drive blower!

 

[petek]

You can't heat a garage here using a forced air furnace in the house.. You can if like ours it's a boiler. 

 

[washman]

I can heat it Frig

Just not with the HVAC system due to potential carbon monoxide as gusherb mentioned.

I have a plug in oil filled electric heater that does ok

 

[combo52]

New Furnace

Hi Ben, is your furnace Natural Gas or Propane ?, 60,000 BTUs is plenty big enough for your size home.

 

[combo52]

New Furnace

Hi Ben, is your furnace Natural Gas or Propane ?, 60,000 BTUs is plenty big enough for your size home.

 

[frigilux]

Geez...my forced air natural gas furnace and gas water heater are IN my tuck-under garage! The HVAC techs who installed a new Lennox furnace a few months ago mentioned that "a garage installation like this wouldn't fly today" but since they were merely replacing current equipment it was legal. House was built in 1963.

There are two carbon monoxide detectors in the house, neither of which has ever registered even a small amount of CO...but I'm going to replace the batteries on both of them right now.

 

[washman]

It's natural gas

direct vent. R38 in ceiling R21 in walls 5 inch concrete slab. Modern thermopane vinyl windows all with exit egress ability (in case of fire!) At closing I asked builder if he ran insulated ductwork in the ceiling (all register outlets are in ceiling) and he told me he did. I consider this a major plus towards efficiency as dad's setup is old school ductwork that blasts out hot air for a bit until the A/C gets going.

Roof looks like a 5/12 pitch, just guessing and comparing to a sectional manufactured home across the street that has a 4/12 pitch. He ran a ridge vent and the soffit is vented all around. This should lend itself to good attic ventilation.

Some of the plumbing runs under the slab to the kitchen area and the builder is going to get me pics of the construction so I can see where they run just in case, on down the line, I need to replace or repair. he also ran french drains all around for the downspouts that dump into a catch basin on my property that eventually goes into the sewer network.

What really amazed me was the homeowners. All of $337 a year for full replacement cost and that includes $35k for sewage backup damage.

Most homes in the city limits are natural gas. A few are baseboard electric, some really old ones are boiler heat and out in the sticks it is propane or fuel oil.