Thoughts on the Goodman GMSS96060 furnace

[washman]

One of the best

investments I made was an Electrowarmth mattress warmer. I had electric blankets as a kid, but nowadays they are all made in China and I do recall they warmed you up but not below.

Electrowarmth units are not cheap but I have a 17 inch thick pillow top mattress that seems to trap cold like no tomorrow. As I have aged, I like a cold bed less and less in the winter. This unit is a lifesaver for me. As a kid, it didn't bother me too much.

With the electrowarmth unit, I can get down to 66 at night, run the Vornado as my sleeping aid, and still stay warm.

Peoples will be doing a meter reading Jan 12. So my billing will be from Dec 11 to Jan 12, capturing a somewhat warm Christmas with a recent cold snap.

The Goodman is the only device that uses gas so my bill will be 100% reflective of the cost to heat my abode.

 

[askolover]

Waterbeds are nice on cold winter nights too....I love mine!

 

[washman]

latest bill

From Dec 9 to Jan 12. Captured the warmer than norm Christmas week and the cold snap we recently had

Customer Charge - 1 Month $15.06
Price-to-Compare Commodity $2.0652 per MCF 9.50
Delivery Charge
4.6 MCF @ $6.5696 30.22
Demand (Capacity Charge) $0.7174 per MCF 3.30
State Tax Surcharge Cr .03
Total Current Charges $58.11
Total Account Balance $58.11

 

[gusherb]

Ours will be coming in around the 20th and I expect it to be substantially higher given the recent cold snaps and the next one coming, supposed to be -4 Sunday night. I forgot how cold air pours through anything that's not perfectly sealed when it's below 20 out, had to put rugs against the doors when it got below 10 as they're a bit on the leaky side (the only weak point in this house), but there wasn't a breeze blowing through or anything it was quite comfortable at 70 and even more so at 72.

 

[washman]

Yup

I recall living in a vintage 70's mobile home how many cracks and leaks made themselves known when the temp dropped to below zero and the wind howled. Fortunately we heated with wood back then so there was no fuel bill per se.

We've had some rather blustery winds up here but so far the house seems pretty tight. While the Simonton windows are builder grade, I have no leaks to speak of. They ain't fancy but they keep warm air in and cold air out.

I also insulated all exterior wall outlets with Frost King foam outlet sealers. The curtains I got at JC Penny have some insulating quality, but not much.

The Larson storm door protects the front door and keeps cold air out. I also out some frost king felt insulation all the way around the frame. That door closes TIGHT now!

2x6 walls and R38 in the attic area are pluses also.

Depending on how the rest of January goes, I would expect a bigger bill next month. But the gas bill is furnace only so I can get a true measure of what is spent each month to stay warm.

 

[gusherb]

One thing I miss about the old furnace we used to have was how hot it ran, and because of that the floors anywhere that ductwork was directly underneath got nice and toasty, which was a large portion of them because there's alot of ductwork in the basement. With the new furnace running about 20-30 degrees cooler than the old one it has to be real cold out where it's running non stop for the floors to get that warm anymore.

The humidifier I installed back in November or so has helped out tremendously, I haven't woken up with a sore throat once nor have I shocked myself on anything once either. It has one of those auto controls where it adjusts RH according to temp to keep the windows from condensating real bad, in the 30s it keeps it at 40% inside and 35% at 20 degrees.

 

[dartman]

manufactured homes

My house is a manufactured and a good sense home so it has pretty good insulation. The electric panel actually has the rvalues of all the wall, ceiling, and floors.
They also put builder grade Alpine windows in here during the rehab and they have a lifetime warranty and keep the place quiet and warm. Cei!ing is r38, floor r33, walls r21, windows were u35 and I'd think new ones are better.
The newer mobile/manufactured homes are so much nicer then the older ones, but they still use thin cheap drywall and components compared to a stick built house.
Very happy with how much house I got for the money I could afford, and I can upgrade things as extra money shows up like I've been doing with my tax refunds.

 

[washman]

I agree dartman

Manufactured homes are light years ahead of what they used to be. Sounds like yours is very well constructed. I looked them up on their website. Impressive, especially the copper plumbing.

The Goodman gets another workout tonight, Low temp down to 5 above with 15-25 MPH winds. Down to 2 above tomorrow night.

 

[gusherb]

Low tonight is -3, currently 2 above. Heat is on 72, downstairs furnace is running continuously with occasional cycling up to 2nd stage. Wind is howling with gusts up to 23 MPH, my northwest facing bedroom wall is like ice right now.

 

[washman]

what furnace do you have

gusherb?

 

[gusherb]

Trane XV95 downstairs and XV80i upstairs.

 

[dartman]

Well my house has PEX pipes and one of them was leaking at the 90 in the wall that feeds the washer. Found it early when I was under the house in the crawl space looking for a bad cable wire. The whole floor has insulation inside a plastic liner with the pipes and heat ducts inside it so if there's a leak its hard to find till the insulation and plastic fills up with water.
Luckily they gave me a year of home repair insurance with closing so I used it rather then do it myself.
Cost 60 bucks copay and was fixed 2 days after I called.
Hadn't been leaking long so drywall and framing was all fine. Nice thing about pex is its easy to deal with, tends not to split open if it freezes, and like that. I even have heat tape already installed onto the main incoming water line with a outlet on the top of the crawl space by a vent that includes the main shutoff valve. I need to redo the shutoff someday as the rehaber did a lousy job cutting out the old one and putting in the new one, it barely seeps where he did a crooked cut and put the crimp too close to the cut.
Moms house is a 90 manufactured and some of the pipes in the wall are copper but underneath is pex as well and she just had the pipe feeding the second bathrooms toilet crack.
Lucky for her her house had the option to install shutoffs for all the pipes leading to fixtures. She didn't opt to have them added but the pipes still have drop downs designed to be easy to cut out and add the shutoffs, they also have threaded stoppers they took off and left under the house when they were told to just connect everything directly. I was able to unscrew the adapters and put the caps back on the pipes which shut off the water till she got a real plumber out to fix it.
Hers was leaking so bad you could hear the water running and all the plastic wrap and insulation was soaked. They ended up replacing all of it and hard to say how long it took for all the water to evaporate.
Hoping mine has extra shut offs because there are access panels that say electric and plumbing on them but not going to crawl under there and drop one till its warm and I feel like it.

 

[washman]

2 furnaces wow

how big is your place?

 

[gusherb]

3,200 sqft. Pretty efficient for its size after putting some effort into it. Heating isn't cheap but it's been quite reasonable since going HE on the downstairs furnace, plus we don't like to be uncomfortable so the heat stays on.

 

[washman]

What is a typical gas bill?

Does it carry the freight on these cold days?

BTW 9 here now, down to 2 above with wind chill of -20

 

[gusherb]

Gas bill this December was $89.18 and used 159 therms. Last January was $253.31 and we used 307 therms. Last January was a typical cold January and December was pretty mild.

Downstairs is 1,850 sqft, furnace is 60,000 BTU's, it runs continuously in first stage at these temps and cycles up to second stage periodically. It holds at 72 just fine down to -15 outside. Upstairs furnace is so oversized that I locked it to 1st stage and it will never run continuous even on the worst days. The downstairs furnace is currently running continuously in 1st stage, set at 72 and its 5 degrees outside. I normally keep it on 70 when its a bit more mild out.

 

[washman]

Not bad

considering the size of your place. Last winter in the condo, I had a 157.00 gas bill. I can't recall the sq foot precisely but it was a bit under 1000 sq foot with a Heil/Quaker furnace manufactured in the mid 80's. Due to the 2 story layout, I had to run it about 71 downstairs to stay remotely comfortable whilst upstairs it would sometimes hi 75 or so. One of the reasons I bought this place; single level slab on grade construction.

I think the next bill will be much more indicative of the real climate around here. I'm running a Delonghi oil filled heater in the garage right now to protect the utility tub faucet (garage, per code, is not heated). Garage temp is just under 50 degrees and temp dropped to 6 since last post but I think the wind has died down a bit.

 

[washman]

Deja vue

Here's the unit next to where I lived for 15 years. A female state cop moved in as I was moving out. Looks like she's moving out too.

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/100-Ableview-Dr-10_Butler_PA_16001_M42046-39632

 

[gusherb]

I'm happy with the bill considering the thermostat is never below 70. It used to be a different story with the old slightly oversized 80% furnace though, there was a winter that the gas bill was over $400 and the therms used was over 450. Not sure how it got so out of hand that one January but I never let it happen again. The new properly sized 97% furnace makes a huge difference in the bill and in comfort.

 

[mattl]

Hmmm.

 

I'm heating a bit larger place with one furnace, and at that temp it does not run all the time.  I do use CAC, that is a big help, but even last year at -15 or more the second stage on my Lenox furnace rarely kicked in.  Mine is 97% efficient too.

 

I have added insulation to the attic, not the R50 now recommended, I used Tyvek when I resided the house- but a big chunk is brick so not much I can do there, added storms on most of the windows, but only R13 in the walls - overall I'd call it moderately tight.  We pretty much get the weather Chicago gets here in mid MI too.  I looked and my Dec gas usage was $98 for 15.7mcu.