Advice for Quieter Furnace

[Steve Kraus]

This is a gas-fired, downflow forced-air furnace situation.

House was built in 1957. Furnace is in a centrally located hall closet with louvered bi-fold doors. My issue is noise.

The original Rheem, with the big long cast iron burners made barely a sigh when the burners came on. More noise, of course, when the blower kicked in.

In the 80's, it was replaced with a new higher efficiency model. It's a Bryant. Spark ignition w/pilot, inducer blower, that sort of thing. The burners are like 4 blow torches. That whole setup is so noisy that you barely even notice the uptick in noise when the blower comes on.

It's time for replacing it. The inducer bearings are going bad (I replaced the inducer maybe 10-15 years ago). I had to replace the heat switch by the pilot earlier in the year. Seems like it's constantly needing something. Anyway, I'm looking for a replacement.

Looking for recommendations for a brand or general type that would be quieter since this is located right in the middle of living space. I am not necessarily looking at super high efficiency but might pony up for it if they are inherently quieter. A salesman said a variable speed type might be quieter but I think that's only going to affect the blower noise and even with the blower off my present machine is too loud. But that's

80's technology so I don't know how loud or not loud even a regular modern furnace is.

PS: It's 90,000 BTU/H input. I realize greater efficiency would allow downsizing that but I'm concerned about going too small if I keep the same A/C since that's gonna need a certain air flow volume. Have not decided whether to do both but that's another issue entirely. I don't want weak cooling because of undersized air handling capacity of a new, smaller furnace and have them say I "told you so" regarding how I should have replaced both).

[Dom]

My furnace is in the kitchen, and I mean RIGHT in the kitchen -- you open a louver door, and it's right there. So I'm concerned about noise too. I h ave a Rheem dual speed. I had the technician set it so it stays on the fir st speed as long as possible (12 minutes) before kicking into the second sp eed. Most days, it just needs the first speed. The idea is that a long ti me with slight heat will warm the home better than a short burst of hot air . So it doesn't cycle on and off much. I like it.

[mike]

So I'm concerned about noise too. I have a Rheem dual speed.

I had the technician set it so it stays on the first speed as long as possible (12 minutes)

before kicking into the second speed. Most days, it just needs the first speed.

The idea is that a long time with slight heat will warm the home better than a short burst of hot air.

So it doesn't cycle on and off much. I like it.

is the gas consumption rate reduced at low fan speed? if not, I'm really confused about how this works.

[Tony Hwang]

Hmmm, When it is COLD, that won't cut it. Need 2 stage furnace. 2nd stage only comes on when needed. I livr in Canada so when it is cold, it can be -35F or lower with wind chill. Running blower on low speed all the time is good tho for even temp. and circculating air.