I am looking for a help in picking a new oil burning furnace (with AC coil). Co far i got two estimates 4600 for williamson installed by my local oil company (Santa Oil) and 5600 for Kenmore installed by Sears. I wonder if there are any sites comparing furnaces and if anyone has experience with Sears and their oil furnaces. thanks
Depending on where you are at, (area you live in) and the actual location of the furnace in your home, and any modifications that are needed to install the new unit in place of the old, the size of the furnace in BTUs, and the style of unit... that price is either dead on, or....holy shit..you got suckered.
First and foremost, Sears is one to stay away from. Period. Right now they are in a world of crap in some areas for using non licenced persons. The Kenmore unit isnt made by Kenmore, and for that price, I can about install you two Thermoprides.
Comparing the units....thats about pointless. One is no better than the other. The difference is in the installation. Its ALL total garbage in the box, its up to the installer to insure that it is installed in a manner that will relate to no problems due to the installation, and then, after its installed, its set up correctly. There is more to installation of an oil or gas unit than ripping the old one out and slapping in a new one, and oil has its own issues.
I sell two brands of oil units. York and ThermoPride. ThermoPride has a factory right down the road, and its close to get parts should they be needed, but todays oil units are all about the same. The difference is in the heat exchangers and ThermoPride uses a copper sprayed exchanger. Personally, I have owned a ThermoPride oil unit, and can see NO difference in performace over any other brand. I also replace more ThermoPride units due to rust than any other unit. That could be due to the fact that everyone sells them here, and they last a good long while, or it could be that the finish isnt very consumer friendly. That said, its your money. The thing that you want to know is who is pulling the permits, and are they insured and licenced. Then, if you trust what they say, go with the brand they sell. Insure that you get the unit properly set up after its installed, and that means a smoke test, and a heat rise check. Also, with todays units being a bit more efficient, you will want the installer to for SURE run a manual J on your home, or you might not save a bit of money if all he does is goes under and looks at the unit and says, Yup..its got 120,000 BTUs your getting 120,000BTUs to replace it...that might NOT be what is needed. You have no way of knowing if the original unit is sized correctly, or what the current rating is on it. If you go to the same size unit, with a higher AFUE rating, then you are automatically OVERsized.
Experence with Sears? They make the legitimate smaller installers and companies lots of money.
Your local oil company will probably have the best prices and service. Not bad-mouthing Sears, but all they are is a middle man. They get one of the local contractors to do the work for them so you end up paying more just to have "Sears" on your furnace (and the furnace is NOT made by Sears).
Get at least 3 QUOTES (not estimates) from at least 3 different companies. The brand doesn't mean as much as the installer.
Armstrong furnaces are inexpensive (compared to others) and very dependable. ThermoPride is a very good furnace, but you are going to pay big bucks for it.
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