I believe that furnaces should last at least 50% the life of the dwelling that they're installed in.
It is my understanding that the lifespan of modern forced-air gas furaces is 12-15 years(!)
I am in the market for the above captioned item (Most Reliable, Durable, *Longest Lasting* Forced Air Gas Furnace). I am less concerned with efficiency than I am with those three factors (durability, reliability, longetivity).
I am getting close to retirement and don't want to purchase > 1 more furnace.
First suggestion is to invest in a different belief system. Since there are inhabitated dwellings approximately 300 years old in the US and much, much older than that elsewhere, expecting a furnace to function half that time is simply unrealistic.
As for the direct question, I don't have any data available to say which might be reasonably expected to be the most long-lasting, but certainly I would expect the "name" manufacturers to be better in that regard than the known "low-cost" makers (altho, of course, all have a range of units) and that a realistic cost analysis would probably show the lowest overall longterm cost is a combination of higher efficiency _and_ longevity, not simply a single installation cost evaluation.
For longevity of service irrespective of fuel cost, you might consider all-electric baseboard first, forced air or radiant afterwards. The primary limiting factor in combustion forced air units that actually requires a replacement is the erosion/corrosion of the combustion chamber resulting in air leak which can lead to CO emissions. Avoiding direct combustion is probably, in my just general guessing, the best way to extend unit lifetime.
Oops! I should have mentioned the context in which I spake. I live in America, where the taxpayer funds the demolition of and re-building of
30 year-old sports arenas, and where we do "tear-downs" of perfectly habitable, modest homes built in the fifties and sixties (and later!) to build mcmansions and now, "monster homes".
But I guess I answered my own (implied) question: Why modern, higher-tech furnaces only last 12-15 years.
Hey, it's America. If I can afford to buy a "modest" (meaning small and poorly designed) home from those architecturally dead eras and then tear it down to build a modern properly designed home I'll do it. To be on topic I believe a furnace should last 20-30 years with regualr maintenace. My steam boiler is now 20+ years old and works fine.
I don't know on what basis you've concluded that furnaces typically last only 12-15 years. My Ruud, which ain't anything special, is still going fine at 22 years. I'd say somewhere around 20 is more typical. It's also curious that you only care about lifespan, not energy efficiency. In the end, they both equate mostly to $$$ out of your pocket, don't they?
I also agree that it's unrealistic to expect any furnace to last 1/2 the lifespan of a home.
Thx. hallerb. Had planned on doing much of what you suggest.
Actually, my Carrier 58SXA (installed Oct. 1990) has been a real pain, just limping along the past 5 years w. lockout problems even the Carrier tech can't (or won't?) diagnose. (These furnaces have known design flaws. Known now.)
Cars? Should all be built like the old Chrysler Slant Sixes.
Careful! In 40 or 50 years those mcmansions (w. the brick on one side, siding the other three sides) and the umpteen eves may look as preposterous as running shoe envy in the ghetto.
1.) Technical: The more complicated things are, the more that can go wrong. High-Efficiency furnaces have more complicated designs, more solid-state electronics that can go bad.
2.) Economical: Persons living at subsistence levels find it easier to pay as they go, than ante - up front. That's why a the low-income person will buy toilet tissue at convenience-store prices (when they need to) rather than stock-up at Costco. Same reason a poor person pays more for (overall) for gasoline (they drive an older car). When I retire I realistically don't expect my income to keep up w. inflation enough to buy a new furnace when I'm 80 (God-willing.) Just a fact of life, my friend.
b.t.w. - I have a "high efficiency" (90+) furnace now. It's a Carrier (piece 'o crap).
I agree many McMansions are godawful to look at. However, the kitchens are practical and large, closet space is adequate, and there are master bathrooms. At least in NJ most are bought by transplanted new yorkers who have no taste or style so they are often not gorgeous homes. I agree that brick should be on all sides but how good is it when done by the typical illegal day laborers who build build most tract homes in NJ?
With thinking like that, it;s no wonder they are living at subsistence levels. Any dummy knows you can buy a decent size pack of toilet paper on sale at the local grocery store for $6, which is a fraction of what it would cost at the convenience store and even less than Costco.
The failure mode of most gas furnaces is a cracked heat exchanger and they probably last at least 20 years. Most other components can probably be fixed. However, I have a friend who lives in a trailer who had an old Coleman furnace that had a broken gas valve and a replacement valve cost so much it made more sense to replace the entire furnace.
My forced air high efficiency furnace was installed in 1984, and is still going strong. I had only one service call in its life to replace the extractor fan which was corroding.
Perhaps it has occured to *you* that for pesrons in such circumstances it may not be possible to "set-aside" money? But (perhaps) I am assuming that I'm corresponding with someone who has been fortunate enough to not know hardship or the the perspective that such brings.
With OEM ONLY circuit boards and sensors the manufacturer can set the expiration time of any product. Sorry that boards no longer available you need a new furnace car or whatever........ Or make the part so expensive no one will buy the part
Now Goodman furnaces reportedly use off the shelf components with p[robably a better chance of availablity many years down the road.
Of course lots of stuff is functionally obslete long before its not repairable.
Like a really poor mileage car, at 10 MPG when new cars are getting 100 MPG
We agree (again). If we would creatively re-use existing structures, rather than abandonment or tear-down, we would not have urban "doughnut-holes" of erstwhile great cities bleeding population surrounded by the sprawl of uninspired monotonous architecture.
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