I have a Carrier home heating furnace 1989
So far working fine but thinking of replacing it with new furnace
Any recommendation what to look for? Any make or model recommendation?
What questions should I ask to HVAC contractor?
my furnace was new in 1965.......
is it time...........
I'm sorry to hear that you have too much money. I'd be happy to act as broker to get all your old appliances replaced.
I would suggest starting by talking to your fuel suppler. See if a change to a more modern and more efficient model will save you money or not. After that the only question is how much is the potential increased reliability worth to you.
Of course it is possible that the current furnace is not meeting your current needs so that may require a new furnace.
Once you do make that decision to buy or not, then it is time to pick a local contractor. Talk to family, friends, neighbors and co-workers. Then discus the issue of what brand and model with the contractor. The most important part of this equation is the contractor not the make of the equipment. A good contractor will only recommend what is right for your specific needs and what works well in your area. He also will know if parts are available in your area tor a specific brand etc.
I have one small point you might want to look into. I got a new furnace 2 years ago and the only problem I have with it is that the blower is loud. You might want to check on that before you buy a new furnace.
Bill Gill
Thanks every one for the info. Yes, old furnace is working fine but too noisy and we are little cold always even themostat is set to 72. May need to rethink before start calling out HVAC contractor.
We just got a new Thermo Pride with staged blower and it is quieter than old Lennox furnace. Lennox was a POS and we did not find until afterwards that they made cheap grades such as we got ~16 years ago.
Wife was not as satisfied with temperature but I doubt thermometers on thermostats are that accurate. She became happy when I cranked up new one a couple of degrees ;)
Frank
Temperature is temperature,
72 in a lennox is the same as 72 on a thremo pride, if 72 is not comfortable, then maybe its not the temp that is the problem but the humidity level.if humidity is too low, its possible that the 72 feels like 68
( humidex index/rating that you use on hot days applies to cold days too)
consider a humidifier added to the existing system to make 72 feel more like
72 based on relative humidity levels.Dave
A new furnace with variable speed fan may help you out with the noise, but I doubt if the temperature thing is going to be helped that way.
There are several possibilities on the temperature. First is the humidity is likely lower during the heating season. Your wife might be comfortable at 72º if the humidity were higher. Also heat pumps tend to circulate lower temperature air, and it can "feel" cooler. Then there is the possibility that the thermostat is not accurate.
We have a humidifier on the furnace and it is working. Old Lennox thermostat was analog and new Thermo Pride's Honeywell thermostat is digital. Right now it reads 71 deg. F but another digital thermometer brought right next to it reads 73. Chances are that old unit was reading lower than actual temperature.
Heat distribution in house seems better with new furnace.
Frank
If it were mine, I would not be replacing what seems to be a perfectly good furnace. Otherwise I'd be looking into exactly what the problem is and not necessarily blaming the furnace. For all I know it' really just a draft soemplace.
Was the furnace always noisy?? If not, perhaps maintenance might alleviate. If the external thermometer reads lower than the thermostat, set the thermostat a couple of degrees, the OLD thermostats had adjustable dials, wife liked to set the dial at 80, so I adjusted it to read 80 and actually be 75. I know that is warmer than is PC, but......change air filter, have your ducts been cleaned recently?? When I replaced my downstairs ceiling, I found that the builders had turned the return duct for the bedroom 16 inches too soon, so it was vacuuming the space between floor and ceiling. When I replaced the 40 year old furnace which was noisy and inefficient, I insisted that we get a LARGER BTU capacity than the older one, to the chagrin of the estimator, but have been happy with the unit for almost 20 years now, tho it is getting a little noisy. WM
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.