$760 Circuit Board or new system ?

Hello,

Just returned from military deployment and my welcome back gift from the wife was "the AC and Heater need to be fixed". I have a York furnace and AC, it is 13 years old (contractor grade).

I had two companies come out. They both agreed that the AC should be replaced but they differed on the furnace. Company A said replace the bad circuit board ($760) and you should be good for another 7 years. Company B recommended replacing the furnace because it will "nickel and dime" us, a new one is much more efficient and that we would save some in labor having it all done at once.

Any opinions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jim

Reply to
Jim
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Where are you located Jim?

Reply to
Zyp

Va

Jim

Reply to
Jim

Are you out in the "sticks" like Paul?

Did a little person come out as one of the tech's?

Reply to
Zyp

Your welcome-to-this-newsgroup gift will be - basically nothing useful (if you're lucky) and more likely some verbal abuse if you ask too many questions.

The blue-collar hvac dweebs who will even bother to answer will basically agree that you need to empty your wallet on a new furnace, preferrably one with a board that will cost $1500 to replace when it goes bad in the future.

The AC can wait until spring (you're not saying what part of the AC is the problem).

As for the circuit board, $760 is a ripoff considering that a Pentium Core-2 Intel motherboard with CPU will cost about half that. The board probably costs $100 and they're charging $660 to install it.

Reply to
HVAC Guy

what is the model number of the furnace.. the boards only run about

100 dollars. Sound like someone is trying to screw you..

regards, kelvin

Reply to
klyons20

That's a hard call to make but a 13 year old furnace that has a standing pilot may be on it's last leg.

Reply to
Moe Jones

A 13 year-old furnace on it's "last leg" ???

Are you kidding?

Is the lifetime of furnaces declining since the 1970's?

I guess I'll keep my perfectly-good-and-working furnace (circa 1976) a little longer then.

And what does a standing pilot have to do with it? Could it be that you, like all those employed in the hvac field, strongly desire all home owners to move to more-expensive-to-repair furnaces that will garantee you a more steady service income?

From a home-owner POV, a standing pilot light is far more reliable and has a lower total ownership cost vs electronic ignition.

Reply to
HVAC Guy

What's wrong little man, are you pissed because you were too dumb to change your filter and you let someone charge you 100.00 dollars to do it? Dumbass!

Reply to
SuperHeat

Hi, One thing, standing pilot burns gas all the time. No matter how small amount it may be. Ever thought about conservation/environment? I guess you are still driving '70's gas guzzling/polluting carburated automobile too then?

Reply to
Tony Hwang

Dear "NOT HVAC Guy" You are clueless as usual. Your 30 yr old furnace may be working but that's all its doing. "What does a standing pilot have to do with it?" (you ask) Nothing other than the fact that you are most likely burning an extra $20 a month each and every month which amounts to $240 a year you just pissed away. (and yes, most people dont turn their pilot off in the summer) "More expensive to repair?" (you say) Thats funny. My customers that purchase a furnace from me enjoy a properly sized furnace that burns at 95% efficient and about half of them opt for the 2 stage and/or variable speed model. Those customers also enjoy a 10 yr "no charge" service calls should anything happen to break down. I only recommend that they purchase a service agreement for regular maintenance as does the manufacturer although I DONT require it to honor their warranty. I'll match 10 yrs of purchase, fuel cost and repairs against your 30 yr old furnace any day. Bubba "You need to be teachded or learnt this trade before you speweth your mouth"

Reply to
Bubba

Obviously;

HVAC Guy isn't HVAC. The cost of the board, carry it around on the truck until someone needs it investment [I could have put the money in the bank instead and earned currently 5.25% and not done anything] plus the cost of shipping the board to me, plus the "cost of business" i.e. overhead. Then comes the labor cost dweeb.

BTW: some of the older boards [albeit 20 years ago] do cost around $100 wholesale, but anything under 10 years cost quite a bit more. Remember, these are propietary boards designed only to fit this application on this appliance. Computer boards tend to be more generic and are sold under various names. Some motherboards handle a multitude of cpu's, not just one type.

Don't be a dweeb and spout off about stuff you don't know shit about.

Reply to
Zyp

13 year's old - standing pilot? Standing pilots went out in 1980 to intermittent pilots. Intermittent Pilots went out around 1990 to HSI. [Except commerical, some commerical equipment still has intermittent pilots.]
Reply to
Zyp

Who are you kidding? I've been in this crappy trade for 36 years. Those older standing pilot furnaces needed tons of service every year! Replacement thermocouples, rusting iron heat exchangers, crappy belts, plugged burners, man those were the days.

Today, direct drive, alumimum/ steel heat exchangers HSI igntion [fewer spiders and flies in pilots] dual seat gas valves, inshot burners, all make maintenance a thing of the past. As long as the equipment is installed properly, and serviced periodically, the homeowner is reaping a huge benefit. Not only in less down time, less maintenance cost, less often repairs costs, but extended service life as well.!

Today's furnace's [of a simular calibar] cost less. When you look at the track home [economy] furance line, you will see the pricing has stayed about the same though out the last few decades. Only those applicances with more features cost considerably more, and rightfully so. More engineering, tooling, and components raise the price of the more efficient appliances. HVAC is probably one of the only things that acutally is a good buy today! Price stability, [exept for the last year with increases in steel and copper prices, not to mention the cost of the newer refrigerant] trade competition, and [new stupid hungry contractors] have kept the price down.

Reply to
Zyp

Thanks for your service to our country.

The board runs about $150.00 to the tech but the costs for a company to make a house call is quite expensive these days. For a litany of reasons I won't go into, I don't think I could even show up at the job for under $150.00 anymore. I noticed that company B did not quote you for a repair. If not he may just be a salesman looking for a commission. As far as the $760.00 quote, the tech may be replacing some or all the ignition components to cover his butt. It's your call, you'll have to judge the techs and contractors yourself. That being said you may want to get a third or fourth opinion.

You should be able to get a free estimate for replacing your equipment from the contractors. You can always ask them if they would give you an estimate to repair as well. Some will, some won't without a fee. Be sure to look until you find a contractor that will do a professional job on the installation as that is the most important part. Opinions will very greatly but I would recommend looking at Trane/American Standard, Rheem/RUUD and Carrier/Bryant as the best choices for new equipment.

Joseph

Reply to
Joseph

For what it's worth, no ass-wipe tech has ever been called to look at my 1976 furnace in the 8 years I've owned it (nor my AC unit, which is probably circa 1986).

I know you don't want to hear shit like that, because it just means less $$$ for you.

Now go back and twidle your thumbs waiting for your next service call.

Reply to
HVAC Guy

Not if you turn off the gas to the furnace during the 7 or 8 months of the year you don't (won't) call for heat.

Like I said, turning it off for the spring, summer and fall is no big deal. Is that conservation enough for ya?

As for the winter, the heat coming off the pilot is still radiating into my house (even it's just adding a little more heat to the exchanger) - so it's not really lost at all.

It's a similar issue for the (now) hated incandescent light bulb. During the winter (when there is less natural light) the heat coming from an incandescent bulb is not really lost - it's actually supplementing the heat you need from your furnace.

Reply to
HVAC Guy

Knocking on the wood? Your furnace may fail on the coldest day of this winter and your a/c on the hottest day of the summer next year. Keep your fingers crossed, LOL! Ever heard of preventive maintenance? Ounce of prevention or pound of remedy? Common sense rules!

Reply to
Tony Hwang

What else would I want a furnace to do? Is "working" not good enough?

First, I dispute your $20 / month.

Second, the heat put out by the pilot is (mostly) captured within your house anyways, and during the heating season heat (from all sources) is desired.

Third, I turn off the gas to my furnace during the off-heat months.

Reply to
HVAC Guy

Look, Your logic is twisted. What about the heat from lamp in summer then? Bulbs are for illumination not for heat. Turning off pilot in summer? How about moisture build up inside burner?

Reply to
Tony Hwang

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