Carrier Performance 93 Furnace Installed By Sears

[i-dj]

I had a Carrier Performance 93, 80,000BTU, model 58mtb installed by Sears for $3K. The job seams to be a good installation. They installed

2 PVC vent pipes which are pitched back towards the furnace. They installed a 'media box' which houses a fancy 4" thick furnace filter. They installed a new thermostat.

But they did not install a PVC liner in my existing metal chimney for my gas hot water heater. Was that necessary? The installer said no. He said they used a PVC liner with in a brick chimney with a clay flue but not in a small metal chimney (B-Vent?).

Was $3,000 a decent price? It still seems a bit high even though I had one other estimate for $3,400.

[Joe]

Your price was OK for most box store subcontractors. Naturally, if you had more bids there would be highs and lows, but likely no huge deviation. Re: the water heater vent, call your city building inspection people to confirm code compliance. HTH

Joe

[ransley]

Are you sure the intake and exhaust should be pitched to drain water back to the furnace, it might be wrong. Call carrier.

[Bubba]

No need. You are wrong Ransley. Bubba

[Bubba]

How did it seem high when your only other estimate was even higher? If you wanted it lower, you should have called 29 other contractors and the one that would do it for $100 and a 12 pack you should have picked. Anyways, Sears is usually one of the highest. I dont know why they did that one so cheap. As for your flue liner..........what did your signed contract say they were going to do? By the way, pvc inside a chimney where a water heater is burning will not work well. You are probably thinking of a aluminumized steel flexible chimney liner. Usually adds about $500 to $1000 depending on your area and your actual chimney. By the way, you did opt for the 10 year parts AND LABOR warranty, right? Not 10 yr parts. 10 year LABOR. It WILL break, they all do. Bubba

[i-dj]

Actually, compared to $3400, my first estimate, Sears at $3000 seemed too cheap. However, someone I work with convinced me I could have done better than $3000. That' s the reason I posted the question. I'm not worried about a $100 one way or another.

The sales person said I would need a PVC liner. The installer said a liner is needed only with a brick chimney. I don't have that.

Usually adds about $500 to

5 years parts and labor.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, Just hope you got an extended warranty(parts) coverage particularly for the variable speed blower.

[Big_Jake]

According to Carrier's web site, it is just a two stage blower. Am I reading this wrong?

JK

[Rick-Meister]

If you have a traditional water heater with metal venting, you may have to reduce the chimney flue size to get the proper draft for the water heater. B-vent does not need a liner. Clay lined chimneys need a liner.

But now that the furnace is out of the picture, your flue size is determined strictly by the btu's of the water heater and the height of the chimney. It may be oversized.

If you have to reduce the size of the flue, you may want to consider putting that same money towards upgrading the water heater to a high efficiency unit that vents out the side of the house in PVC.

Your next water heater will most likely be a high efficiency unit anyways, so why waste money modifying your old flue?

Bottom line, check local codes for venting requirments for your size water heater.

[Red Green]

[e-mail] wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Not very furnace knowledgable but...

Wasn't there a final inspection done by the city/town? They did pull a permit right? Had to be required. We're talking furnace. Installed incorrectly can result in combustion vapor death or a fire related death. Contract should have ..."will be installed to all codes" in it. Doesn't matter if it did. They have to install it to code.

[hallerb]

hsy.googlegroups.com:

just buy a new high efficency condensing water heater and forget about the chimney