I need to replace a fifty year old unit. I`ve seen a couple of negative reviews on Goodman but mostly the responses are that the company`s product is as durable as any low/moderately priced furnaces. Any experiences/information on this company? Stephen
If you're on a budget, a Goodman unit *properly installed* will give good service. We've installed Goodman equipment in many of our properties and they've held up well. The key is to have it *installed properly*.
Let me say that again...
The key is the have it *installed properly*! It's OK to try and save money on the equipment, but find the best, most experienced HVAC pro you can find to put it in, let him do his job and pay him a fair price for his service. You'll be *way* ahead money-wise in the long run.
The reason Goodman has such a bad reputation among HVAC professionals is that, unfortunately, Goodman is not quite as selective about who they sell their equipment to as Trane, etc. As a result, it's the brand of choice for the low-ball, fly-by-night hack installer. Later, when something inevitably goes wrong with the system and an experienced HVAC pro is called in to fix the problem, they have a nightmare to deal with.
Goodman sells freely. Good for them. Free markets and freely available detailed technical information in the hands of a critical consumer are ultimately what ensure quality, not brands or dealerships or "professionalism". If brand X is better than Goodman, then give specific technical details of why, and let the critical consumer make the judgments.
Other brands attempt the usual restraint-of-trade price-maintenance schemes common to most industries. While this may have the effect of raising the average dealer's proficiency, that is not the primary motivation, which is price maintenance. Not quality or professionalism.
Appliances, farm equipment, HVAC, cars, IBM and other brand-name PCs in the 1980s, all are constantly afflicted by anti-competitive R-O-T and P-M. Old story, never will change.
True, but there as hard as it is to judge the quality of HVAC merchandise with all the puffery and vague specifications, it is impossible for the consumer to judge the installer. "Find the best" is fine, but there is little information to make such a decision from scratch. Length of experience generally helps, but also is no marker of excellent vs mediocre installers.
Like so many things in life, the only way is to be smart enough yourself.
This is Turtle.
You said it with what you said above here about Goodman. It is not the top of the line stuff but if installed correctly. It will run pretty fair.
Now if i could get a choice i would look at the others too.
TURTLE
----- Original Message ----- From: "Richard J Kinch" Newsgroups: alt.home.repair Sent: Friday, April 16, 2004 11:28 PM Subject: Re: Goodman Furnace
You might consider posting this on alt.hvac. I'd be interested in seeing how the folks over there would respond to this.
Word-of-mouth from friends and business associates that I trust has always worked well for me.
True.
Also true.
Anyway, getting back to the OP's question regarding whether Goodman would be a good choice for a furnace...
S D, if you decide to go with Goodman and stick with a good installer who knows his or her business, you'll be fine.
Thanks for the information
The contractor has agreed to a five year warranty on everything connected with the installation. Is this good/bad/the norm?
This is Turtle.
Not bad at all.
TURTLE
As the warranty administrator at a supply house that sells 99.9% Goodman equipment, I have a handle on what parts generally fail on the Goodman equipment. All the furnaces (including package gas units) in the 1995 to 1999 era had (have) heat exchangers that have a tendancy to crack. They may still be using the same heat exchanger but aren't old enough to start failing yet... I dunno. Luckily it doesn't take an act of congress to change them as a general rule. Ignitors... they are a consumable item in my opinion, expect to replace it every other year. Now the draft inducer motors... that it the primary weakness on the Goodman furnaces. Bad design, bad manufacturing. I have known of them to get sticky bearings and slow down... still running fast enough for the centrifical switch, but not fast enough to create a good draft, flame rollout switch trips and makes it a bear to troubleshoot. (Yes I was a technician too before gravity got ahold of me)
Tim
This is Turtle.
You got them pegged pretty good here but here is the answer to the ignitor going out too often. Use a Rheem Ignitor on it and they will go 5 to 8 years. It will snap right in the clip like goodman has. I was told by the Goodman warehouse here that Rheem is suppose to start making or suppling the ignitors for goodman on the 2004 model.
TURTLE
Sounds like the name should be Crapman not goodman
too often. Use a Rheem Ignitor on it and they
the Goodman warehouse here that Rheem is
Thanks for the information Turtle. I knew that the goodman ignitor would fit almost anywhere else but didn't know any other would fit the goodman bracket.
Tim
Well, after some OK posts on Goodman now that brand is takng a beating here. Three additional questions: how do I replace the igniter (I`ll ask the installer no matter what make I choose, but how do I get a part and how do I know if the igniter is faulty)? how much money will a 90% efficient unit save over an 80% one (% of bill per year) and is this a good time of the year to get a discount on installations? SD
This is Turtle.
First I don't have the time to explain the proceedure to change a ignitor on every brand out there or brand that you may choose. I would be here about 12 to 24 hours covering each brand and how to change them. You can narrow it down to the brand that you are going to buy and I will explain that brand to you. E-mail me and I will cover it if you like.
Second : How do you know the ignitor is faulty or not ? Look at it and you will see a hair line crack in it and it will have some discoloration on both sides of the hair line crack. Now you can take a VOM and read through it and you will not be able to read throw it.
Third : How do I get the Parts / Flame ignitor for the brand I choose ? There is only about 60 types / brands / models of flame ignitors out there and about 4,000 suppliers that sell them. You narrow the furnace down to what your going to buy and I will pick out the Suppliers that sell that type ignitor.
Forth : How much money will I save between the 80% AFUE furnace and the 90% AFUE furnace ? If you had a 80% AFUE furnace in your home running, it would burn $100.00 of natural gas to heat your home. The 90% AFUE would cost you ruffle $90.00 to heat your home. The difference between the 80%afue and the 90%afue is ruffley 10% cheaper to run. If your gas bill was say $6,000.00 a year to heat your home. It would save you 10% of $6,000.00 = $600.00 a year. If your cost to heat your home in gas is $100.00 a year. You save $10.00 a year in cost. It is the amount of heat that you need as to it making it worth while to go to the 90% afue furnace. I will say this. If you live in the Northern states most of the time the 90% afue is worth while. if you live in the Gulf States. The 90% afue usely will not pay for it'self in the cost to operate.
E-Mail me or Post back here as to what brand you choose and I will try to explain what you want to know.
TURTLE
Turtle, thanks for the time, I posted in HVAC and aside from one fathead`s guff I got enough additional input to indicate that Goodman may be a poor gamble. Seems like the energy savings would be moderate. Not the biggest decision to make, but nice to know something. SD
First, that farthead is the founder of the group, and its common knowledge that general questions as you asked get that reply...
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