Sticky furnace valve replace or new furnace?

[Jeanne]

Our furnace is about 14 yrs old and the valve is sticking. Should we replace the valve for about $600 or buy a new furnace for about $5,900 for tax and installation?

[Ed Pawlowski]

You have to do a comparison of efficiency to see what the payback is. What is the overall condition for future repairs?

In my case, the oil boiler was 32 years old and needed repair. A new more efficient unit cut my fuel cost by 40% and the state offered 0% financing. No brainer, I essentially got a free boiler.

[hrhofmann]

$600 for a new valve strikes me as being about twice what it should cost!!!!!!!

[Arnie Goetchius]

I had a 25 year old hot air and A/C system needing repair and I had the whole system replaced for $6500. Estimated savings on gas and electric are about $800 a year so I get it back in about 8 years.

[Dean Hoffman]

I wonder if the OP has checked online prices just for comparison's sake. She didn't mention whether $600 includes labor.

[Mike Rotch]

If it's a forced air furnace, the life of the furnace is determined by the heat exchanger. Heat exchangers typically fail at 15-20 years. When the heat exchanger fails, it's time for a new furnace.

OTOH, if its a hydronic/boiler furnace, they can last 20 to 40 years, depending on the water quality used to fill the system.

[trader_4]

+1

Unless it's a fancy variable stage valve, which I suppose could cost a lot.

There are basically three kinds. Simplest, cheapest is single stage. Next is two stage, followed by variable.

Not enough info to answer the core question. What is the efficiency of the old furnace? What are the annual fuel costs? Any other problems with it?

[Jeanne]

replying to trader_4, Jeanne wrote: Thanks for your response. The furnace is 17 years old and is two stage with variable air. The efficiency is 88.5%.

[Jeanne]

replying to Dean Hoffman, Jeanne wrote: Thanks for the reply. Is there a sight to price the valve. I am wondering if the repair person was trying to sell me a furnace when we don't need one. $5,900 to replace gas furnace with 2 cycles and variable air and $1,100 for humidifier.

[Jeanne]

replying to Ed Pawlowski, Jeanne wrote: This is a gas 2 cycle variable air furnace 17 years old 88.5% efficient. The gain in efficiency does not pay for itself.

[trader_4]

The fact that the skunk wants $1100 for a humdifier, if accurate, tells you all that you need to know to run from this guy. A top of the line Aprilaire unit is maybe $300 list, should be couple hundred to install.

[Barbara Stanford Tanguma]

replying to trader_4, Barbara Stanford Tanguma wrote: _Thanks for your honesty!_It's a big help. I'll get some estimates. Our house was 58 degrees on Saturday and I felt desperate. Sounds like the repair man was taking advantage of us, especially recommending a new furnace when our heat exchanger is fine.

[Jeanne]

replying to Mike Rotch, Jeanne wrote: This is really helpful. The gas furnace is 17 years old, 2 cycle, variable air, but the only problem is the valve. If we can get someone to put in a valve at a reasonable price, the furnace could last a little longer.

[Moe DeLoughan]

Replacing the valve at best buys yourself a little time to come up with the funds for a new furnace, assuming the diagnosis is correct, and it is a bad valve, because a 17-year old furnace is approaching the end of its useful life. Yeah, you might get a few more years from it - but then again, you might not.

It depends on the state of your current finances. If you can afford to replace the furnace now, you may prefer to bite the bullet and get it over with. If so, get at least three quotes. If you can't come up with the cash now, check with your city or county to see if they have any kind of homeowner helper program that provides low- or no-interest loans or outright grants to homeowners who need to replace their hvac systems. If they do, it'll almost certainly be better terms than you'd get from the hvac company.

If you can afford another service call from somebody else, do it and get a second opinion/quote. At that point, if the diagnoses match, you're back to deciding whether to pay for a short-term fix or to go with full replacement. If the diagnoses differ, you'll either need to pay for a third service call, take your chances on either of the two quotes, or just get a new furnace.

So again, it comes down to what you can afford to do now, and what whether you're willing to trust this guy's diagnosis, or get at least one other tech to check it out before deciding what to do.

[clare]

Likely to get as many more years out of that 17 year old furnace after it's fixed as she'll get out of the new crap.

[Dean Hoffman]

Just do an online search with the brand name and model number of the furnace. There might be some information right on the valve to help identify it also. Try this one:

I think someone on this group mentioned the company once. I don't remember personally buying anything from them.

[croy]

Lubricate it?

[clare]

More like clean it - but not a real good idea to take them apart.

[Moe DeLoughan]

Maybe, maybe not. It's the heat exchanger that I'm thinking of. But if the OP decides to get a new furnace, she should definitely get more quotes. The furnace salespeople are like new car salespeople - trying their damnedest to sell you the model with all the expensive bells and whistles, when what you actually need will most likely be something much more basic. Which is one reason why I wouldn't go with the initial quote, the other reason being that I'd want to see the company run a load calc first - and I doubt that an hvac tech coming out on a repair job bothered to do that.

[clare]

When I bought my furnace back in 2003 the "salesman" asked me what I wanted. I said the highest efficiency lowest output furnace you can get me that is NOT a condensing furnace. He said "good choice" - the secondary (condensing) heat exchanger is the biggest problem (possibly tied with the control board on some models) on furnaces today.

The lower electrical consumption (and the heat "not" produced) pretty much countered the increased efficiency over my 30+ year old furnace - my gas consumption didn't change but the electrical consuimption dropped to less than half.

Today in Ontario it is IMPOSSIBLE to buy a non-condensing residential furnace.