Our Furnace is Replaced

[bjarvis]

As mentioned last week, we have recently discovered we needed to replace our furnace. The new furnace arrived around noon today; it was all over by 5:30pm.

	Old Furnace This is the old beast. It lasted 24 years nearly to the day and was dismissed from service 10/20/2010.
	Midway through Replacement The old furnace has been removed and the AC exchanger is exposed. The exhaust systems have yet to be retooled as well.
	New Furnace The new furnace has a similar footprint but is shorter so extra ductwork was required. The exhaust for the water heater was replaced with a larger diameter for code compliance. A new humidifier has been attached to the intake ductwork. All was installed & functional 10/25/2010.

Overall, it was a relatively painless process --except for the hit to our household wallet. Then again, if we can keep this unit for another 24 years like the prior model, that would amortize to about $192/year. I can deal with that.

Comments

[pklexton.livejournal.com]

Now that's hot. hehe :)

Our last furnace barely made it to 10 years. So at 24 years you are doing decidedly above average (though the CO risk was an unfortunate issue).

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

Yeah, except for that inadvertent risk of killing all of us, it was a pretty good run. :-)

[billeyler.livejournal.com]

Glad you were able to get a humidifier installed! Again, for us it would have ended up being way too complex with the 95% eff furnace.

So far, we've NOT been able to install:
- Water softening system
- Tankless water heater
- Furnace humidifier

Stay toasty! Our furnace came on for the season for the first time the day before yesterday and with the possibility of a freeze tonight, probably be on for longer!

[danthered.livejournal.com]

Don't be too sad about the water heater. I won't say "never again", but the design and performance will have to change a lot before I'll try another tankless. The savings was utterly illusory. After four miserable years of insufficient, unreliable, costly, occasional hot water, we finally had the chimney lined and a tank-type gas water heater put in. Cost, quantity, and reliability of hot water in the house immediately improved nearly infinitely.

[billeyler.livejournal.com]

It's a relief to hear someone say that. I had nothing to measure against, other than it was THE thing to do to modernize.

[danthered.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, absolutely; the hype was that the tankless water heater would save cubic dollars and provide endless hot water in an ecologically-sound way, blahbitty-blah-blah. It sounds right, what they say about wasting energy by keeping a big tankard of water hot all day and all night, but fact is that progressively advancing regulations and technology have made water heater insulation and burners very efficient; the energy required to keep the tank hot is minimal. You can read my hash-out of the economy math here; in a nutshell, the payback period for tankless gas vs. tank-type gas is about twenty-two years.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

cuyahogarvr loved his tankless water heater, installed when he & the ex renovated their house. It kept up easily with a full house of hot showers.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

that would amortize to about $192/year.

And the odds are that it's more efficient than its predecessor, so your savings on fuel will reduce the net cost further.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the old beast was probably no better than 50% efficient; the new one is rated for at least 80%.

[bearfuz.livejournal.com]

Next time I come to stay, I'll pay rent! That'll help. XOXO

[weekilter.livejournal.com]

How many BTU's is the new furnace? How many tons of A/C do you have? How old is your A/C unit?

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

The new beast is 100,000 BTUs; the AC is a two ton unit (eight years old).