Ok one of the reasons I needed to sell my car is we need a new furnace in our house. Last spring here it finally kick the bucket. Its over 30 years old.

We have a 1800sq foot house and already have central air attached to the duct work. Does anybody here have profeesional experience and can suggest a good quiet unit.

Thanks

Furnace wont affect your noise if you use the same air handler - but Im guessing your keeping the evap of the AC and replacing the rest? Any variable speed unit will do the trick. Our Trane(?) ramps up smoothly at a lower speed until extra heat is needed and then can ramp up to higher speeds (and the burner go to high). I don't think its ever required that. Smoothly ramps down afterwards. I understand they all do that now if they aren't bottom of the line. The unit is silent except for the air rushing though the return register cover (which I need to find a way to solve). W/o the return cover on, its nearly impossible to hear.

SMD

Good point. Its the air that makes the noise, that makes sense now that I think about it.
I have about 6 estimates schedule for the next two weeks (still calling for more), can anyone give me some inside info on the different brands and pricing.

Trane....

Its a DIY job *IF* you can find someone to sell one direct. (you had a teener so clearly you know how to use a wrench;) The A/C is the hard part. We had ours done all in one shot, but the furnace/air handler part pretty much pulled out and a new one the same height slid right back in. You might want a gas/plumber to come out and do the gas hookup (and possibly exhaust to stay within code). I would have done my whole system to avoid what seems like price fixing by the major brands but couldn't find anyone who'd sell it to me. I've since found out that electric contractor supply houses sell the brand name units.

I understand the only diff in furnaces is the air handler and efficiency. We had the choice of an 80% or a 90% (or something like that) but the price diff would have taken 15-20yrs for breakeven so we went w/ the lower eff. We upped the SEER of the A/C because breakeven was FAR faster (and I hate hot weather).

SMD

SMD

Just had a guy here and he quotoed me $3200 for a Armstrong 95% and $2200 for a Heil 91%

I can tell this is going to be fun trying to decide

We replaced ours several years ago and the price was about the same. We went with the 95% furnace, and it's helped with raising gas prices. The units themselves are all pretty much interchangable these days, the AC and ducting is the hard part.

If you're handy enough (it looks like you are), you might be able to do it yourself unless there's some strange building dept. restriction. You might try Lowe's or Home Depot as well.

The only thing I found is that with the high efficiency units, you might have to sleeve down your chimney, or like ours have it exit through PVC piping on the side of the house. Also, since there are many more relays and control boards for the different motors, the highest efficiency units may have more breakdowns.

Now you know why I stiff have carbs! Good Luck! George

George,

Thanks for the info. If was nice to meet you when you came up. Did the "boss" say no to another car??

That is one good thing about the 95% furnace he quoted me on. It had a 10 year parts and labor warranty.

Thats what I always heard. But I aint no HVAC pro.