Looking For New Furnace

[ddoyle]

Okay everyone I need to get a new furnace ours is old and the motor sounds like a jet taking off!

Here is what I have:
Amana
Carrier
York
LuxAire

Looking at doing two stage....not modulated. Seems to me I don't need modulated (not that big of a house) and more things to go wrong?

My current guy who is bidding and we like has never really spoken about the humidifier...now guys are saying I need to change the pad every season? Also, people asked does our humidifier works...not sure? It is as old as the furnace should I replace that also?

Thanks in advance to everyone!

[rinker]

I would recommend a unit from tritronics.

[ddoyle]

I would recommend a unit from tritronics.

If only they made furnaces!

Any one else have helpful hints?

[Sharon]

Definately have to clean our furnace humidifier pad (CLR), more than once a year - maybe 3 times a year. The pad clogs up with calcium and shuts off the rotation .

[larue]

hvac/r is what I do.A quick review of furnaces.The high end modulating furnace run around 97 % efficient,over the standard 92 % single stage ,so a 5 % gain is what you are looking at in gas usage.A two stage will approach the 97% in low fire.
The blower motor in a modulating furnace will save you electricity vs a standard furnace.
So you can do the math,look at your gas usage and the cost of the high end furnace usually 1500 more,and look at what you will save.The other things to factor in is if you are going to mate the furnace with very hi end ac,or if noise is an issue,as the ecm motors are very quiet,so if you r furnace is upstairs this would be quieter.
Also buy the 10 year warranty as ecm parts are very expensive.
they other question to ask is how does your house heat? if you have cold rooms far from the furnace a two speed or variable speed furnace will make that situation worse as at part speed,you will be moving less air also.
I would not buy a humidifier for my furnace unless you really needed one,as they are a lot of maintenance,I would put a spaceguard filter on the furnace.
The other issue is if you are on lp I would hesitate to use anything but a standard furnace as we have had a lot of plugged heat xchangers on two stage furnaces on lp.
Carrier has recently changed there entire line of furnaces,they are now making icp products,the new furnaces are easier to service but they have not been out long enough for me to tell you how they hold up .
I myself have a single stage payne furnace in my house.Payne is the plain jane carrier line.The only difference is the paint and the insulation in the blower cabinet( which you remove half of when you install the furnace)
just some info from a service guy.

[ddoyle]

larue,

Thank you!!!! That is exactly the information I was looking for and hoping to get.....I work in the healthcare field so this is something I research only when I need a new one and speak with salesman (nothing against salesman as I am one) but wanted to make sure I got full info. Most reps have suggested the middle line as they suggested the saving wouldn't be that much and the extra parts that could break. The ones who have referenced the humidifier just said the new ones are much easier to change pads in....

Thanks again larue!

[ddoyle]

Anyone else?

[ibbowhunting]

two stage furnaces work nice the company i work for installs alot of two stage furnaces,i also installed a 2 stage in my home with a variable speed blower(really nice for running your fan all the time or run the fan while running accessory such as a humidifer, super quiet when run on low speed) get a true steam humidifer made by honeywell there is no pad just a simple cleaning once in awhile, they input steam in the duct work not just water running over a pad like the old days of humidiers, fyi make sure if your get a two stage furnace that the tsat controls the second stage, not just by use a timer in the furnace i see no bonus of have a two stage furnace and running the second stage on time instead of tempature drop, most furnace installs will require more tsat wires to run the second stage not a big deal most of the time, i would pick anyone of the top three you listed

i have over ten years in the plumbing and heating field, just my two cents