Anyone Replace A Gas Furnace Lately

[lizbud]

Woke up today to no heat. It's freezing outside & 50 degrees inside.

Furnace guy was just here and got it working again, but it's on it's last
legs. Furnace is over 13 yrs old. I've set up an appointment to talk
to a sales person about choosing a new furnace & I have no idea how
much they cost. When they refuse to discuss the cost of a new unit,
you just know it's going to be expensive All I need is just a ball park
figure. Anyone replace a gas furnace lately? Have any idea?

[kuhio98]

We had to replace the gas-fired boiler (for a hot water system) in the house we just bought. It was original to the house (built in 1981)! It cost just around $6,000.

If you have forced-air, it would probably be cheaper.

[Freedom]

When I bought this house 5 years ago, it had the "original" gas furnace. The house was built in 1964. A 30 year old furnace???? Yup, it sure did look like it, too, lol.

We got one through Sears. But we got a whole system: new furnace, central air, and accessory whole house humidifier. New electronic temperature control thermostat. THAT whole thing ran about $6000, 5 years back. WORTH EVERY PENNY!!!!

You can get the gas furnace through Home Depot as well, I believe.

Make sure you have the City Inspector view and sign off on the installation; we don't want to be reading about you and family dying from faulty installation which leads to carbon monoxide build up in the home! Just had a family of 3 die of that here in Providence, RI, 2 weeks back. So sad.

And be sure to put new batteries in your carbon monoxide detector right after the install is completed, just in case. (If you don't have one, GET ONE!!!) Heck put in new batteries today!

As it IS working (all be it not too well) take some time and get 3 estimates. Talking with different companies you learn SO much! And things have changed since you put that one in 13 years back.

Also check with your gas company. Most offer a rebate if you select an Energy Star rated unit. Not all of them are efficient. If I remember, we had a choice from Sears, you know the "Good Better Best" type of thing. Only the BEST qualified for the rebate. The "GOOD" one is only 80% efficient, and you will definitely lose the savings in yearly heating costs over the life of the unit. You should be able to find a rebate program from you gas company on line if they have one. Check their web site!

[Karen]

Do check right away with your Gas company. We had an ad in yesterday's paper offering something like a $400 coupon for a new gas furnace - from Nstar, our gas provider! Thankfully, our is running nicely. And all of you with your "old" furnaces from 1981, 1964 ... Ha!

When we bought this house, the furnace in it was, by Dad's guess, original to the house. It was certainly a coal-burner, converted over to an oil-burner. Our house was built in or around ........ 1890!

By the way, it is still in the basement, rolled over to the side. It is too big to fit through the cellar door, and too heavily built cast iron to be "broken up" for removal. The people who replaced it went through three diamond-edged blades just to cut it off from the pipe - then had to send one guy out to buy more blades. They had quite literally never seen anything quite like it. It, by the way, worked, until we helped Bertha move into a nursing home. I think that once it realized she was not coming back, it waited until bitter cold set in, then I had to go over every day, before we even owned the house, to go down to the basement and hit the reset switch so the pipes wouldn't freeze.

[Rachel]

One of our friends just replaced his gas furnace and it was over $5,161. That was supposedly with a 10% discount because he took our a one year *service plan* for $250.00. He has a three bedroom ranch house which probably is around 1800 sq. ft. or a little more.

I'd be inclined to deal with a local HVAC company. Can you get some referrals from your neighbors on who they have used. Get more than one bid.

[lizbud]

One of our friends just replaced his gas furnace and it was over $5,161. That was supposedly with a 10% discount because he took our a one year *service plan* for $250.00. He has a three bedroom ranch house which probably is around 1800 sq. ft. or a little more.

I'd be inclined to deal with a local HVAC company. Can you get some referrals from your neighbors on who they have used. Get more than one bid.

Thanks Rachel. This is what I was hoping for, an exact figure. My house
is only 2 bedroom & full basement and the lot & house are on the small side.
I know prices differ according to house size as well as brands, etc.

I was imagining myself passing out with the mention of a 10,000 price.

[Freedom]

I'd be inclined to deal with a local HVAC company. Can you get some referrals from your neighbors on who they have used. Get more than one bid.

Just be sure your warranty is from the manufacturer. The loval HVAC xompany that did our install, through Sears, was a family business, around for 2 generations. He died, none of his kids were interested, and the company is gone now. Fortunately it doesn't matter to us in terms of our system, it is all through Sears.

Yeah, definitely get multiple bids.

[lizbud]

Just be sure your warranty is from the manufacturer. The loval HVAC xompany that did our install, through Sears, was a family business, around for 2 generations. He died, none of his kids were interested, and the company is gone now. Fortunately it doesn't matter to us in terms of our system, it is all through Sears.

Yeah, definitely get multiple bids.

I would love to get lots of estimates but, I don't thing I'll have that luxury.
The furnace quit again. Service guy is on the way back over. It's
gonna be a long night.

[gini]

When my original (1913) gravity furnace was destroyed when I had the flood in my basement - the insurance companies furnace man gave me a bid that was right out of this world. The insurance company used his figures as the basis on which to pay my claim.

It turned out to be a true god-send, because I had all asbestos duct work which had to be removed by a special team with a permit. The insurance company had a bid of $3,000.00 to do that. It cost me $800.00 including the permit.

All new duct work throughout the house - a newly created vent in a small back bedroom - the furnace and airconditioning unit cost $9,600.00 including the removal of the asbestos duct work.

I thought it was a lot of money - but compared to what the insurance company estimated it would cost - it was a bargain and I had enough to add the new electrical for the airconditioning.

I considered myself very fortunate when it was all said and done.

I hope your man can get your furnace back on for you tonight!

[Twisterdog]

I'm not sure exactly how old my furnace is, but it's avacado green, so that tells me "made in the 70's". Remember those lovely "earth tones" of the 70's, fellow oldsters? Appliances, shag carpet, dishes ... all in "harvest gold", "avocado" or the lovely "coppertone".

So I'm sure it's 30ish years old, and still going strong. Thankfully.

My friend just got a new furnace/central air, and it was around $6000 too. Seems to be the norm.

[Logan]

Liz, ours pooped out in the fall of last year. It was a gas pac (gas heat, electric air). I think it was close to 20 years old and was not worth repairing. We heat the downstairs with that (approximately 1700 sq ft) and it was $3500 to replace it. We got a Goodman.

Good luck! Hope you can be warm soon!

Logan

[smokey the elder]

I don't have gas, I have oil, but I have an Energy Kinetics System 2000 that I paid 5K installed with hot water inline 6 years ago. EK systems are also made in gas burning varieties. They are expensive, but they are also overbuilt and will last a long time.

Here's their web site: http://www.energykinetics.com/s2000.html

[Freedom]

Lizbud hasn't posted today yet. Wonder if hey froze overnight, or moved out to a friend's, relative or hotel?

[lizbud]

Lizbud hasn't posted today yet. Wonder if hey froze overnight, or moved out to a friend's, relative or hotel?

Still no heat but, I decided to bite the bullet and buy a new unit. They
will install it tomorrow. On reinspection, my furnace is 15 (1993) instead
of 13 yrs old, so a new unit is the better way to go.

The cost does seem pretty reasonable considering. After discounts for
Senior citizen, service maintanence agreement and a sales coupon,
total price is 3,500. I can't wait. Do you know how hard it is to type
with frozen fingers?

p.s. Service guy just droppd off 2 space heaters to use till they come
back tomorrow with the new furnace. Thanks everyone for the help
and concern.

[caseysmom]

I was going to suggest space heaters also, I just couldn't get warm the other night even with the heat blasting so I turned one of those on.