NEW GAS FURNACE

frank_f15 · Oct 6, 2002

need to get a new gas furnace. the two contractors i have narrowed it to, 1 handel COMFORTMAKER 2 STAGE BURNER, and the othe uses janitrol furnaces. DO ANY OF YOU TBNR'S have any experience with either namebrand? any input greatly appreciated.

beenthere · Oct 6, 2002

How did you narrow it to these two, and what kinds did you rule out? I couldn't find anything out about the handel comfortmaker, and have no great length of experience with the Janitrol. I have had Amana and Weil-McLain, and they have been very good.
Hope you find someone who has experience with the two you have it narrowed down to (in time for the heating season).

chim · Oct 6, 2002

I'm not familiar with either of those brands, but can offer a comment on the type - not necessarily the brand - I'd look for. I have an LP gas furnace now (natural gas lines don't pass by here), and we had a natural gas furnace at the last house. Both are upflow.

The old one was a 1972 model Rheem. It was the standard for that era - half the heat went up the chimney.

Our "new" house (1989) has a Heil. Natural gas was my first choice, just so we wouldn't need to have a tank and get deliveries. NG also produces more heat. Furnaces that can use both have a higher BTUH rating when used with NG.

Our old house was 1,100sf, and the new one is 2,700sf. Both furnaces are rated at 100,000BTUH output. On the coldest nights when the wind is howling, the Heil handles the 2,700sf better than the Rheem did the 1,100sf. The difference is the efficiency. Rheem likely has a much better furnace now. I'm not comparing brands, but rather technologies. The Heil is a high efficiency "condensing" furnace. It has two heat exchangers - one like the old Rheem, and a secondary heat exchanger that extracts more heat from the combustion gasses before power-venting them to the outside. The efficiency is in the mid-90%'s. The metal stack on the old furnace got very hot, whereas the Heil uses a 2" PVC stack that only gets warm. Our gun club has two of these new furnaces, and a friend has one in his house. All have performed quite well. A/C install is a snap.............chim

ScottAR · Oct 6, 2002

My uncle is a HVAC contractor and he buys Janitrols and Goodmans. He has always spoken well of them. FWIW.

heehaw · Oct 7, 2002

i put in a new goodman in my daughters house last year, it has done well, the main reason for the choice, no proprioitary parts...
heehaw

BXmark · Oct 7, 2002

Janitrol furnaces are made up of off-the-shelf parts from a host of other manufacturers. Although, now days that is how even the name brand manufacturers put together their furnaces. The one good thing about Janitrol is the long warrantee-- 5 years vs. 2 or 3 for the other brands. Also the price is considerably less. I have a Janitrol and no problems in 2 years.

Wingnut · Oct 7, 2002

Chim,
are you sure about the LPG being lower in btu's than NG? I've never thought about it, but I was looking at the specs of standby generators yesterday and noted (I was surprised, so I read them all) that the power produced by all 3 units was greater on LPG than by NG.

pete

beenthere · Oct 7, 2002

pete
I think you are right. That is why one has to use a smaller orifice when switching a NG burner to an LP burner, so the LP doesn't burn the thing up. Something about more BTU's per unit from the LP than NG.

Now I guess that doesn't mean that a smaller LP burner is not installed in a furnace, as compared to a NG burner in the same furnace, such that the total output BTU's from the LP furnace are less than the NG.

frank_f15 · Oct 7, 2002

MY QUESTIONS PERTAINED TO THOSE 2 BECAUSE THEY ARE THE ONES THAT THE (oops) contractors were acceptalbel to me. only ruled out the otheres because the cost for basicly the same furnace(diff. brand) was way high or i just did not have a comfortable feeling about the contractor. if i am not mistaken AMMANA IS made by th same manufacture as JANITROL ( GOODMAN MANUFACTURING)