Speaking of furnaces

We have the feeling our 30+yr old furnace/ac units are about to the end of their string and have been doing some shopping. Our old furnace is rated 100k btu on nat gas. Granted, the new ones are at least 97% efficient and the old is probably in the 80% range. These guys are bidding a 60k. I’m guessing they’re bidding for price and not for what we actually need. Anybody out there have any advice what I need for a 2600sf house? This is figuring both up and downstairs. If anybody has a favorite contractor, I’d appreciate that too. Thanks- -jerr

Could be about right, check with some other contractors. I went from a 80K to 60K in a 2230sqft house, house measured for 46K. I thought they were nuts. Checked with a couple others and got same story. It works, house is warmer and gas bill is a little cheaper. How many % cheaper I can’t say for sure but hearing what some other folks had for gas bills this winter, I’ll keep my bill.

Not sure what you need, if its just a furnace or not, Scott H. is a great guy and does great work. his number is 612-328-3077, he will treat you right.
good luck with your project!!!

Sizing a furnace properly will ensure your maximum efficiency, for the footage you have 100 seems steep. A lot of people think bigger is better cause you have the ability to do more but that theory doesn’t hold true for your residential furnace.

Call Ryan Mechanical in Red Wing and ask for Jake, he will take care of you.

Whichever way you go I would get two stage. More consistent temp and lower bills.

Check out K&S in Rochester. Great guys and the owners are friends. They do work all over SE Mn and into Twin Cities.

K&S Website link

Other friends have used them and like their quality, services and prices/value.

I’m in the same boat as you, although Central Air is 36yo, Furnace 17yo (Replaced when we bought the home). I need to have a Electronic Air filtration system included as FW has Asthma & Allergies.

Our utility company has an energy services dept. that will come out and let you know what size you need. They also may have incentives for more efficient furnace and air conditioners. You might check with you natural gas provider to see if they have a service like this. Ours if a free service so that makes it all the better.

Besides the two stage, also check into the ECM fan motor, much more efficient with running the blower continuously.

Just get a Big Buddy.

Oh, I thought this was a post about wives. Never mind.

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Oh, I thought this was a post about wives. Never mind.

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You may find that they are sizing furnaces based on hard data or load calculations the old SWAG of x number of sq ft = xxxxxx Btu is out . Many utilities require load calc for rebates. My house has a 2 stage Trane it rarely fires 2nd stage or goes to high fire. Its hard to stop a Trane

When going from standard to high efficiency furnaces the btu rating will change. You see when it comes to rating furnaces you rated them on the output of the furnaces which is actually how much btus you getting out of it. For example you you have a 100000 BTU Input standard efficiency furnace you will get 80000 out of it. In high efficiency furnaces if you go with a furnace that’s 80000 output you will only need 85000 input. You use less energy to run it.

A forum member here on IDO installs furnaces and he did an excellent job in January installing a new furnace in my mother-in-law’s place.

He was fast, efficient, and the price was MUCH lower than any of the 3 bids she’d gotten from the big HVAC companies. He showed up with a new unit and 2 hours later he was gone and the new one was humming away. Fastest tin snips in the west. Highly recommended.

PM me for details and a phone number.

Regarding the efficiency level, my understanding is that going from an 80% or less to a higher efficiency level, you often have to replace the venting. This adds to the cost, obviously. How much depends entirely on the details of your install. In my MIL’s place, it was cost prohibitive, but your mileage may vary.

Grouse

Sheesh, has this ever been a he77 of a learning experience. Not saying it’s bad, but the people we’re dealing with are so full of GOOD info a guy can come away with a headache after just one meeting- – -we’ve been talking with 2 guys a day, and 2 to go. Fer sure a 2 Crown (maybe even 3) nite. jerr

Can’t go wrong with the Crown