Posted: 11/12/2008 10:48:27 AM EDT
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Our furnace has been acting up lately so we had a service tech come out and take a look at it. Apparently the gas valve is bad and causing too much gas to flow into the burner which is causing the furnace to blow out and not light after a few tried the furnace finally light but with too much gas the burner is starting to burn through the heat exchanger. Since this has been going on for a while the heat exchanger is almost shot.
The HVAC company quoted us $1600 for a replacement 90,000 Btu @ 80% efficiency Goodman furnace. With the new furnace all duct work will stay the same with some minor changes. According to the tech it should pretty much slide right in. Is this a fair price? What's the going rate for a replacement these days? Is Goodman a decent brand or should we look elsewhere? |
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Quoted:
How is the heat exchanger "almost" shot? It' either has holes/breaches in it or it still 100% sealed, right? The burner is starting to burn through the heat exchanger. It hasn't breached the walls yet but it is getting close. The metal between the heat exchanger tubes burning through you can see it glow and spark off as the flame hits it. |
| Sounds like a Service Tech that gets paid a commission to me. If the gas valve is over-firing they have adjustable gas pressure regulators built into most all gas control valves, and can be adjusted to the correct level..... even then IF it can't be adjusted a replacement gas valve would be in the $50-$75 range for replacement with an hour or 2 at the most labor to change it out. Goodman is an equivalent to a "Yugo" in the HVAC industry compared to Carrier, Trane, Bryant, Lennox etc.... Also like mentioned if the heat exhanger has NO holes or cracks it's still good. "Bad Heat Exchange" is THE most over used diagnosis for Companies wanting to sell new furnaces..... almost as bad as a "bad compressor" when they condemn an A/C unit in order to sell new condensing units. I've been in the HVAC/R business 30 years and I've heard them all. |
| Well I think that you may be correct on the bad service tech. But I think rather that replacing the valve I still think it's time for a new furnace. What are your opinions of Trane? I'm looking at going with a 80% 2 stage variable. The price another company quoted me is right about $2600. |
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I agree with JETWC on the diagnosis. However, $1600.00 is a good price to install a new furnace.
Goodman's quality has come a long way in the last few years. I have been in the HVAC/R business since 1966 and I put Goodman in my own home 3 years ago. I have installed a lot of Goodman equipment, with no problems. The quality of a system has more to do with the installation quality than with brand name. Make sure your installer is licensed and get references. Make sure they permit and have the work inspected by the city mechanical inspectors. |