Furnaces

We are shopping around for a new High Efficiency Forced Air Gas furnace in the 70-80,000 BTU range for the 1440ft^2 house. It needs to be done fairly quickly like installed by the end of next week and we already had an offer for $1800US installed (a quick conversion). It's 69,000BTU 93% model. Is that a good price or can I get something something even cheaper?

That sounds like a good price to me. two years ago I replaced My old gas furnace and converted with a central A/C unit the Furnace part is about 100,000 BTU with a variable speed motor and two stage heating element (Carrier), my house is 1800 sq ft and it cost me almost 3 Grand and it was an 85% efficiency rig. I believe if I had gone with a basic furnace without the two stage and variable speed and simpler thermostat it would have been right at 2 grand installed.

Thanks. As I am not the only person shelling out the dough for it, I had to confirm even though it seemed right based on the prices of the furnaces, kits and hourly rates that HVAC techies are charging. I was going to get another quote but the guy never showed up, so tough luck for him.

Ilija,
Always get more than one quote. On roofing jobs, I've seen variations on the order of 50% for the total with everybody using similar materials. The heating units should be about the same price for the same brand and output. The labor will vary by area.

Rick

Rick, thanks for the suggestion. In this case I believe the guy is offering me a fair price, because the furnace itself would retail for about 1000. When you tack on the conversion factor to $CDN and tax, you get to about $1300. The $90-100 rate for house calls isn't too bad for Toronto. When you tack on the material costs and the fact that at least 2 guys are needed for this job, the $2000 figure falls in the right ballpark. However, I'll see if the guy will throw in a duct cleaning and a new humidifier to make me one happy, returning and recommending customer.

The 75,000 btu/hr rate is correct for the size house you have. I haven't checked pricing on that size and efficiency this year. Last year they would wholesale for about $750 to $850 USD depending on manufacturer. The $1800 price is not too bad considering some profit has to be made, new ducting (probably just plenum and return air boot), two men , and misc. materials.

Make sure that the install crew sets the proper temperature rise. There is a sticker on the inside of the furnace that will give the temp. rise range (generally around 45 to 75 deg F). I prefer to set them up to be in the top half of the temp rise range. This is done by adjusting the air flow speed (fan speed). This is very important as an improper temp rise can lead to premature heat exchanger failure.

Hope that helps.

Ray

P.S. The first couple times the furnace is fired it may smoke a little and smell. This is due to the oils being burned off the heat exchanger. It's nothing to be concerned about.

Thanks Ray. I can't wait for the guy to come in tomorrow and I've got a tax refund cheque that will cover it and still leave me with a bit of cash. :D