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Ugh, Replacing A Furnace - Any Advice?

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  • #1

    Ugh, Replacing A Furnace - Any Advice?

    My furnace officially croaked this week (1971 - 2012. RIP) Cracked cell - it's dead, Jim. The repair guys wouldn't touch it.

    So I've got a guy coming out today to do an estimate for a replacement. I'm a complete retard when it comes to home repair stuff. I guess I'll let him lay out the options, then I'll go Google around and see which one best suits my needs. I'm not all that sure what I should even be asking this guy, so I thought I'd check in here and see if you guys have any wisdom you'd like to share about this process. If so, let it rip.

    Thanks!
    "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less."
    "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."
    "The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master - that's all."
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  • #2
    Get at least 5 estimates. Not sure if it's like this everywhere, but there are tons of scammers in this market. Our Heater/AC was intermittently not turning on due to some issue with the starter. We also have a mini-split as they added two rooms to the house, including our bedroom. That wasn't working at all, and we were told this was shot as well. I had 3 different people tell me we had to replace the entire system, with estimates ranging from 5-8K. ARS, the kings of scam/scum, actually used the fear technique telling me that I was putting my baby at risk for carbon monoxide poisoning (seriously). One of them came recommended from a friend. Thankfully that guy was a flake and blew me off 2x so I kept asking around. Another friend's guy recommended some dinky little outfit that has no web presence so I couldn't find a single review of them. They came by, spent a couple hours figuring it out and fixed it for $400. The mini-split simply needed freon! A couple weeks later, the mini-split again stopped blowing cold air because there was a leak. I was sort of pissed that these guys didn't check for leaks to begin with but they ended up only charging me $200 more for the repair and freon. So, even though they probably ripped me off a bit for the lost freon, they ultimately saved me thousands of dollars. Been a month and no more issues.

    When it was finally fixed, I was of course pleased that we didn't have to spend thousands replacing the system, but at the same time I found myself in a very bad mood as I reflected on how many a$$holes tried to rip us off.

    Ask your friends to hopefully find an honest one but even then don't assume they will have your best interests in mind.
    If DMT didn't exist we would have to invent it. There has to be a weirdest thing. Once we have the concept weird, there has to be a weirdest thing. And DMT is simply it.
    - Terence McKenna

    Bullshit is everywhere. - George Carlin (& Jon Stewart)

    How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are? - Satchel Paige

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    • #3
      Don't be letting them wander off with your old boiler (boiler = furnace right?) ... depending on the size the scrap value can be high (and very old ones can be huge). A friend was renovating a house he bought last year for rental. He removed an old copper and steal tank and piping. The scrap cost basically paid for the whole renovation of the top floor.

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      • #4
        what kind of heat did you have? Oil, gas?

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        • #5
          Gas it is.

          No worries about scammers. I'm dealing with someone very reputable. He made no attempt to upsell me; in fact, he was very straightforward about telling me the minumum specs I needed for the size and layout of my house.

          Due to the layout of my ducts and vents, it looks like I can't go for a super efficiency or premium efficiency furnace without incurring a lot of extra labor expense for the duct rework. But I am going to go with the high efficieny model over the standard efficiency one. Two-stage heating, variable speed fan motor.

          Unfortunately, most rebates for the models in my range expired in 2011. Bummer.

          Thanks, everybody!
          "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less."
          "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."
          "The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master - that's all."

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