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Heating & Air Conditioning

One Stage vs Two Stage Furnance

17 years ago

We have a 2400 sq ft 2-story home in Huntington Beach, CA. We need to replace our 30-year old furnance asap. We're thinking of buying an American Standard Freedom 80 with an AccuClean air filtration system. We don't know if we should buy a single-stage or a 2-stage furnace. Has anyone installed either "a single stage furnace with the AccuClean system or a two-stage one wirh AccuClean system in the last 1-3 years? What're the pros & cons of such systems?

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Comments (3)

tigerdunes
17 years ago
dj

I realize your winters are mild but keep in mind with an 80% AFUE gas furnace, you are throwing away $20 for every $100 of nat gas consumed. Nat gas is no longer a value fuel for winter heating due to supply/demand issues, energy speculators, and possible market manipulation. I would look into a var speed 90%+ AFUE 2 stg model especially if you expect to be in this home for yrs to come. I assume a HE heat pump system is out of the question due to Ca's outrageous electric rates.

The AccuClean(same as Trane's CleanEffects) is supposed to be one of the most effective whole house air cleaners on the market. It is pricey and does produce a minute amt of ozone. Unless there are specific health issues to the occupants of your home, you might consider a good 4-5" media cabinet like Honeywell,AirBear,or AprilAire which are considerably less expensive. AmStd makes a good media cabinet that fits the furnace cabinet but replacement filters are also on the pricey side.

BTW, AmStd make very reliable furnaces but Carrier/Bryant's Infinity/Evolution models blow the competition away with their sophisticated controls.

IMO

Here is a link that might be useful: AccuClean
jcthorne
17 years ago
I cannot answer for the AccuClean but we do have the 2 stage Am Std furnace with variable speed blower, 80% AFUE. At our gas rate and heating deg. days here in Houston, the upgrade to 90+ eff unit was a 20+ year payback so not at all effective.

The 2 stage and variable speed system on the other hand are all about comfort. The system maintains a much more steady temperature and one never really notices the heat cycling on and off with its temp swings. It just stays at an even comfortable temp. We would do it again for the quiet comfort alone. We also went with the 2 stage ultra high efficiency AC side as that efficiency could easliy be justified in this climate.
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"The biggest cost in operating a furnace is the electricity that a fan uses. " I think your math is waay off. Read Mike's description above for what a multistage system offers. He prefers them, I personally don't but i also don't live in a humid summer climate. If I did, I might share his view. Here's an example for the money calculation. - My furnace's blower seems to be between 500-600 watts. Let's be generous and round it up to 1000 watts. Operating for one hour would be 1 kilowatt hour, which at my top tiered rate is 30 cents. Remember we rounded up. And in most parts of the US, this number averages about 15 cents and can be much less. My furnace is 120K btu/hr, input. Let's round that DOWN to 100K btu/hr. At the top tier, I pay over $1.50 per therm (which is 100 btus) but lets round that down too to $1.20. Operating my furnace for one hour costs $1.20 for gas, 30 cents for electricity. The real electricity number is less because I rounded up, and the real gas number is more because i rounded down. Did I get something wrong?
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I realize this is single stage vs. two stage thread. My goal in stating what I stated was to show there is a realm above 2 stage, more or less as well as to show there are differences from one manufacturer from another. It wasn't my purpose to hijack a thread. There are those out there that say 2 speed equipment is unnecessary... so why would manufacturers make 5 stage equipment and variable speed equipment on top of an already unnecessary system? Many times in the field I've heard of people saying 'I don't want to gold plate anything'. Part of my response was geared to show that 2 stage systems these days are middle tier systems. People change homes so much: yes, this is why my job can be really challenging. Many times it's not replacing a whole system (which would be required to go to a 2 stage machine... in most cases*). Many times my job involves retro fit decisions. Replacing one or two pieces of an older system. In situations like that it's more about repairing the existing system and give a homeowner a solution they want. If I find out a home owner is only planning to stay in the home a few short years I rarely if ever even offer the 2 stage equipment. 2 Stage equipment is for those of you looking to stay in the home for at least a decade or longer. HVAC is not a one size fits all market. I am more likely to repair an existing system in some fashion than to replace. But replacement in some cases is the better option regardless of how long you plan to live in the home. If you live in my climate (Katy, Texas), you will have a tough time to sell a home without a functioning AC system.
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bob_brown
17 years ago
I lived in Houston for many years. January is normally cool. It even snowed in North Houston one year, once in 25 years. You will never justify the expense of a 90+furnace. Houston needs extreem cooling, so unless the AC system is oversized the variable speed will not help much. Himidity in the summer is very bad. Walking from the house to the car usually produced a sweat. I was very physically active at the time.

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