Replacing two old gas furnaces

15 years ago

We recently bought a 1955 ranch house that we are now renovating. The house still has the original heating system which included separate natural gas furnaces for the upstairs (1600 sf including 2 additions that were done in 1985) and basement (1100sf). When we had the furnace company come to service the units and green sticker them (we are not living there yet), he discovered that the downstairs unit has a cracked heat exchanger and the upstairs unit is 40% efficient. They shut off the gas supply to the damaged unit and now we need to decide what to replace. The tech who came out said he couldn't give us a quote so we are having a few bids done, but I wanted some input so that I understand what I'm talking about with the furnace companies.

Is it possible or preferable to replace the two furnaces with one energy efficient natural gas furnace? Someone who looked at the furnaces said no because one is a downdraft and one is an updraft, but I'm not sure what that really means. The basement has floor vents if that makes a difference.

We're on a budget and would like to do this in the most cost effective way possible. Right now the basement is unfinished, but we are in the process of finishing the family room and will eventually add 2 bedrooms and a bathroom down there. I do see the benefit of being able to separately control the temp of the basement since we will be using it less, but I don't know if we can afford to replace both furnaces right now and it seems a shame install a brand new furnace for the basement and use a 50 year old one to heat the main level of the house!

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Comments (6)

tigerdunes
15 years ago
scout

what area of country do you live?

most likely, the basement will have a small heating and cooling load.

I would look into one system as well with zoning controls and separate thermostats for both floors. you need an expert though to determine feasibility. look into Carrier Infinity or Bryant Evolution that offers a complete integrated system with zoning controls.

Obviously, you do get some redundancy with two systems but that does come with a price.

IMO
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scoutfinch72
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks tigerdunes! I live in the mountain west area of the country. It's a very dry climate with a good amount of snow in the winters and hot dry summers. I'll check out the two systems you mentioned and we'll hopefully be having someone come in this week to give us a quote. It's just really helpful to have some knowledge going into this!

I should mention that the central air is much newer and working, but it looks like both of those are a combined heating and cooling system. Is it possible to just replace the heating right now?
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scoutfinch72
Original Author
15 years ago
Well quote #1 gave us a bit of sticker shock, but we are planning to get a few more. What I didn't like was that the quote he gave us wasn't for a specific model. It was just a package price (supposedly at a discount because we are neighbors) for the install of a system at either 80%, 90% or 95% with a variable speed furnace. He said they could get any brand of furnace but just kept saying that he would recommend one of four brands because they don't have welds in the piping to the heat exchanger. I only remember Amana and Coleman. I KNOW all of those models can't possibly be the same price. They do have excellent service and a lot of guarantees, but you really seem to pay a premium for that. They guarantee that someone will return your call within 1 hour and you'll never be without heat for more than 24 hours. Anyway, the kids started to lose it while dh and were talking to him so I had to leave, but essentially his quote for a single 80% efficient furnace (no cooling right now) was around $7000 including extending 2 ducts. That sounds outrageous to me.
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jgriff000
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
The heart of the issue with heating and cooling is, who do you trust as a contractor. What is their profit margin? Are their customers happy with their work and pricing. Some contractors seem openly honest and fair. With all the greed in businesses today, we are all at risk for bad work and distorted pricing.

Local contractors in my city roughly estimate $18,000 to replace two furnaces and install one AC while removing swamp coolers. There are many ways for that to be a scam. Who protects the customer? We are just opportunities for some shifty contractor to over charge! Carpe diem applies! It is very scary. JDG
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sktn77a
8 years ago
$7000 for an 80% furnace swapout ? I don't think your neighbor is doing you any favors! Get several more estimates.
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scoutfinch72
Original Author
8 years ago
LOL, this thread is from 2008. We did indeed get several more quotes and ended up replacing both furnaces for less than $5000. We had very reasonable gas bills while living there and I was glad that we decided to stick with 2 furnaces for that house.

We sold the house earlier this year, but I will say that we regretted the decision to replace the downdraft furnace with another downdraft, rather than running new ductwork in the basement ceiling. What we didn't know at the time is that the vents in the floor were clay and had worn away over time from the airflow across them. In many homes in our neighborhood they had collapsed completely. The new owners were aware of the problem, though, since they were moving from a home around the corner with the same issue.
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Replacing two old gas furnaces

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Replacing two old gas furnaces

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