I been at this house since February 1990. About 3 years into our ownership, the house furnace broke down/ leaking combustion chamber and needed a new one. I got several quotes and prices where crazy until one guy said, I have a York Furnace for X price because the customer cancel the installation.
This York 100000 BTU was 80% efficient and close to been a lemon had several problems over the years. One factor that I did not consider was that the laundry is nearby and possibly the fumes from all the detergents could have caused some of the problems.
This furnace got replace w/ 70,000 BTU, 90% efficiency in 2005. After the installation, I kept track of the run on and off times and it was still too big. Run times where only
about 5 minutes on. We change the orifice on the burners to the smaller size and change to a thermostat that I could control the furnace run times 3 per hour.
These changes gave me a 12 run time and 12 off time at -9F this morning. The furnace still too big but what factors or choices do we have where the weather can be this extreme in some cases. Last time when cold vortex, the run times where 20 min on and 3 min off.
1. Furnace should be a 2 stage preferably one where stages are 10,000 BTU difference or more
2. Under size the furnace and provide some back up heat during extremes
3. Run a blower door test to get an actual leakage number for the house: This number is needed on J-calculation for furnace size
4. Rheem has the Cadillac in the industry w/ a 100% variable gas valve that uses sensors: Outside temp, return temp, supply temp and adjusts the gas valve based on need.
These are just my personal observation.
This York 100000 BTU was 80% efficient and close to been a lemon had several problems over the years. One factor that I did not consider was that the laundry is nearby and possibly the fumes from all the detergents could have caused some of the problems.
This furnace got replace w/ 70,000 BTU, 90% efficiency in 2005. After the installation, I kept track of the run on and off times and it was still too big. Run times where only
about 5 minutes on. We change the orifice on the burners to the smaller size and change to a thermostat that I could control the furnace run times 3 per hour.
These changes gave me a 12 run time and 12 off time at -9F this morning. The furnace still too big but what factors or choices do we have where the weather can be this extreme in some cases. Last time when cold vortex, the run times where 20 min on and 3 min off.
1. Furnace should be a 2 stage preferably one where stages are 10,000 BTU difference or more
2. Under size the furnace and provide some back up heat during extremes
3. Run a blower door test to get an actual leakage number for the house: This number is needed on J-calculation for furnace size
4. Rheem has the Cadillac in the industry w/ a 100% variable gas valve that uses sensors: Outside temp, return temp, supply temp and adjusts the gas valve based on need.
These are just my personal observation.