Furnace and water heater recommendations

Talked to the water heater people today (Enercare) and it's going to cost around $950 (+tax) to buy out the water heater! It's a 2011 model so already over 4+ years old. That's the only way to get out of that rental contract. As for the furnace, we can get out two ways; either we buy the existing furnace that we are renting from them (Reliance) at $3500 plus tax, or pay an admin fee (around $100+) and have it removed at our cost and then buy our own furnace. The existing rental furnace is a Ducane that was installed in 2013, so pretty new... The sticker says it is a 95% efficiency but I don't know if it's a single or dual stage... hard to locate the serial #.

So if I go brand new on just the furnace I will dish out somewhere around $4000 installed (no clue how much it would cost to remove the existing furnace). But then I have new furnace for a little more than buying out their Ducane that is going on 3 years. The water heater obvioulsly makes no sense to buy right now. Paying $1000 to then buy a new one would be pointless. I'm better off just dishing out $30/month for the WH rental for now. Question is, how long do WH last on average?

What would you do? I'm leaning towards exiting the furnace contract then installing a good high efficiency furnace and just stick with the WH rental.

Never heard of ducane... although image search looks like a goodman.. with is a common lower end furnace... (although still good) past way too tell if it is a 2 state is let the furnace run a bit... I have a single stage thermostat 2 stage furnace.. so stage 1 (low) runs for 5 minutes... than Ramps up if more heat is required... I wouldn't pay to remove... and than by a new one...

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Originally Posted by topher

Never heard of ducane... although image search looks like a goodman.. with is a common lower end furnace... (although still good) past way too tell if it is a 2 state is let the furnace run a bit... I have a single stage thermostat 2 stage furnace.. so stage 1 (low) runs for 5 minutes... than Ramps up if more heat is required... I wouldn't pay to remove... and than by a new one...

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No, thinking of buying the rental furnace... that is the option. It definitely wouldn't make sense to buy the rental at $3500+ then replace for another $3,500+

If it last me another 10-12 years, which it should (it was installed in 2013), then it makes some sense, I suppose.

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Originally Posted by Splaker

No, thinking of buying the rental furnace... that is the option. It definitely wouldn't make sense to buy the rental at $3500+ then replace for another $3,500+

If it last me another 10-12 years, which it should (it was installed in 2013), then it makes some sense, I suppose.

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possibly. .. depends what the rental per month is and how long the contract is?

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Originally Posted by Splaker

No, thinking of buying the rental furnace... that is the option. It definitely wouldn't make sense to buy the rental at $3500+ then replace for another $3,500+

If it last me another 10-12 years, which it should (it was installed in 2013), then it makes some sense, I suppose.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by topher

possibly. .. depends what the rental per month is and how long the contract is?



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$67 per month (tax in). Length is 10 years, I believe.. that's at least another 85 months or so... or about $5,700. It could last another 120 months, maybe more. My parents had their furnace for 20 years with some servicing along the way.

ya buy it off

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I am nearly 100% sure that this is the model i am currently renting...

http://www.ducanehvac.com/products/gas-furnaces/95g2v/

It appears to be a variable speed, two-stage.. which is what I want.

Funny how Reliance tries their best to convince you to stay...

anyone familiar with Ducanes? Is it built by Lennox?

After Jan 25, the buyout price goes from $3800 to $3325! Guess this is a no-brainer! As long as it's not a junk model. If I get another 10 years out of it, I'll be content.

Tankless hot water save more money if your usage is higher no doubt. They only have a delta T of 80 F meaning the output will be 80F above the input water temperature therefore the maximum temperature can vary. The lower temp. usually isn't a problem, but people shouldn't be turning down the temperature of their hot water tanks below 140F/60C which is required by the plumbing code. If you lower the temp on a storage tank, it can promote bacterial growth(ie. Legionella). Hospitals use demand HWHs only, to prevent Legionella. I've been looking at installing one at the cottage as we have an old electric hot water heater and electricity is more expensive there. We have a gas water heater at home and have had controls components replaced at least twice on a tank about 12 years old. This seems to be common.
As far as changing venting, that should only be required if you have ABS pipe and fittings. TSSA changed it to CPVC a few years ago.

If you are adding gas appliances, your existing gas load needs to be checked as that will be what your PRV is set up for. Often it only requires a spring/orifice change, but it should be looked at.

We have Reliance change our AC unit last year and were happy with their work.

Roe+

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Splaker

I am nearly 100% sure that this is the model i am currently renting...

http://www.ducanehvac.com/products/gas-furnaces/95g2v/

It appears to be a variable speed, two-stage.. which is what I want.

Funny how Reliance tries their best to convince you to stay...

anyone familiar with Ducanes? Is it built by Lennox?

After Jan 25, the buyout price goes from $3800 to $3325! Guess this is a no-brainer! As long as it's not a junk model. If I get another 10 years out of it, I'll be content.

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Find out who builds it. It was Lennox (I think) that have trouble with heat exchangers rusting out and a subsequent recall. My furnace is a Heil, so I figured I was fine. This fall the guy who services my furnace every fall, told me there was a recall on my furnace because it was part of the production run from Lennox, then showed me the paperwork online. That was a big surprise.

Roe+

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Roe+

Tankless hot water save more money if your usage is higher no doubt. They only have a delta T of 80 F meaning the output will be 80F above the input water temperature therefore the maximum temperature can vary. The lower temp. usually isn't a problem, but people shouldn't be turning down the temperature of their hot water tanks below 140F/60C which is required by the plumbing code. If you lower the temp on a storage tank, it can promote bacterial growth(ie. Legionella). Hospitals use demand HWHs only, to prevent Legionella. I've been looking at installing one at the cottage as we have an old electric hot water heater and electricity is more expensive there. We have a gas water heater at home and have had controls components replaced at least twice on a tank about 12 years old. This seems to be common.
As far as changing venting, that should only be required if you have ABS pipe and fittings. TSSA changed it to CPVC a few years ago.

If you are adding gas appliances, your existing gas load needs to be checked as that will be what your PRV is set up for. Often it only requires a spring/orifice change, but it should be looked at.

We have Reliance change our AC unit last year and were happy with their work.

Roe+

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Would you be going to a propane tankless heater at the cottage? How hard is the water over there? A few years back I was involved with the heaters at Silent Lake that were plugging up with scale pretty quickly.