Furnace and water heater recommendations

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Originally Posted by patvetzal

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.

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No problem with hardness Pat, we're on lake water. That said my water is on a 4 stage system; 25 micron>5 micron>1 micron>ultraviolet light. You should have a 1 micron if you want to use a tankless. Yes, I am on propane.

Roe+

Our water tests VERY soft, but also acidic. Eats the bottom out of the dogs aluminium water dish, had to switch to plastic. On a dug well about 15' from the lake.....

That can happen in hard rock, it depends on the minerals present. After all, soft water is acidic and hard water is basic.

Roe+

Trane furnace Trinity on demand water tank. The best, If you want you can use an air coil instead of using furnace. Use glycol 50% solution instead with a heat exchanger, (already in on demand tank)

check if the rental contract includes service, if so.... KEEP IT!!!!!!!!

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Originally Posted by Splaker

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.

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Sounds like you're kind of stuck with the tank. How much is that tank worth? How big is it?
I bought my place in 99, brand new, and I own the furnace and AC that came with house (Keeprite and I made sure they put a higher end model in during the build), but I got stuck with a hot water tank rental (60 gallon). I'm having a new furnace and AC installed in a couple of weeks but I wasn't thinking in regards to the hot water tank and I'm still paying the 20 or so bucks a month on it. I just bought it out for 40 bucks yesterday, which I could've done years ago. I guess the only benefit is it has been repaired a couple of times over that last couple of years. Next time it needs fixing I'll replace it since I own it now anyway.

As for the furnace, if I was you I'd pay the hundred and have a brand new one installed. It pretty much works out as a wash, except you have a brand new furnace with 10 years warranty. Not having any rentals is always a good selling feature anyway. Just ask Enercare where they want their furnace delivered and when you have the new one installed throw it in your truck and drop it off.
You should be able to get a 2 stage variable 96 efficiency for around 3500-4000 installed. They're all good. Trane, Payne and Bryant if I recall are all Carrier, and International Comfort Products (ICP) which I understand is also owned by Carrier make Heil, Keeprite, Comfortmaker, Tempstar, and probably a few others. Lennox has a few names as well. They're all good, as long as the install is good.

I didn't know Ducane made furnaces but I know they make higher end BBQ's, assuming it's the same Ducane.

The furnace and AC I have now are Keeprite, and I can't complain. In the almost 17 years I've had them the AC has never been serviced or even looked at (only reason I'm replacing is because the furnace is being replaced, and it's age). The furnace has been through one fan motor, some sensor ignition thingy, and now the fan motor bearings are noisy again. Those fan motors aren't cheap and I'm not putting that much money into a 17 year old furnace that is known for exchanger issues anyway, although I never had an issue with the exchanger in mine. Carrier had exchanger issues in some of their models as well if I recall.

My HVAC guy recommended putting in a UVC light over the AC coil to kill mold and bacteria, which does grow on all those tiny fins in your vent.

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Originally Posted by last5oh_302

Sounds like you're kind of stuck with the tank. How much is that tank worth? How big is it?
I bought my place in 99, brand new, and I own the furnace and AC that came with house (Keeprite and I made sure they put a higher end model in during the build), but I got stuck with a hot water tank rental (60 gallon). I'm having a new furnace and AC installed in a couple of weeks but I wasn't thinking in regards to the hot water tank and I'm still paying the 20 or so bucks a month on it. I just bought it out for 40 bucks yesterday, which I could've done years ago. I guess the only benefit is it has been repaired a couple of times over that last couple of years. Next time it needs fixing I'll replace it since I own it now anyway.

As for the furnace, if I was you I'd pay the hundred and have a brand new one installed. It pretty much works out as a wash, except you have a brand new furnace with 10 years warranty. Not having any rentals is always a good selling feature anyway. Just ask Enercare where they want their furnace delivered and when you have the new one installed throw it in your truck and drop it off.
You should be able to get a 2 stage variable 96 efficiency for around 3500-4000 installed. They're all good. Trane, Payne and Bryant if I recall are all Carrier, and International Comfort Products (ICP) which I understand is also owned by Carrier make Heil, Keeprite, Comfortmaker, Tempstar, and probably a few others. Lennox has a few names as well. They're all good, as long as the install is good.

I didn't know Ducane made furnaces but I know they make higher end BBQ's, assuming it's the same Ducane.

The furnace and AC I have now are Keeprite, and I can't complain. In the almost 17 years I've had them the AC has never been serviced or even looked at (only reason I'm replacing is because the furnace is being replaced, and it's age). The furnace has been through one fan motor, some sensor ignition thingy, and now the fan motor bearings are noisy again. Those fan motors aren't cheap and I'm not putting that much money into a 17 year old furnace that is known for exchanger issues anyway, although I never had an issue with the exchanger in mine. Carrier had exchanger issues in some of their models as well if I recall.

My HVAC guy recommended putting in a UVC light over the AC coil to kill mold and bacteria, which does grow on all those tiny fins in your vent.

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Uh Huh..... Wait on your furnace and A/C There is some new stuff coming out in the next year that will blow away all the efficiency ratings of current equipment

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Originally Posted by The Phoenix

Uh Huh..... Wait on your furnace and A/C There is some new stuff coming out in the next year that will blow away all the efficiency ratings of current equipment

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I plan on selling within the next 5-6 years. When that happens I sure will.

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Originally Posted by The Phoenix

Uh Huh..... Wait on your furnace and A/C There is some new stuff coming out in the next year that will blow away all the efficiency ratings of current equipment

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Ya, but i'm sure it'll cost a lot...all new technology does, which will negate the savings...

got a confirmed buyout price - the Ducane (owned by Lennox btw) will cost us $3325 plus tax. Not bad...it's 3 years old this Jan. I am still going to get a quote from a few companies...then we will decide..

The most expensive ducane...... somewhere around $850, sheet metal, $200 labour $500, other $300.00 total 1800-2000. The point? $3300???? profit is one thing....

The new stuff coming out is a digital compressor in a condenser for 1 1/2 tons through to 6 tons. Same size coils etc which mean cheaper manufacturing. Installation is more expensive as you need to have qualified trades people to install and program the system.