The customer of this 18 year old American Standard (Trane) furnace finally decided to replace it. The repair costs versus the price of the new American Standard furnace, the rebate from CNG and the fed tax credit was all it took to convince him.
Older 90% Trane Unit.
The physical size and or foot print caught me a little of guard, but nothing a little piece of ducting can’t fix, other than that this was a fairly straight change out … no real surprises.
New American Standard 95% 2 Stage Variable.
The new American Standard 95% 2 stage variable will not only provide a higher efficiency than the older furnace but more comfort while doing it.
Heating And Cooling Skagit County
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
Here we have another RHEEM 80% that has died, my customer decided to way the costs of repair versus new furnace and with this year potentially being the last year for tax credits they decided to replace the dinosaur. I have to admit if there is any application for an American Standard 95% Variable 2 speed its this one. 2 story home with the ducting located between the floors and the equipment located within the home.
Older Rheem 80% Gas Furnace
As you can see the Rheem furnace is located in a closet next to the HWT, this is a fairly easy replacement. I just need to run the vent and condensate out and make a few duct changes.
Flex Connector
One of the best friends of a change out installer is the flex connector, above you can see it installed. This type of connector allows the installer the flexibility of the ducting so he or she can slide the furnace in to place and stop any vibrations from the equipment. Even though it can be done without this connector it surely is easier with it.
New American Standard 95% 2 stage variable gas furnace.
Above you see the American Standard 95% 2 stage variable speed furnace installed. A condensate pump had to be added because there was no floor drain available. We also converted there electronic air cleaner over to a 4″ filter bank. the existing EAC was not operational.
Heating And Cooling Skagit County
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
For this customer the furnace repair bills where getting to high and they wanted to take advantage of the tax credits. It wasn’t until we got the furnace changed out that we noticed the huge crack in the heat exchanger. Its not uncommon for us to find cracks later on after we are able to look from a different angle, but this crack was at least 6 inches long.
Crack in heat exchanger
The crack runs vertically and starts pretty much in the center of the screen and goes down. Cracks like this one really open up after the furnace is warmed up and that is when it can do the most damage.
Older 80% Gas Furnace
If you have a furnace that still has a standing pilot light like this one you should really think about replacing it. You got your life out of the furnace and safety is becoming a factor!
New 2 Stage Variable 95% American Standard.
The new American Standard 95% 2 Stage Variable fit right into place, I had to make a simple transition for the return air and then add a filter access door so the customer can actually change the filters without cutting themselves. The venting went up through the existing chimney and we ran the condensate drain to the existing drain line under the home.
I must have said this a hundred times, the American Standard 2 Stage Variable is my favorite furnace to install, and so far I have had zero issues with this model!
Heating And Cooling Skagit County
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
For some reason I kinda chuckle when I see a sears furnace, I know they are out there and they seemed to hold up pretty well, but for some reason it just seems weird. At any rate our customer was done putting money into their Kenmore furnace and wanted something more efficient and a tax credit.
Older Kenmore Furnace
As you can see by the PVC venting that this furnace was at least 90% efficient, and by the ducting you can tell this was not the first furnace in this home. If you look real close you will see the 5 gal bucket next to the furnace, this was their condensate drain bucket. I imagine they had to empty this several times a week in the winter time or face water in their garage.
New American Standard 95% Furnace.
Above is the new American Standard 95% 2 stage variable speed furnace, notice there is no more bucket drain system? It took only a few minutes to run the drain out to the sidewall of the home, but by doing so we saved them from a possible flood in their garage.
Filter Access Door
One of the easiest things to do is cut in a filter access door into the existing return plenum, as long as the ducting is straight and tall enough.
Heating And Cooling Skagit County
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
OK I have replaced older, but I still enjoy pushing these monsters into the scrap pile. This was a Gaffers & Sattler furnace and according to the home owner installed in 1957 or 58. The serial number does show a 57. That being said it lasted 52 years … wow.
Older Furnace Gaffers & Sattler
Our customer decided on the American Standard 95% 2 Stage Variable my best selling furnace and most favorite to install. We also installed a Honeywell 4″ pleated filter bank in the return system.
New American Standard 95% 2 stage variable furnace
As you can see this was a basement application requiring an upflow furnace. I decided to add some sleepers under the furnace just in case it ever floods and because there was no drain we added a condensate pump to remove condensate from the furnace.
Bad HWT Venting
If you look close in the picture above you can see the HWT vent went down hill into the existing furnace vent, we also fixed this at the same time. Its never a good idea to have a vent go down hill, but in this case I think they had so much rise that it still pulled the burnt gases out.
Heating And Cooling Skagit County
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
Back in 1992 I was an Arcoaire dealer for about 3 months, I quickly left and became a York dealer for about the next 10 years. The Arcoaire furnaces where heavy, oddly sized and seemed to have a lot of “out of the box” issues. This particular furnace was starting to rack up some serious repair bills so it was time to be replaced.
Older Arcoaire Furnace
My customer decided on the American Standard 95% Variable 2 Stage furnace, my favorite furnace to install and my top seller. Going from a 80% to a 95% she should see a reduced fuel bill as well as better comfort.
New American Standard 95% Variable Speed 2 Stage
The American Standard is about 2.5″ deeper than the Arcoaire but width is about the same, fortunately the clearance to the front of the furnace was enough to close the door and keep mininum clearance.
New PVC Venting
The older furnace vented with regular venting, it was badly corroded to the point it would have had to be replaced if she decided to go back to a 80% furnace. The new PVC venting is almost the same size so venting the new American Standard furnace was very easy.
Venting up through deck
The PVC vent went directly outside through the exterior wall and up through their deck and then through the roof. A lot cleaner than the older corroded metal gas vent pipe.
Heating And Cooling Skagit County
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
I added the American Standard air conditioner to this system over 3 years ago, at that time the customer elected not to replace the furnace. But RHEEM furnaces never let me down and now its time to replacement it, the repair bills where getting to high.
Older RHEEM unit
Lucky for the customer we now have the American Standard 95% Variable Speed 2 Stage gas furnace. But as you can see the newer 2000cfm units are a little wider than the older coils. So I had to make a small transition under the unit. Because we felt the system really needed a better filter system we added the Honeywell 4″ f100 filter system.
New American Standard 95% 2 stage variable speed
Now the customer has a matching system with an American Standard air conditioner, indoor coil and gas furnace.
Heating And Cooling Skagit County
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
I can not tell you how many RHEEMs I have replace in my life, perhaps over 100? Maybe more I do not know, but I can tell you I really enjoy doing it! And I can tell you in most cases I usually find something seriously wrong with the installation. Now stating that RHEEM furnaces caused heating contractors to do poor installations would be absolutely wrong, but stating that RHEEM furnaces in their day where more economical to purchase and that may have attracted more of the spec market heating contractors might be more on target.
Here we are replacing a RHEEM 80% with an American Standard 95% Variable 2 Stage, As you can see we already pulled the unit off its base can exposing something very wrong in the base can.
Furnace Removed
On a side note, this furnace was actually screwed to the wall for support, this is a big no no in my book. Screwing the furnace to the wall will allow vibration noises to directly transfer into the home.
Looking into the base can.
Now looking into the base can you can see the trunk line that not only was not sealed, the tabs where not even secured (bent over) to the base can. This drastically cuts off air flow and cause excessive leaking into the garage and or crawl space.
Old RHEEM 80%
The older RHEEM had many repairs done through out the years, all in my opinion can be directly related to the poor installation by the previous heating contractor.
New American Standard 95% Variable 2 Stage
Here we have the new American Standard 95% Variable 2 Stage installed. We also replaced the older base can with a new sound lined base can making sure to seal it to the trunk.
Heating And Cooling Skagit County
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.