Furnace installer recommendations

[Ralph Kramden]

Aasen Heating in Oconomowoc. They also sell Lennox and York.

[MLTobin]

I bought a new furnace a few years ago. I looked into the manufacturers, and found that Unitary Products Group makes several of the name brand furnaces. The web site lists York, Luxaire and Coleman. I thought that they also make the Armstrong and Goodman brands also, but that may be a different company.

I ended up with a Luxaire 2-stage furnace from Hales Corners Heating. They were the cheapest, and you get what you pay for.  I found that they didn't glue all of the PVC exhaust pipes together. They could have come apart and filled the basement with carbon monoxide!

I almost got a Goodman furnace. I don't recall why I changed my mind.

Actually Armstrong is owned by Lennox and I think Goodman is still independent.

[Dan the Man]

From what I have been told, Goodman was the old Janitrol. I had a Janitrol furnace in my last house and it was just OK.

I have heard some good things about the new product line from some other people in the industry. Goodman does have a great warranty on their equipment - 10 year parts and labor complete for original owner in a single family install. Not just on the heat exchange, but the whole furnace AND the condensing unit (the A/C unit).

Now is the time to start moving toward the new alternative refrigerants - like using R-410a (or Puron as it is named by Carrier Corp. or Suva which is DuPont's name for it). R-22 use in new equipment ends in 2010 and production of R-22 will be phased out I think by 2020. There will always be reclaimed R-22 available, but why wait since there are lots of manufacturers making R-410a units now.

Also, there is no excuse for not having at least an 15 SEER A/C unit installed (if you need to get a new system) and going with a 90%+ sealed combustion furnace.

NOTE: Don't let any contractor convince you there is a reasonable payback to replace a standard efficiency furnace or A/C unit with a higher efficency furnace or A/C . If you don't need a new system it won't pay back. Now if the unit(s) you have crap out, then it is time to get a higher efficiency piece of equipment.