The quality of the brand of furnace is directly related to how well it was sized, installed, and commissioned.
Goodman gets a bad name because they sell to anyone with a pulse, then when the furnace is installed improperly the furnace itself is blamed for the poor performance. Even though it’s not at fault.
Consumer review sites are a poor indication of the quality of HVAC equipment.
I’d suggest hiring a very good installer, rather then chasing a specific brand name.

 

Thanks I have heard exactly the same thing. These are supposed to be Amana Furnaces just without the brand name and I belive Amana is a better higher end brand so I read.

But yes installer is very important from what I hear. Our last one oversized our furnace and we have had nothing but issues for the past 12 years or so. Now hopefully going down to 60,000btu 2 stage will resolve the issue.

Thanks

 

How have you come to the conclusion you need 60,000 BTU?
Pick a brand that’s well supported in your area and has techs familiar with the product. That’s about how much I’d focus on brand name.
Goodman and Amana are both part of a bigger parent company.

 

Mostly from a few different HVAC Contractors and also reading online and looking at BTU Calculators. Also filled out some of that heat loss calculator i have seen posted around here. 60,000btu seems to be accurate when I compare all of these.

As for the other link I have talked to a bunch of contractors, read reviews, etc etc. Some I have talked to did not answer my questions or quickly answered then tried to push their preferred furnace brand on me. I have found 1 guy thats been in the business for 15 years, has great reviews online & answered all my questions & I will likely go with him. Going to have him come by the house to have a look and give a final price.

 

Read here-

https://www.angieslist.com/articles/difference-between-best-hvac-brands.htm

 

Consumer Reports has rated HVAC equipment in the past. CR also reported that installations done for the HO were less problematic then installations for the buil;der. So installers do make some difference.

 

Amana has a stainless steel heat exchanger and better warranty.

 

Same on the Goodman, I'm looking at. Let me see if I can post a link..... had to remove w w w before because I need to wait until 7 posts to post a link since I'm new to the forum

Good man - goodmanmfg.com/pdfviewer.aspx?pdfurl=docs/librariesprovider6/default-document-library/ss-gmvc9615cb490022fa6258827eff0a00754798.pdf?view=true

Amana - amana-hac.com/pdfviewer.aspx?pdfurl=docs/default-source/default-document-library/ss-amvc96.pdf?view=true

They are both the same Furnace just different names

 

That model Goodman has Aluminumized Steel Primary Heat Exchanger and Stainless Steel secondary HX and comes with a 10 year whole unit replacement if HX ever fails within the 1st 10 years, along with a 10 years parts and a limited lifetime HX warranty to original owner once registered.

The Amana has both a Stainless Steel primary and secondary HX, comes with a new furnace if HX ever fails to original registered owner, along with a 10 year parts warranty.

 

Ahhh yes good catch did not notice that. Is that a big deal where one is Aluminized Steel Primary Heat Exchanger VS Stainless Steel? Im sure the stainless steel is better and will last longer but how long would a Aluminized Steel Primary Heat Exchanger last for?

Also as for warranty I would be getting 10yr Parts & labor for the furnace from Goodman to cover us.

Thanks

That model Goodman has Aluminized Steel Primary Heat Exchanger and Stainless Steel secondary HX and comes with a 10 year whole unit replacement if HX ever fails within the 1st 10 years, along with a 10 years parts and a limited lifetime HX warranty to original owner once registered.

The Amana has both a Stainless Steel primary and secondary HX, comes with a new furnace if HX ever fails to original registered owner, along with a 10 year parts warranty.

 

Believe that’s the 2nd time you mentioned the 10 year parts along with the 10 year extended labor. The 10 year parts comes from the manufacturer (once registered ) has nothing to do with the Asure. If you have a basic one year labor warranty as an example from the Installing Contractor you’ll still get 10 years parts. Asure is covering the labor for 10.

 

Yes you are correct, Im paying extra for the 9years labor (10yr total)

 

This is the way they rate their products, Top of the line is Diakin, second in line is Amana, and third is Goodman.

 

Yes I have seen that on a few websites however a lot of them say that at least between Amana & Goodman they are almost the same thing just different prices.

Either way we decided on the goodman, hopefully will be installed by this weekend. Hopefully it operates nice and trouble free for many years.

 

I am very happy with the trouble free Goodman furnace in my house. And also with the Goodman AC unit (two different systems) I installed so that's my answer.

I doubt that the difference between an 80K furnace and a 60K furnace would contribute much in terms of prematurely aging a gas furnace.

How sure are you that your correct furnace size is 60K ?

BTW: As you are aware that your house has little to no insulation - why are you not addressing that issue? Improving the envelope would pay the largest dividends - by far.

PHM
-------

 

So after having the HVAC company come by yesterday and showing him our current setup & the sizes of ductwork he actually told me I need to put in a 40,000btu. If I put in a 60,000btu there is a chance I will still trip the high limit and have issues with it due to restrictive ducting going to the 2nd level of the house.

As for the insulation the full home is finished (ie renovated maybe 20 years ago) so for me to add insulation I would need to make a big mess & we have hardwood floors and other upgraded things. What we have done in the past is if we decide to renovate something like the bathroom at that point while its open I do add insulation. Also we changed the windows a few years back & while doing that I was drilling holes within the frame of the window which then goes down into behind the walls to fill some spray foam in there. Again not the best but better then nothing.

Also this house has Double brick, while not ideal is a little better then a single row of brick. Its an old house, over 100years.

Good to hear you are happy with your goodman.

 

“Good to hear you are happy with your goodman.”

I’m also happy with my two 15 year old Goodman 12 SEER Heat Pumps in my residence, that I installed along with the ductwork. ( I suppose quality of install makes a big difference, no matter the brand ) Only trouble I had was the OD fan motor failed on one unit ( which was under warranty at the time having a 10/10 warranty ) and both defrost boards went bad, ( out of warranty, very minimal cost item for Contractors ) All the rest is original, non leaking system. Recently replaced the compressor contactors as a preventative maintenance item. One thing about Goodman, is their parts are typically cheaper than many other manufacturers IMO.

That was before Daiken bought Goodman, as you know/may not know the Japanese practice Kaizen, ( always continuing improvement.)

 

I'm hoping that the Japanese quality comes down to their goodman brand after Daiken bought them

 

Take care of the install crew...…………

Plenty of water

Buy them lunch maybe a pizza!

 

Yes was already thinking of that actually, lots of drinks and such for sure.

 

I wish companies would behave like they were taking care of their grandmother's heater. Goodman, Janitrol, Armstrong have a much better parts availability then Trane or Carrier. IMO.
It seems to me Carrier and Trane have no problem telling you that heater part will be back-ordered and arrive 5 days from now. What would you tell your grandmother?
It may be because Goodman, Janitrol ,Armstrng uses more more genaric parts

 

I wish companies would behave like they were taking care of their grandmother's heater. Goodman, Janitrol, Armstrong have a much better parts availability then Trane or Carrier. IMO.
It seems to me Carrier and Trane have no problem telling you that heater part will be back-ordered and arrive 5 days from now. What would you tell your grandmother?
It may be because Goodman, Janitrol ,Armstrng uses more more genaric parts

That sounds like a distributor problem. I get my Trane parts and equipment from a Independant wholesaler, very seldom that I don't have the part the next day. For small enough parts they have even ran to the Post Office after other freight companies have picked up just to make sure I got the part in a timely manor.

Having said that for larger commercial Trane parts or Carrier parts, yeah I know exactly what you are saying. But there again they are Manufacturer owned distributors, not independent.