I'll bet it was actually the heat exchanger that he said needed to be replaced. If so, he could be right about it not being worth repairing.

I think he's wrong about Goodman furnaces not being good though. The problem with them is that they sell to almost anyone, while the other brands are a little more selective. That means that while it could be true that this particular tech might see more problems with Goodman equipment, often times it's more related to a poor install than it is the equipment itself.

I've seen plenty of quality issues with Carrier equipment over the years, I don't think I'd put them up on a pedestal over Goodman or anyone else. The quality of the install is usually more important than the name of the equipment.

 

Thank you very much for the reply!
From your practice, do you think ten years is a normal lifetime for a furnace?

 

It would be highly unusual for any furnace to last as little as ten years.

. . . do you think ten years is a normal lifetime for a furnace?

 

Sadly, that doesn't seem too unreasonable these days for almost any appliance inside of your home. I would certainly hope to be able to get more years than that out of almost anything, but the reality is that you can't really count on it anymore.

One big killer of furnaces and/or air conditioners are when they are oversized (which they often tend to be). If you can get someone to do a "Manual J" load calculation to see what size furnace (and/or air conditioner) your house actually needs, and make sure it's not too big for the amount of ductwork that you have (which also tends to be undersized quite often), then your equipment should be able to last longer. No guarantees though, since luck often also has a pretty big role to play as well.

 

I got your point.
Thank you again for the reply!
Appreciate it a lot.

 

Are you the original registered owner of the furnace,if so do you have documentation of a startup date, as typically manufacturers go that startup date and not necessarily the built date, as that furnace could have been sitting in a supply house for many months before it was sold, and if that is actually your problem it could be covered under warranty ( labor is chargeable ) the heat exchanger shows limited lifetime warranty to original registered owner. If your not the original owner or if you are but never registered the furnace, then typically it will revert to a 20 year HX warranty from manufacturer date or thereabouts.

Says this, you also get a 10 year unit replacement if HX fails in 1st 10 years.

Patented dual-diameter tubular heat exchanger with Lifetime Limited Warranty* for as long as the original registered hom- eowner owns their home plus 10-Year Limited Unit Replacement Warranty.

May want to get another opinion from a small Contractor to see what they say.

 

I am not sure how that inducer attaches to the furnace but it looks like it may be as simple as the gasket going bad where the inducer attaches. It kinda sounds like your techs were more so sales techs than actual technicians. It might be worth the money to see if you can find a better tech to take a look at it, possibly do a Combustion Analysis on it to see what is really going on.

 

1. Inducer motors can't be repaired but they can be replaced. It's a pretty common part.
2. No.
3. Brand isn't as important as the quality of the install.
4. No. Furnaces typically last 15-20.

I don't think the stains in your pictures are from the inducer leaking. It could be that your collector box gasket is bad, a hose is leaking, or the secondary has failed. A failed secondary out of warranty would be the only problem that I'd consider replacing that furnace for.

Call another service company and get a second opinion.

 

That's a pretty basic Goodman furnace. Those collector box gaskets leak ALL the time. Forget about it. Goodman inducers are cheap to make, and cheap to buy. Just replace the inducer and call it a day. That furnace will outlast just about anything else out there. Their tubular heat exchangers seems to be pretty durable.

 

An interesting answer would be to the question: "What is the technician's commission on a furnace sale?"

If the problem actually IS the inducer and not a component external to it - replacing the inducer assembly is easy, fast, inexpensive, and especially worthwhile on a ten year young furnace.

As some of the things tech-2 said are untrue - I would place no faith in anything else he said.

PHM
------

This is my first time writing here, I hope I haven’t broken any rules.

The furnace is Goodman, model GMVC950453BXBA, assembled in USA 06/12/13
About 2 months ago it started not working properly. The thermostat showed that it was working, but in fact it was not. I turned it off and on several times. It started working (I heard a sound) then stopped after about 30 seconds, but the sign was that it was still working. I realized that these 30 seconds of “work” were the work of the fan, but there was no ignition. Then it worked fine for a while. Then everything happened again and I decided to invite a

1. technician. He checked everything and said the problem was the low pressure switch.

2. ordered it, but when another guy came in a couple of days later to change it, he saw water dripping (furnace was working again).

t day when it was dry, but showed the areas of dripping and you can see the salt marks from the drying water.

3. technician said that the water was not coming out of the tube and it was a problem with the inducer motor, but due to its price, the best solution might be to replace the furnace with a new one.

4. He suggested the Carrier brand (of course they work with them) and

5. (he) noted that Goodman-Amana furnaces are not good at all and leaks like this are a very common problem.

Sorry for the long story.

The questions are:
Is it really not possible to repair an inducer motor?
Is it really better to install the new furnace rather than just replace just the motor?
Is Carrier really better than Goodman-Amana?
Is ten years normal for a furnace? I actually hoped it would last at least 3-5 years longer.

Appreciate your help in advance.
Thanks a lot.

View attachment 874301 View attachment 874303 View attachment 874305

 

July is fast approaching.

1. Where in the world are you that you are running your furnace?

2. Have you been running your AC at all so far this year?

If so; does the appearance of water in the furnace vestibule coincide with AC operation?

PHM
--------

This is my first time writing here, I hope I haven’t broken any rules.

The furnace is Goodman, model GMVC950453BXBA, assembled in USA 06/12/13
About 2 months ago it started not working properly. The thermostat showed that it was working, but in fact it was not. I turned it off and on several times. It started working (I heard a sound) then stopped after about 30 seconds, but the sign was that it was still working. I realized that these 30 seconds of “work” were the work of the fan, but there was no ignition. Then it worked fine for a while. Then everything happened again and I decided to invite a technician. He checked everything and said the problem was the low pressure switch. He ordered it, but when another guy came in a couple of days later to change it, he saw water dripping (furnace was working again). I took the photos the next day when it was dry, but showed the areas of dripping and you can see the salt marks from the drying water. The technician said that the water was not coming out of the tube and it was a problem with the inducer motor, but due to its price, the best solution might be to replace the furnace with a new one. He suggested the Carrier brand (of course they work with them) and noted that Goodman-Amana furnaces are not good at all and leaks like this are a very common problem. Sorry for the long story.

The questions are:
Is it really not possible to repair an inducer motor?
Is it really better to install the new furnace rather than just replace just the motor?
Is Carrier really better than Goodman-Amana?
Is ten years normal for a furnace? I actually hoped it would last at least 3-5 years longer.

Appreciate your help in advance.
Thanks a lot.

View attachment 874301 View attachment 874303 View attachment 874305

 

First off, it's not the inducer. It's the collector box/secondary coil cover. It's the big flat plastic thing that the round plastic box mounts to. Those inducers don't leak water, because they don't get water in them. Easy to change.
Second, it's probably just a clogged drain causing your pressure switch issues.
Third, It's also losing draft via the open hole on the left side of the motor, then when they switched it from left drain to right drain, they forgot to reinstall the plug. You see the little nipple in your second picture? That has to be sealed.
Fourth, even as the second owner, you still have heat exchanger warranty left on that unit.
Finally, I'd replace an inducer motor on a 20 year old goodman. Last winter I replaced a heat exchanger (main core), an inducer motor and an ignitor on that model furnace (technically a GUSA, instead of the GMVC you have, but exact same parts), because it made more financial sense than replacement, and it was 17 years old.

3-5 more years? Yeah, try 8-10.
That model the upgraded, nice model. Even today you won't find one that has better efficiency.
Heck, whatever these crooks are selling you on, is probably a lesser model.

Find another company. Those guys are tools.


https://www.goodmanmfg.com/warranty-lookup
Go there, put in that serial number (the numbering in your picture beginning in 1306)
Even as the second owner you still have a heat exchanger warranty until 2033.