I've recently been told that my furnace, which is about 20 years old, is on it's last stretch and that I should consider replacing it now rather than waiting for it to fail – potentially at a very inconvenient time.
That said, it seems rather hard to find useful comparative information online about furnaces (with prices) since most of it is just advertising and marketing. So, what should I look for when choosing the furnace? And where can I get educated on the different brands available (perhaps with tier information)?
My place is a 2 bedroom coach-house (i.e. single floor unit in a 4-unit condominium building) and about 1200 sqft.
The HVAC system is forced-air, natural gas and is blowing-down.
Best Answer
From a payback standpoint, its might be hard to justify much above 90%.
One feature I really liked was a variable speed fan direct drive and two stage burner.
Having the variable speed blower means you can leave the fan on and it will circulate at low speed. This helps equalize temp and humidity, plus there is less dust, as the filter cleans continuously.
The two stage burner means most times, the gas fires slowly and the system recovers the most heat.