New High Efficiency Furnaces

[jwilbrin]

Just wanted to give everyone the heads up on what to expect if, let me rephrase that, when you have to replace an older furnace or even a mid efficiency furnace to a high efficiency furnace. There is the potential for a lot of work and possibly some huge expenses.

When looking at and evaluating a property that is going to require a new furnace and hot water tank down the road it will be in your best interest to have a reputable plumbing and heating company come in and give you a cost estimate on the replacement. Do not take the word of your home inspector on what the replacement costs will be. The cost to replace an older furnace with a new high efficiency furnace can escalate drastically.

As I`m sure you are all aware, as of 2010 only high efficiency furnaces are being sold in Canada. The new high efficiency furnaces can not use the same venting pipes/chimneys that the older and mid efficiency furnaces do. You will have to have everything re-vented which means you may also have to budget for new hot water tanks which use the same venting as the old furnaces.

We are currently in the thick of a major renovation in our personal residence. It was one of our contractors who suggested that since we were opening up walls that we consider replacing both our furnaces and hot water tanks. I wasn`t to keen on it since the furnaces and hot water tanks aren`t that old -- Around 7 years. I did however call in a couple of reputable heating companies to take a look at our furnaces and give us their recommendations and quotes. I am so glad I did. If we would have completed our renos without replacing the furnaces and hot water tanks and 5 years down the road one of our older furnaces decided to pack it in we would have to rip out a good portion of our new renovations to make room for the new venting.

After talking to the heating companies I was absolutely shocked at the lack of information out there for home owners regarding the possible complexity and cost of installing new HE furnaces particularing in older homes and homes that are completely finished. One company told me about a job that they themselves could not believe actually cost the home owner $19,000 just to install one new HE furnace. The home was completely finished upstairs and also had a completely finished basement suite. Walls, floors and ceilings had to be opened up; roof had to be repaired, hot water tank had to be replaced etc. It was just a really bad layout to start with and there were restrictions on where the furnace and hot water tank could be vented.

Each company I talked to said they are seeing more and more horror stories with these replacements. There is no longer such a thing as an emergency furnace replacement in the middle of winter if you have an older furnace. Just something to think about. If you have an older furnace in one of your rental units and it conks out in the middle of winter and it is not repairable. What is your plan? Do you have the funds to replace the furnace and all the venting plus the repairs to walls that may have to be opened up?

Now keep in mind most furnace replacements are pretty simple and go off without a hitch but if you own a property that poses venting challenges just be prepared. Talk to a few heating specialists and start planning and saving for your replacement. Don`t get caught off guard.

Cheers

ps. we upgraded both our furnaces and hot water tanks. Be warned that the new HE hotwater tanks have noisy fans on them as we have found out. We`ve had to insulate our utility room to block out the noise. I guess that`s why all the new homes have insulated sound proof utility rooms.

 

[housingrental]

Sounds like a rip off re $20K job. Maybe they were installing a furnace and venting through bank vaults.
There were (are?) great rebates available from the Ontario government recently I made use of when upgrading furnaces.

 

[jwilbrin]

QUOTE (housingrental @ Jul 28 2010, 12:53 PM) Sounds like a rip off re $20K job. Maybe they were installing a furnace and venting through bank vaults.
There were (are?) great rebates available from the Ontario government recently I made use of when upgrading furnaces.

Actually the furnace and venting portion for the job as was told to me by the heating contractor was only $4200 but all the extra costs came when the landlord had to remove cabinets and rip open walls to run the new venting up through the roof. Apparently there were restrictions on where the furnace and hot water tank could be vented due to proximity of the neighboring house and their fresh air intake vents also the location of the gas line venting... there are a lot of factors to consider when changing out the venting for new HE furnaces. Also because the basement unit was completely finished there of course was ceiling repairs in the basement, flooring repairs in the upper unit; roofing repairs etc. Reframing and drywall of the new wall. Also the city inspectors requested that while the walls were opened that the electrical had to be upgraded etc. Apparently it was just a bad situation all around. I had 4 different heating companies in to quote and all were of the same opinion that there are going to be some home owners that are hit really hard with the change over to HE furnaces and hot water tanks.

Our job worked out to be approximately $4000 per furnace with all the new venting and drainage included. We also ran into some venting issues because half of our basement is finished and I did not want to rip open ceilings and walls in the basement. Our only option was to go out one side of the house but there were limitations there due to gas vent line, fresh air/combustion air intake etc. Thankfully we were able to come up with solutions that were satisfactory to the city inspector and all went off without a hitch. We did have to get a roofing company in though to put in new gum cups for the new vents and cap off the old vents.

But keep in mind our job was easy because all the walls upstairs were already open due to renovations. If we were not renovating then we would have had to remove three hall closets to open up a wall for the new venting.

As mentioned in my last post most installs go off without a hitch but be cautious when purchasing properties that have old furnaces. Look at the location of the utility room; is there easy access to an exterior wall where you can vent the new furnaces, what limitations exist on that exterior wall. In most cases only a professional heating specialist can properly answer these questions.