Rhode Island Gas Furnace question

[Pompom]

Hello

I live in New England (and it's been cold) in a Mobile Home that I bought last year. I am very happy by the way. Affordable living and I love it.

I started my furnace this year and got the pilot light to stay on (I had trouble at first). However when I started the actual heat by turning the thermostat on, my pilot light shut off.

I called a local (ish) company to get it checked. They sent someone and he inspected my furnace this morning. He told me some gas valve and something else need to be changed (the parts in front of the furnace, sorry I forgot) and it's going to cost $900 and that I'm better off changing the whole thing because it's probably going to fail again next year (nice sale pitch right?), and they will email me a quote.

Okay.

So fast forward I get a phone call and the guy is really pushy, tells me the removal, install, plus the new furnace is gonna be over $4000, and adds that that if i put a deposit down it can be done fast if not I will have to wait a long time. He asks me what I think about it and is it something I want done etc.. So yeah, pushy. I'm like "Im driving and I have no experience dealing with that and I will get back to you since I haven't even looked at the quote"

So now, I'm not a plumber for sure but I can tell the guy is pushing hard to get my money.

I just checked the reviews, they are super bad (I don't know how I missed them by the way!)

My question is, is he full of it? Am I being scammed or is it in my head?

 

[Dana]

Trust your instincts on this one! Find a better repair person to assess the furnace- it's probably fine, but it's probably worth paying for the service call just to be sure.

Gas furnaces are typically good for 25 years or more of service. How old is yours?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Pompom]

Trust your instincts on this one! Find a better repair person to assess the furnace- it's probably fine, but it's probably worth paying for the service call just to be sure.

Gas furnaces are typically good for 25 years or more of service. How old is yours?

I am not sure. The mobile home is from 84. Last year someone cleaned my furnace and said it was in good shape, so that's something right?

Update though! I have someone coming tomorrow to look at it.

Also i thought about it and Id rather get it fixed.

I will let you know what plumber #2 says.

I do feel like something is not right about plumber #1 yes.

 

[Dana]

If the thing is 34 years old it might be worth replacing, if it's time is really up. But if that's the case don't just go ahead and replace it with something with the same BTU output (which is what most people end up doing.)

Almost all gas furnaces are sub-optimally oversized for the heat load, and as a result they deliver less comfort. ASHRAE recommends an output capacity of no more than 1.4x the amount of heat needed at the 99th percentile outdoor temperature (a fancy way of saying the heat loss is less than than for 99% of all hours over the past 25 years.) Since the manufacturers don't know if the thing is going to end up in Prudhoe Bay AK or Whitehorse Yukon the pick a size that will cover just about any location on the planet, whereas YOU want something sized for comfort in your location in RI.

A quick & dirty way to get reasonable accuracy on your actual heating requirements is to use the existing furnace as the measuring instrument, comparing local weather data over a cold winter period with your actual gas use, as outlined in this bit o' bloggery. Even if the furnace is repairable (and I hope it is), it's probably not very new, and it's good for planning purposes to have the size of the eventual replacement already figured out in advance, filed away somewhere.

Do you have an air conditioner sharing the same ducts & air handler as the furnace?

 

[Pompom]

If the thing is 34 years old it might be worth replacing, if it's time is really up. But if that's the case don't just go ahead and replace it with something with the same BTU output (which is what most people end up doing.)

Almost all gas furnaces are sub-optimally oversized for the heat load, and as a result they deliver less comfort. ASHRAE recommends an output capacity of no more than 1.4x the amount of heat needed at the 99th percentile outdoor temperature (a fancy way of saying the heat loss is less than than for 99% of all hours over the past 25 years.) Since the manufacturers don't know if the thing is going to end up in Prudhoe Bay AK or Whitehorse Yukon the pick a size that will cover just about any location on the planet, whereas YOU want something sized for comfort in your location in RI.

A quick & dirty way to get reasonable accuracy on your actual heating requirements is to use the existing furnace as the measuring instrument, comparing local weather data over a cold winter period with your actual gas use, as outlined in this bit o' bloggery. Even if the furnace is repairable (and I hope it is), it's probably not very new, and it's good for planning purposes to have the size of the eventual replacement already figured out in advance, filed away somewhere.

Do you have an air conditioner sharing the same ducts & air handler as the furnace?

Sorry about the delay, I was busy.

No central AC. I use a portable AC, which I am going to switch for a window unit probably next year.

So I will reread your post but basically people use units that are not sized appropriately? I'll look into it.

Plumber #2 had to reschedule so no update yet.

 

[Dana]

Yes, most gas furnaces installed are more than 2x oversized for the actual loads. It's probably even more so with mobile homes. This has little to no affect on efficiency, but a very real difference in as-used comfort.

If your loads turn out to be low enough and the furnace really is toast, it might be worth considering a right-sized modulating mini-split heat pump option. That's a lot more expensive to install, but gives you central AC, and longer run times- you'd be buying comfort, not necessarily lower operating cost if you're on natural gas, but if propane it's usually quite a bit cheaper too. But just down-sizing a gas burner to the appropriate size for your actual heat loads would be a cheap uptick in comfort.

 

[Pompom]

Ok sorry about the late answer, I had a hard time getting someone to take a look at the furnace. Plumber #2 never showed up. Luckily enough, friends of mine referred me to theirs.

Plumber #3 came over.. changed the thermocouple (that was not put in correctly), adjusted and cleaned the pilot light that was weak (it's now a nice shade of blue). The furnace still wouldn't start...arg! BUT!.. He then looked at the wiring to the gas valve box thingy (again, not a plumber sorry lol).. it was.. unplugged!!! Yup!

Now, did I unplug it by mistake while trying to light my pilot light? Sure, possible! We'll never know!

Plumber #3 was awesome, friendly, honest. He said my old furnace was awesome and they don't die easy. He also said that they aren't the best to operate cost wise (pilot is always on, it's old, etc..).

I will def go to him when I decide to get a new one.

I am glad I got a second opinion (well, technically, a third..)