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York Modulating vs. Goodman 2-stage

Caecilius
13 years ago

Hello All,

We recently bought an old house in Toronto that we're renovating, and we're thinking of replacing our 10-15 year old Lennox mid-efficiency furnace with a new high-effiency model. It's a 2000 sq ft. 2-storey brick heritage home with currently uninsulated crawlspace and basement. The house will remain fairly leaky no matter what we do, so the heating costs will be relatively high, hence the thought to upgrade the furnace even though the existing one is working just fine. There's also a $790 government credit available at the moment.

We had an EcoEnergy audit and blower test done that found the following:

Air leakage rate at 50 Pa: 14.84 air changes per hour

Equivalent leakage area: 3671 cm2

Current EnerGuide rating: 35, potentially improvable to 59 if we do all the recommended efficiency upgrades. We're planning on insulating the basement headers and improving the attic insulation, and improving air sealing, but that's it for now (probably about 50% of the recommended building envelope retrofits).

If we were to implement all the recommended building envelope retrofits, the heat loss was estimated to be 70150 BTU/hour (cooling load 34297).

We're choosing between two quotes from reputable installers:

1. Goodman GMVC950905DX 90,000 BTU 2-stage furnace: $3900

2. York YP9C Modulating 80,000 BTU: $4700 or York TM9V 2-stage 80,000 BTU: $4500

We also have a relatively new A/C unit, that seems to be working well, so we don't plan to replace it.

We'd also appreciate advice on what type of air-filter and humidifier to choose.

Also, our current hot water heater is electric (a rental). While we're upgrading the furnace, we're thinking it might be an opportune time to switch to a gas water heater as well. Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance for your guidance!

Cecil.

Comments (5)

  • neohioheatpump
    13 years ago

    my friend just got a goodman 2-stage furnace installed. It seems to work good. I like it. Iknow they have good warranties. If you choose the goodman 2-stage make sure you get a nice thermostat which will allow the furnace to actually run in low-stage most of the time and only go to 2nd stage when very high-demand for heat.

    The York modulating is a very nice furnace I hear. Pricing isn't that much more. It could be worth it for that equipment.

    I think pricing is really high for the goodman-2 stage furnace. My friend got his installed for very cheap (and that includes having a new return vent installed).

    You definitely want a gas water heater over straight electric. Thats a no-brainer. You could do a fancy heatpump electric water tank. Those heatpump water tanks will pump out cold air into your room. You might want that vented if you go that route.

  • tigerdunes
    13 years ago

    Cecil

    as far as furnace, a no brainer. the York Mod. Plus when you do the updates, you will not be oversized because of this furnace's modulating capability.

    I would want gas hot water-there are too many choices here but you would want to look at the tankless models for price comparison.

    IMO
    Good Luck!

  • srm077
    13 years ago

    Go with the Mod. I have the new Lennox SLP98 Mod and my home has never been more comfy. It runs most of the day at 35% on cool days and around 60 percent on really cold days. The temp balance in my house is GREAT. All rooms and floors are within 1.5 degrees of each other.

  • Caecilius
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Thanks everyone!

    Looks like there's unanimous support for the York modulating furnace! Good to hear - we'll be going with it!

    Re: the Gas water heater, I know tankless models are way more efficient, but have they come far enough in terms of reliability? Is there a noticeable delay to get hot water?

    Thanks!

    Cecil.

  • mike_home
    13 years ago

    I don't have a tankless hot water heater. However I have read the initial installation costs can be very high. You would need to use a lot of hot water in order to see a pay back.

    Get a quote and do the calculation.

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