Lost

what is your location?

any reason you would not want a higher efficiency furnace?

At the very least, I would want a furnace to have a high eff blower mtr whether 80% or 90+% efficiency.

Value is in the eye of the beholder. Depends on what one is looking for-ie price, features, efficiency, good warranty, etc.

Post back.

IMO

In my opinion a multiple stage furnace is worth the money. I would compare it to a car having a single fan speed for the heater. The operating modes for a single speed are either full blast heat or off. It's nice not to have to hear the furnace cycling on and off.

Trane and American Standard are the same equipment. So is Carrier and Bryant. Theie top of the line equipment is very good. They also make builder grade equipment. I believe Payne concentrates on low end equipment, but I have no direct experience.

Concentrate on looking for a good HVAC contractor. A bad installation can ruin the best equipment.

Looking for multistage for comfort but not necessarily 95%. I live in the Pacific NW. Want to avoid Payne as they have bad heat exchangers as well as Carrier and Bryant which was the unit I had at my current location.

Lost

Any need for AC or doing without for now?

a couple of suggestions.

Trane or AmStd XV 80. This is two stg 80% eff furnace with var speed blower.

Another choice could be the XT80 or XT90 furnaces. These furnaces while sgl stg do have high eff blower motors.

IMO

I replaced two Carrier furnaces when they were 25 years old. The only repair on each was the control board. I assume the relay on each failed.

I never serviced them except changing the filters twice a year. I used a Filtrete filters which I later learned are highly restrictive. They were working fine the day they were removed.

This message is mostly for Mike. Can you elaborate?

You say you replaced 2 carrier furnaces when they were 25 years old, and the only repair was the control board.

Did the heat exchangers fail at 25 years? It is not clear why you replaced them.

Are the heat exchangers in the current line of carrier furnaces as good as the ones that are 25 years old?

Thanks Mike.

As far as I know the heat exchangers in both furnaces were fine. They were not thoroughly inspected, so there could have been some minor cracks. None of the service techs who inspected my furnaces ever mentioned the possibility of a cracked heat exchanger.

The reason I replaced them is that the both AC condensers died during the summer of 2008. It made no sense to replace the AC without replacing the furnaces.

The Carrier did go through of period where heat exchangers were failing. I think they have solved this problem, but time will tell. Most Carrier furnaces have a limited lifetime warranty on the heat exchanger.

In my opinion the major cause of cracked heat exchangers are poor installation and lack of maintenance. If you avoid these conditions you should be fine.