Gas furnace won't turn on, how much to replace?

[DrPizza]

Dude, he asked how much a replacement unit would cost, not if he should replace it or not.

I answered his original question (which nobody else has done) as well as suggested he makes sure he has the furnace checked out to make sure it's not something simple.

Perhaps you should read the thread too! While I concurred with everyone else in the first half of my post, I also quoted some prices. And, holy shit, do they charge a lot for furnaces in the NW. Unless that includes all the duct work for a new installation. If you're just swapping out an old furnace, a little bit of work with the gas line, a little work on the wiring, and a little bit of sheet metal fabrication to reconnect to the existing duct work, you're looking at a couple hours of labor for 2 guys, and maybe $1000 for a 90% efficient furnace. My bro-in-law installs them for a living, is the #1 installer in the area. Unless I'm mistaken, he passes on his cost for the materials & charges a flat rate for installation. Definitely under $1500 total for a high efficiency replacement.

 

[DominionSeraph]

The brakes on my car don't work, how much are new cars?

My grandparents replaced their car because it needed new tires.

 

[iGas]

My gas furnace won't turn on

I checked and it followed the instruction on the furnace itself. The pilot is automatic and it said not to try and light it yourself.

Can someone give me an idea of how much does it cost to replace one? My house is a 2 bedroom townhouse and have about 1000 square feet.

Cost depends on the type and efficiency of furnace that you want. Typical furnace for an average house run between $700~800 to $3000 CAD in my area, and then labor on top of that, ductwork, controls and electrical also add to the cost if needed.

That said, you are not handy enough by the look of your question, therefore it might be a good idea to get a tech to service it.

1. Make sure all valves lead to the furnace from the outside meter to furnace are on.
2. Make sure that you have power at the furnace.
3. Check and make sure that the motorize damper and blower/s are working (if this step fail come back here and we will walk you through).
4. Try to light the pilot unless you have a hot surface electronic ignition system (if this step fail come back here and we will walk you through).

 

[bruceb]

If it is a hot air furnace, it is more labor intensive to swap it. Some older homes, like mine, use a hot water boiler type furnace, as the home is hot water baseboard heat. Easy to swap, but you need to bleed air out of all the zones. Cost can vary widely, depending on Make, Efficiency Rating, contractor you use and time of year. (it will cost more in the dead of winter) .. PSE&G will also sell and install them and they are not out of line with others. But, try to fix it first, unless it is really on it's last legs.

 

[John P]

And, holy shit, do they charge a lot for furnaces in the NW. Unless that includes all the duct work for a new installation.

Tell me about it. Everything seems more expensive here. I got bids from 4 companies and have also seen bids for 3 of my friends who have had furnaces replaced recently. My existing gas furnace is about 24 years old. The only ductwork that nees to be done is probably to replace anything right near the furnace that is not to code. If you want to go dual fuel here (new furnace + heat pump) you are looking at $10,000 - $13,000 depending on the company.

 

[weadjust]

My gas HVAC wouldn't start last winter. Needed to replace the ceramic ignitor. Cost about $30 bucks for the part. If the unit is fairly new there may be a blinking light that will give the the trouble code. My unit is 8 years old and has the blinking trouble code light.

Link to show what a ceramic ignitor looks like.

http://www.climatedoctors.com/items/item.aspx?itemid=778934

 

[Squisher]

My gas HVAC wouldn't start last winter. Needed to replace the ceramic ignitor. Cost about $30 bucks for the part. If the unit is fairly new there may be a blinking light that will give the the trouble code. My unit is 8 years old and has the blinking trouble code light.

Link to show what a ceramic ignitor looks like.

http://www.climatedoctors.com/items/item.aspx?itemid=778934

The ignitor was the first thing I thought about when it said not to manually light the furnace.

 

[AdamK47]

Build a PC like mine and you'll be all set for the entire winter.

 

[waggy]

that reminds me. i gotta get a tech out to clean/look at my furnace. we had the blower replaced over the winter and the guy said teh burners needed cleaning they weren't getting a full light or something.

 

[Eli]

LOL

"Car won't start, how much to replace?"

Sorry.. I can't offer any advice other than to call a technician, but I just kinda find this whole idea amusing.

 

[mizzou]

You aren't running your stove or oven are you? Try at least 5 times I guess

 

[DrPizza]

That reminds me - I've gotta bite the bullet and insulate the house before the end of December this year. The tax incentive expires Dec 31 this year. Anyone thinking about a new furnace, etc., should act soon!

 

[iGas]

Tell me about it. Everything seems more expensive here. I got bids from 4 companies and have also seen bids for 3 of my friends who have had furnaces replaced recently. My existing gas furnace is about 24 years old. The only ductwork that nees to be done is probably to replace anything right near the furnace that is not to code. If you want to go dual fuel here (new furnace + heat pump) you are looking at $10,000 - $13,000 depending on the company.

10~14K is the standard charge everywhere for upgrade to heatpump because ductwork may need to be re size, 240V power need to be pull to the heatpump (typically 40~60 amps), all controls and control wirings needs to be pull an install.

 

[wiredspider]

$42

Seriously, how old is it? My furnace "died" last year, it cost like $99 to have the repair guy come out to tell me to replace it. Granted it is probably around 20 years old. My dad comes over and fixes it by replacing a $3 part!

 

[iGas]

$42

Seriously, how old is it? My furnace "died" last year, it cost like $99 to have the repair guy come out to tell me to replace it. Granted it is probably around 20 years old. My dad comes over and fixes it by replacing a $3 part!

It is likely that the 20 years old furnace is less than 80% efficiency (60~70% efficiency), hence it is make sense to replace the gas guzzler.

If the cost of running your furnace is $130 a month on a 70% efficiency furnace, then it would cost $105 on 95~98% efficiency furnace. A saving of $25 a month or at the very least $150 a year, but it is likely to be more.

 

[lxskllr]

It is likely that the 20 years old furnace is less than 80% efficiency (60~70% efficiency), hence it is make sense to replace the gas guzzler.

If the cost of running your furnace is $130 a month on a 70% efficiency furnace, then it would cost $105 on 95~98% efficiency furnace. A saving of $25 a month or at the very least $150 a year, but it is likely to be more.

The actual numbers are going to vary widely depending on the individual. I don't turn my heat on until November some time, it goes off in March, and I keep it set at 56F-58F. I also burn some wood if I happen to have any. It would take a long time to pay off the cost of a new furnace through energy savings.

 

[iGas]

The actual numbers are going to vary widely depending on the individual. I don't turn my heat on until November some time, it goes off in March, and I keep it set at 56F-58F. I also burn some wood if I happen to have any. It would take a long time to pay off the cost of a new furnace through energy savings.

I'm not disputing the cost of energy consumption for every individual.

How old is your house, did you do any upgrading like windows, insulation, and sealing the house? If not, then the true cost of keeping your home "comfortably warm" is going to be much more than you think. Not only that you might be encouraging mold to grow in the walls/insulation of you home if it is sealed tight with little ventilation, because it is possible that the temperature humidity level in the outside walls periodically reached dew point in the winter when you keep the inside temperature of the house low.

If it is working out well for you then great, other wise you and others that have newer house/well sealed home are living in a moldy sewer.

 

[DrPizza]

It is likely that the 20 years old furnace is less than 80% efficiency (60~70% efficiency), hence it is make sense to replace the gas guzzler.

If the cost of running your furnace is $130 a month on a 70% efficiency furnace, then it would cost $105 on 95~98% efficiency furnace. A saving of $25 a month or at the very least $150 a year, but it is likely to be more.

If it's a 20 year old furnace, I'm going to guess the house is a little older too. Thus, during the heating months, (at least in the northeast), I'd expect $130 a month to be on the very low end for a monthly gas bill. I've seen $400 and $500 bills for many people with older furnaces. And like you're saying - this is really a very generic argument; every situation is different. However, when we swapped out the furnace at the house I rented, the new furnace pretty much "paid for itself" in one winter. (In reality, the tenants saved that much money; I didn't, but I paid for the furnace.) Oddly, my former neighbors kept calling me last winter asking if I was paying for the gas - the tenants left a bedroom window open all winter with fan in it. Apparently I really reduced that gas bill by a lot for them.

 

[Vette73]

Perhaps you should read the thread too! While I concurred with everyone else in the first half of my post, I also quoted some prices. And, holy shit, do they charge a lot for furnaces in the NW. Unless that includes all the duct work for a new installation. If you're just swapping out an old furnace, a little bit of work with the gas line, a little work on the wiring, and a little bit of sheet metal fabrication to reconnect to the existing duct work, you're looking at a couple hours of labor for 2 guys, and maybe $1000 for a 90% efficient furnace. My bro-in-law installs them for a living, is the #1 installer in the area. Unless I'm mistaken, he passes on his cost for the materials & charges a flat rate for installation. Definitely under $1500 total for a high efficiency replacement.

You do know that not all houses or systems are like the one you are thinking of.
I replaced my FULL system (AC , Furnace, duct work, etc...) and the parts alone were about 5k.
Also it took 4 people HOURS just to set the furnace and blower. Mine is in the attic which is hand built and ran duct work to the new addition that is truce.

Now mine was the largest residential one that was allowed and also is a high efficient model. So that does explain some cost and time due to weight. But every system is different and higher efficiency models require more to install since they make water that has to run somewhere.

 

[cliftonite]

Perhaps you should read the thread too! While I concurred with everyone else in the first half of my post, I also quoted some prices. And, holy shit, do they charge a lot for furnaces in the NW. Unless that includes all the duct work for a new installation. If you're just swapping out an old furnace, a little bit of work with the gas line, a little work on the wiring, and a little bit of sheet metal fabrication to reconnect to the existing duct work, you're looking at a couple hours of labor for 2 guys, and maybe $1000 for a 90% efficient furnace. My bro-in-law installs them for a living, is the #1 installer in the area. Unless I'm mistaken, he passes on his cost for the materials & charges a flat rate for installation. Definitely under $1500 total for a high efficiency replacement.

We just got an estimate for a steam boiler and it is going to be around 4200. Its a Weil Mclain something (steam). The unit seems to be going for around 2500 to 2800 online/ebay so i guess its not a bad deal.

 

[Mark R]

$42

Seriously, how old is it? My furnace "died" last year, it cost like $99 to have the repair guy come out to tell me to replace it. Granted it is probably around 20 years old. My dad comes over and fixes it by replacing a $3 part!

That's often the way it is. I've even seen one case where someone was advised to replace a furnace - when the only fault was that an air pressure sense hose had been kinked, so the didn't sense that the blower was working. Unkinking the hose fixed the problem.

Over here, it's even worse - as it is illegal to perform any kind of maintenance or repair on a domestic gas appliance unless you are a member of the gas installers union. So, technically, I was risking jail-time by unkinking a friend's hose. The best bit though about the new regulations, is that no 'significant' (worth more than 10% of the whole installation) repair or replacement can be performed unless the whole installation is brought up to the latest code (no grandfathering allowed). New furnace required - it must be a new 95% dual stage one. Oh. That furnace is too big to fit. Too bad - you'll have to get the room remodeled to squeeze it in. Oh look, the gas code has changed. Your gas pipe has 3 mbar of pressure drop (the old code allowed 4 mbar) - but current code is 1 mbar. So, your entire gas piping will need replacing.Oh. The exhaust from the boiler is only 2 feet from the nearest window - current code says 3 feet minimum. Need to move the whole installation to another room. Oh. You're in a hard water area. Code says, a water softner is mandatory - better install one of those too.

 

[Ninjahedge]

We just had something similar.

Turns out that the reason why it was having problems was that the previous owners had disconnected the low-water shutodd. With that wire not coupled, the whole system would not light even though the power was on and the pilot lit.

We coupled them, got the old radiators reconnected and pitched for proper draonage (again, another thing they did not do) and now everything works fine.


With 100oSF I would just get it repaired.
Either that or just get a Plasma TV and watch it when you start getting cold!

 

[BoomerD]

hmmm...no update from the OP?

Hopefully he didn't try to repair this himself...and blow his house to bits.

 

[Eli]

A housekeeping heater is a chief appliance that is install to provide temperature to an inside region .The mainly usual fuel is natural gas; other common fuel is liquefied petroleum gas. In rare cases electrical material he is used like the source of warm, when the price of electricity is low.

:hmm:

 

[BoomerD]

:hmm:

Wanna borrow mine? It's just collecting dust nowadays anyway...