Furnace & A/C Information

[Greatwest]

Looking for some information on furnace and air conditioning. We are looking at an acreage with a 3500 sq/ft 2 storey house + the finished basement square footage as well. It currently has 2 gas furnaces. Older furnaces not high efficiency furnaces. Is it an option to switch to 1 larger furnace to heat a house that size? Anyone installed a furnace lately, what would the ballpark cost be per furnace to change over and install new high efficiency furnaces. Also the house has no air conditioning so with 2 furnaces would a guy have to install 2 air conditioners if we wanted A/C in the house? I know there are some very knowledgeable people on this site that likely have some of the answers to my questions. Thanks in advance fellas.

[ksteed17]

3500 is the total square footage I’m guessing? More than likely 1 furnace does second floor and main floor and one furnace does the basement. If you stayed with the two furnaces you would have to have 2 separate AC units or just put AC to the one that doesn’t do the base as that’s already cooler. It could be done with just one furnace that would now use zone dampers to direct the air to each zone.

[Dean2]

Trust me, keep the 2 furnace setup. WAY better method of dealing with large 2 storey homes.. If you can only afford to put AC on one furnace now, do the top floor. Cold sinks, so the cool air from the second story will come down to the first, depending on how open, many stair wells etc., plus you are cooling where you sleep, which is the more important of the two in real hot weather. Do the main floor as you can afford it. As long as the furnaces are good, no benefit to going HE, it makes very little difference in heating cost. NG is 30 bucks of a 250 gas bill so even cutting use in half makes almost no difference and HE won't save you half. Two ACs are cheaper than changing over to one HE furnace and one AC, by a very large amount and one furnace will never give you the even heat, two do now..

[Greatwest]

House was built in 1996. Furnaces are original so they are 25 years old. So are they ticking time bombs? When it is time to replace them do I go high efficiency then? Can you even purchase a regular furnace anymore that is not HE?

[Dweb]

Originally Posted by Greatwest

House was built in 1996. Furnaces are original so they are 25 years old. So are they ticking time bombs? When it is time to replace them do I go high efficiency then? Can you even purchase a regular furnace anymore that is not HE?

Mid efficient furnaces are no longer sold or installed.

You would have HE replacements.

[MyAlberta]

Originally Posted by Greatwest

House was built in 1996. Furnaces are original so they are 25 years old. So are they ticking time bombs? When it is time to replace them do I go high efficiency then? Can you even purchase a regular furnace anymore that is not HE?

Dual furnaces are a hedge against emergency repair calls. I've had flame sensors go out several times without adverse effects. On the other hand, a relatively new HE installation in a rental unit had me performing service on Christmas eve due to a snow drifted intake.

[Big Grey Wolf]

My brother has large home in Riverbend/Edmonton with 2 furnaces. Installed new HE furnace for basement and has AC only on main floor furnace. Basement cool because cold air migrates down. I just installed AC they run $4000 to $6000 installed so do not want to buy two.

[Getzcold]

Keep the 2 mid efficient furnaces. Easy to fix and probably will last just as long as one of these new high efficiency ones. Wait till next spring and look around for ac then when the stocks back. You will probably need a 4 ton main and a 2 ton up without looking at your place. Bet you could get both for 8K or under depending on the install.


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