Has anybody else have more experience than they’d like installing furnace ignitors?
We have an old/1993 gas furnace that sometimes needs replacement of the ignitor. The first two were fixed by the repairman just a year (and a bit more, ie no warranty) after the house was built. The second was just under almost ayear later (part under warranty but the big cost was labor). The second repairman noted that this model has a design flaw that can. cause ignitors to sometimes fail. Since then we’ve always kept a spare ignitor (they are about $30), and my husband has swapped in the new part. It’s pretty easy, except for dealing with too-short screw. Today I watched the process since the new one we put in last week failed last night (hopefully just faulty part).
I got a new furnace over the summer (I was tired of dealing with a limit switch that meant it would not turn off and would blow cold and hot air and I would manually have to turn it off to reset it). A 1996 furnace that kept getting parts replaced until I got tired of it.
It hurt to replace it. A lot. But maybe it’s something to consider?
We have certainly considered replacing the furnace, for peace of mind when we travel in the winter (though we do turn off the water).
Some of the things that hold us a back are 1) the normal worries about cost, mess… so far nobody we’ve asked loved their HVAC contractor - not sure where to start 2) concerns about which technology… the local push is for electric / heat pumps, even though this area is sometimes too cold - would need back up. 3) As described above, our furnace when almost brand new gave us headaches. I fear the risk of that is worse now that there are probably more electronic boards etc. Still… if today’s igniter doesn’t last a good while, we’ll need to at least call for a consult.
Heat pump is basically air conditioner in reverse. Usually, it makes financial sense to add it when replacing or adding an air conditioner (i.e. a small increase in cost to add heat pump capability). But it may be more difficult financially if you are not replacing or adding an air conditioner.
Do you have an air conditioner, and (if so) how well does it work, and how efficient is it?
We replaced our 1995 heating and hot water system last year, and we are very happy with the results. The old one had several pin hole leaks, and there were parts that had been Jerry rigged for about 10 years as they were no longer made and no after market. We figured we got good service having this for almost 30 years.
My husband dealt with the replacement and contractors. He was very pleased with the work, and we are both very pleased with the continuous supply of hot water, and the consistent heat. It wasn’t a cheap bargain, but it was so worth it.
We did not get a heat pump system at this time. But our efficiency has improved.
Our AC is working well. It was installed maybe 1998, and I’m expecting it would likely make sense to replace them both together. (The hot water heater, which might need to get replaced same time too is only about 6 years old. They of course are supposed to not last very long. We procrastinated on that item til failure/link since the basement is unfinished and there is a floor drain. It was 25 years old).
Flashback story, in our first house. I came home on a Friday afternoon, thought that maybe I smelled gas. Called the utility company, and as required by their policy they had a tech there within an hour. No gas, phew. But… tech had to tag the furnace for carbon monoxide being a bit high, turned it off. (But he did show us how to turn it back on, our choice - it was winter.) We had to do somewhat quick replacement of the old “octopus” gravity fed furnace that had angled big vents taking up most of the cellar. We picked a high efficiency model, but I don’t recall any dramatic energy savings. I do remember that as predicted by the HVAC salesman, we didn’t love the new system with blower coming on and and off all the time. It was nice though to have some more cellar space with new ducting.
We had our HVAC system replaced when we bought this house over nine years ago. A few years back, our furnace failed to start on the first cold day. The repair guy said it was the igniter. It happened again a couple of years later. He said it could dry out from lack of use (we really only need heat from maybe November to early March). So now I pick a cool summer day and turn on the heat for a few minutes just to keep it moist, so to speak.
The igniter is pretty easy to replace, and unless it is a lennox furnace (who seem to love using proprietary parts), it is pretty generic (I have the same thing with a gas stove, now 30 years old). Old furnaces, especially gas units, can last a long time but over time they can go, especially if the circuit boards go bad.
We just replaced one of our furnaces (C 1998 trane that was a honey) because we were doing the AC units finally. Because they were all high efficiency units (it is now all Rheem or Ruud, which is owned by Rheem) we were able to finance it through our gas utility company with 0% interest. So far they have worked great and hopefully we won’t have to replace them any time soon. Without the financing we wouldn’t have been able to afford it, was around 17k total for the 2 ac systems and the furnace.
We are lucky, I have used the company many times before for other projects and they have been fantastic, great installors who did a neat job and no problems with the units. I did some research and for this brand looking at what service places say they seem reliable for the long term. My existing furnace we didn’t replace, which is about 7 years old, has been trouble free.