New furnace cost?

[aaronc879]

My furnace didn't turn on this morning. Well, it made a sound like it was turning on but never blew any warm air. I'm guessing a blower motor is bad which is expensive. Furnace is only 7 years old but I live in Wisconsin so it gets a lot of use. I have someone coming to look at it hopefully some time today but they don't know when. If it is a $2K repair do I just get a new furnace? My home is only 1200sqft so can probably get a smaller furnace. Anyone get a smaller furnace installed recently? How much all in?

 

[finnski1]

7 years old is nothing. Be patient with the quote(s) if you can.

 

[COcheesehead]

Check to make sure its still not under warranty. Could also be a fuse inside. I had that happen. $1 fuse solved the issue. 7 years seems too short, but if it is the blower, I would just have that replaced.

 

[ERD50]

Well, it made a sound like it was turning on but never blew any warm air.

A 7 YO furnace almost certainly has a draft inducer. That's a fan that pulls air through the heat exchanger and out the exhaust.

The first thing that happens is the controller turns that fan on, a few seconds later checks that there is a vacuum on the inlet side (you will find a little rubber tube going from that fan to the sensor). If it doesn't sense a vacuum it shuts down. Could be a bad fan, a blocked exhaust, a leak in the hose, a bad sensor/connection.


Many of these are simple DIY fixes (a new hose)
.
Does the igniter start to glow? Does the gas flame come on? Lots of good troubleshooting on youtube.

One of the best:

https://www.youtube.com/c/grayfurnaceman/videos

-ERD50

 

[aaronc879]

Check to make sure its still not under warranty. Could also be a fuse inside. I had that happen. $1 fuse solved the issue. 7 years seems too short, but if it is the blower, I would just have that replaced.

They said that transfer of ownership reduces parts warranty from 10 years to 5 years so it's not covered. Labor wouldn't have been covered either way.

 

[Bamaman]

Do you not have a/c? The biggest problem is a capacitor on HVAC systems--but they are to start the a/c compressor.

Your problem could be as simple as a fan motor. Most would get a HVAC professional to diagnose the problem. Parts are not always terribly expensive.

 

[aaronc879]

Do you not have a/c? The biggest problem is a capacitor on HVAC systems--but they are to start the a/c compressor.

Your problem could be as simple as a fan motor. Most would get a HVAC professional to diagnose the problem. Parts are not always terribly expensive.

I have central air but not sure why that would impact the furnace. I replaced the capacitor on the A/C system a couple years ago. Google says a blower fan motor is $1-2K, not a simple thing for me since my income is under $15K/yr.

 

[euro]

I agree with others - for a furnace, there is almost nothing that can go wrong after just 7 years that isn't worth repairing instead of replacing the unit. See what the repairman says.

 

[ERD50]

This video looks pretty good

Also, there should be an LED flashing a 'Morse code' pattern - check that against the manual.

-ERD50

 

[wdwwildbill]

I have central air but not sure why that would impact the furnace. I replaced the capacitor on the A/C system a couple years ago. Google says a blower fan motor is $1-2K, not a simple thing for me since my income is under $15K/yr.

Will the blower run if you put the fan to On on the thermostat ? If it does, then it's not the motor and most likely a different problem. IF it os the motor then it depends on what type of motor it is. Higher end units have DC volt motors that are costly, Regular motors should be under $ 1000.00 installed

 

[Sunset]

OP - it would be good to look at the furnace as it tries to come on. For example when mine comes on, the igniter glows and cause the flame to ignite.
I've never replaced mine in 20 yrs, but I know a fellow that has replaced his 3x in the last 20yrs as they stopped working.
It's a ~$30 part , but the furnace cleaning my furnance years ago said he could replace my working one for only $250

It's a matter of unscrewing 1 screw and plugging in a wire.

 

[ivinsfan]

Likely worth repairing..are you getting the same company that sold the furnace? We burn propane can bring it's on set of issue.


Since you are low income in a cold weather state there might very well be repair assistance money available to you it doesn't hurt to look. It might reimburse some repair costs.

 

[aaronc879]

Well I learned that furnace repair is definitely NOT a DIY for me personally. I will have to pay whatever is needed to have it professionally fixed or replaced.

 

[aaronc879]

Likely worth repairing..are you getting the same company that sold the furnace? We burn propane can bring it's on set of issue.


Since you are low income in a cold weather state there might very well be repair assistance money available to you it doesn't hurt to look. It might reimburse some repair costs.

The income limit in my area is $31K/yr or around $2600/mo and they only look at the month prior to your application. Of course October was the one month all year that I made over $2600 so I don't qualify. Even though I only made $10K total in the 10 months they only look at that one month.

 

[Sunset]

Well I learned that furnace repair is definitely NOT a DIY for me personally. I will have to pay whatever is needed to have it professionally fixed or replaced.

I get that, but it's still worth looking at the suggestions people say, for example if the fan runs by itself, you know the motor is OK, so if the repairman says the motor is shot, you know he is lying or incompetent and can ask him if it's shot why does it run on blower ?

Knowing what is probably wrong (ignitor does not glow for example) means you are more likely to get a honest repair.

 

[aaronc879]

I get that, but it's still worth looking at the suggestions people say, for example if the fan runs by itself, you know the motor is OK, so if the repairman says the motor is shot, you know he is lying or incompetent and can ask him if it's shot why does it run on blower ?

Knowing what is probably wrong (ignitor does not glow for example) means you are more likely to get a honest repair.

I did that a couple hours ago. When I put it on "fan" mode I feel a little air coming out but not much.

 

[aaronc879]

The guy stopped by and after some trouble shooting discovered it was the igniter. Around $200. Everything else looks good. I can live with that. Thanks for the help

 

[ERD50]

I get that, but it's still worth looking at the suggestions people say, for example if the fan runs by itself, you know the motor is OK, so if the repairman says the motor is shot, you know he is lying or incompetent and can ask him if it's shot why does it run on blower ?

Knowing what is probably wrong (ignitor does not glow for example) means you are more likely to get a honest repair.

I did that a couple hours ago. When I put it on "fan" mode I feel a little air coming out but not much.

The guy stopped by and after some trouble shooting discovered it was the igniter. Around $200. Everything else looks good. I can live with that. Thanks for the help

Glad it worked out - but heed what Sunset and some others have said. Even if you don't want to tackle a DIY repair, if you become familiar with your HVAC, you can detect problems and have a good idea of what repair is needed, w/o getting ripped off.

Above you said in the FAN mode, it didn't provide much air. Well, the igniter would have no effect on that, so that tells me (like most people) you aren't aware of what it is like when it is working properly. If you get used to the sights/sounds of it working, you'll have a much better idea of what it takes to repair it.

BTW, replacing an igniter is the kind of thing almost anyone, armed with the right info, could detect and repair for $20. I purchased a set of common failure parts for my furnace (ignitor, sensor, limit switches, cap), probably $60 total, and I'm ready for probably 80% of the things that will go wrong, and each is a 10 minute fix.

Tell us what model your furnace is, I bet I could walk you through what a normal start-up on/off cycle is like. It's far from rocket science.

-ERD50

 

[EarlyandLate]

Best outcome possible! Congrats! As other folks have pointed out, it is well worth being very familiar with your home systems and at least try to diagnose problems. As others have pointed out, there's a wealth of YouTube videos on these topics.
Perhaps you can cultivate a friendship with a mechanically-inclined friend. Home baked chocolate chip cookies go a long way, ha ha!

 

[Bamaman]

Furnace fan motors in air handlers are in the $200-300 range for most furnaces.

Remove your motor and take it into a HVAC supply store and pick up another just like it. Just be sure to cut off the circuit breaker(s) going into the system.

They're not at all difficult to remove and replace, and certainly not a time consuming job. The HVAC world is full of shysters.

I replaced an entire heat pump system including outside compressor and inside air handler with the heat coils for $4,200--including some sheet metal repair. I received bids as high as $8900 for the same thing.

 

[MC Rider]

The guy stopped by and after some trouble shooting discovered it was the igniter. Around $200. Everything else looks good. I can live with that. Thanks for the help

Around here I figure $100 just to darken your door, so a $200 fix is not bad.

 

[aaronc879]

Around here I figure $100 just to darken your door, so a $200 fix is not bad.

$85 just to come to the door, $50 labor and $55 for the part for a total of $190.

 

[RobbieB]

Sounds totally fair, no rip-off here.

 

[W2R]

Aaron, I am so happy for you that the fix is just $190! Bet you're happy too.

 

[Sunset]

.....

BTW, replacing an igniter is the kind of thing almost anyone, armed with the right info, could detect and repair for $20. I purchased a set of common failure parts for my furnace (ignitor, sensor, limit switches, cap), probably $60 total, and I'm ready for probably 80% of the things that will go wrong, and each is a 10 minute fix.

.....

My Aunt who is about 77 told me she replaced her igniter herself !!

I was pretty impressed as she didn't ask for help or anything. !