How old is your furnace? It would help to know the type furnace (gas, LP, electric, o

[Gumby]

We have hot water radiators - the big old fashioned kind. The house was built in 1857 and originally did not have heat other than the four fireplaces. In 1992, when we moved in, the boiler was a big monstrosity that had once been coal fired but had at some point in the distant past been converted to fuel oil. In early 1994, we replaced the boiler with an oil fired Burnham V-74 unit. In 2012, we replaced just the burner part with a Wayne gas conversion burner and switched to natural gas. We had to replace the combustion chamber and the controller unit in 2014. Nothing since then.

So the simple answer is that our boiler is 27 years old, with a few modifications and repairs in the interim. I have become resigned to the fact that we will likely have to get an entirely new gas boiler in the not too distant future. I expect when that happens, we will eschew the super efficient boiler because we probably won't live here long enough to recoup the extra cost.

 

[Sunset]

We have hot water radiators - the big old fashioned kind. The house was built in 1857 ......

So the simple answer is that our boiler is 27 years old, with a few modifications and repairs in the interim. I have become resigned to the fact that we will likely have to get an entirely new gas boiler in the not too distant future. I expect when that happens, we will eschew the super efficient boiler because we probably won't live here long enough to recoup the extra cost.

If you are lucky, Natural gas prices will rise so much, it will be worth it

 

[Lsbcal]

Ours is a gas furnace 24 years old. Just had it checked and it got a clean bill of health. The experienced HVAC guy is someone I trust. I also have a CO2 monitor.

When we have our deck re-stained I always ask how long the guy thinks the deck will last. The answer is always "maybe 5 more years". Its been the same answer now for around 15+ years.

 

[W2R]

I had the entire central HVAC system replaced a year after I bought this house, in September, 2016. My home inspector alerted me to that fact that there were multiple problems and this needed to be done, so I took that into account when making the offer on this house. The heat is natural gas.

The prior HVAC, put in by the prior owner, was very old. I think it was maybe 30+ years old? The air conditioning used a coolant that isn't even available any more so that, plus the fact that it stopped working were the two reasons why I replaced it. Plus, I had set aside the cost of replacement and considered that as part of the initial cost of my house.

 

[mountainsoft]

About 25 years ago we were still living in a mobile home with an electric forced air furnace. One very cold winter it quit working and took over two weeks to have the new part delivered. Two weeks was a long time to go without heat (portable space heaters helped, but were inadequate). I learned the importance of having a backup.

When we built our house in 2004 I was determined to have redundancy. So we have individual electric wall heaters in every room (9 in total). Even if one fails, we can still use the others to stay warm. Worst case, I can swap heaters from a lesser used room to a more common room (we rarely turn on the bathroom or laundry heaters).

As another backup, we also installed a wood stove in our house. So even if the power goes out completely we can still heat our home.

A few months ago I also installed a new ductless mini-split heat pump. Since installing that we have turned off our wall heaters and have been using the heat pump exclusively. Of course, the wall heaters are still in place if the heat pump fails or it gets too cold outside.

 

[Jerry1]

I commend those of you who run your winter temps in the low 60’s. I go down to 66 at night and thinking about bumping that up. During the day I run at 68 and often bump that up for a couple hours to 70. Also run a gas fireplace which brings the living room into the low 70’s. I don’t think it cost too much to run the fireplace because when it’s on, the furnace doesn’t come on. The rest of the house gets cold, but it’s nice and cozy by the fire.

 

[teetee]

I commend those of you who run your winter temps in the low 60’s. I go down to 66 at night and thinking about bumping that up. During the day I run at 68 and often bump that up for a couple hours to 70. Also run a gas fireplace which brings the living room into the low 70’s. I don’t think it cost too much to run the fireplace because when it’s on, the furnace doesn’t come on. The rest of the house gets cold, but it’s nice and cozy by the fire.

When we get old, the ability of our body to control the temperature regulation (mainly the heart, the blood circulation system, and the brain) decreases and it is natural to feel cold / hot more easily.

My grandpa father is 97 and his legs and hands are cold if the room temperature ever goes below 72F. We also can't raise the room temperature too much during the winter otherwise the dryness (despite of having a humidifier next to his bed) will make his skin itchy. Lotion can do only so much.

 

[Telly]

Zoned house, both units gas forced air. I replaced the originals at ages 22 and 24, they were horizontal furnaces with standing pilots. They were still working, but the A/C for each were dying, and I replaced them in early springs. Our A/C season is at least 7 months, and it would be way too hot for me to be working up there in summer!
The replacement units are upflow furnaces laid on their sides, 80% efficiency with induction blower, non-condensing, spark igniter. They're now 15 and 17 years old. The only thing I have had to do with them is replace the "pressure switch" in both. Really it's a vacuum switch. If the induction blower is running, and flue isn't blocked for some reason, then the airflow being blown up the flue pipe creates a small vacuum across a tap, the venturi effect, which flips the vacuum switch. The controller board looks at that switch to determine if it's safe to light up the burners, and will shut them down if the vac switch changes to wrong state while running. I have a spare vac switch that fits both, they just have different brackets to mount them.

 

[DayDreaming]

I had an old oil-fired boiler that heated my house and supplied my hot water. As best as I could tell it was from the mid 1950's, so it was over 60 years old. It ran fine and only needed occasional repairs, but I knew it was incredibly inefficient. I replaced it with a new oil fired boiler a few years ago and my heating bill are about half of what they were before, so it should pay for it's self fairly quickly.

 

[Qs Laptop]

The only thing I have had to do with them is replace the "pressure switch" in both. Really it's a vacuum switch. If the induction blower is running, and flue isn't blocked for some reason, then the airflow being blown up the flue pipe creates a small vacuum across a tap, the venturi effect, which flips the vacuum switch. The controller board looks at that switch to determine if it's safe to light up the burners, and will shut them down if the vac switch changes to wrong state while running. I have a spare vac switch that fits both, they just have different brackets to mount them.

This reminded me of a year ago when trying to heat the house for the first time in the autumn. My furnace would fire up and then just before the fan was going to kick in and blow heat, the furnace would shut down. I looked at the diagnostic codes and tracked the problem down to this vacuum switch you speak of. There was a small rubber tube attached to the flue sensor that carried vacuum to the vacuum switch. I removed the rubber tubing and discovered a miniscule piece of lint from, I suspect, a cottonwood tree blossom in the tubing. Removed the lint and, voila! Furnace has been working since.

 

[ejman]

41 years. Works fine to heat up our house here in the woods of SW Oregon. I suspect it may outlast me, the house, and who know what else. No electrical parts, nothing significant to break near as I can tell. It does require annual maintenance in the way of a chimney sweep.

 

[Music Lover]

41 years. Works fine to heat up our house here in the woods of SW Oregon. I suspect it may outlast me, the house, and who know what else. No electrical parts, nothing significant to break near as I can tell. It does require annual maintenance in the way of a chimney sweep.

You have to feed the fire 2-3 times every day and clean the ashes. Maybe it's not "maintenance" but it's a daily chore.

 

[rodi]

After the second BANG I probably would have evacuated.

LOL - we started shopping after the first bang - but had to find a furnace to fit the spot. We're on slab and the furnace is in a tight closet upstairs with all the duct work going into the attic then back down through the walls. Moving it to a different spot would have been super pricey because of the reducting. Took about 3 weeks to identify a furnace and get it installed. Good thing we're in San Diego where it doesn't get too cold.

 

[Walt34]

The natural gas forced air furnace in our house is 19 years old and still runs fine, no issues. We did have to replace the CAC at about 12 years.

The house I grew up in had oil-fired hot water heat with the big cast iron radiators like Gumby described. There was one underneath every one of the single pane windows in the house, and for good reason. Other than about three inches of insulation in the attic to my knowledge there was no other insulation in the house. But in the late 1930's-early 1940's when it was built heating oil was cheap. That same oil-fired hot water system was still in place when Mom moved out in 1987.

There was one terror-filled (for me) cold winter night when the furnace quit working when I was about five years old. My father, an electrician, spent quite a bit of time working on it, and studying the wiring diagram pasted on the back of the furnace. My job was to hold the flashlight so he could read it, and I kept hearing him say that we didn't have the money to hire someone to fix it. I had visions of all of us frozen in place, encrusted in ice, like something out of an Alaskan horror movie.

Obviously that didn't happen and happily he did figure out whatever the issue was so we didn't freeze to death after all.

 

[MC Rider]

Ours is natural gas, about 15 years old. Was done by the prior owner, so I am not quite sure. But they did new ducting, but left the old vents in the walls. They moved the furnace up to the attic, it apparently was in a closet by the kitchen. They did not close a big hole in the closet ceiling opening to the attic, and just laid plywood over a hole in the floor with dirt below. Had 2 replaced a couple small parts in the outside unit a few years ago, and a part in the furnace a couple years ago. Nothing expensive. Hopefully it keeps going while we are here.

I put a ceiling in the closet, had a floor put in and tiled, and built out shelves to make it a pantry. Better.

 

[RobbieB]

41 years. Works fine to heat up our house here in the woods of SW Oregon. I suspect it may outlast me, the house, and who know what else. No electrical parts, nothing significant to break near as I can tell. It does require annual maintenance in the way of a chimney sweep.

I have one of those too! Smaller and it's an insert, but I won't run it if it's over 50 outside. These new EPA wood burners are super efficient, use very little fuel and will warm the whole house if you can circulate the air.

 

[1242Vintage]

We had our AC and furnace replaced 3 years ago. Don’t know the make/model of our furnace but it’s Natural Gas fired. Cost me $12k for the replacement and new duct work.

We also have a Natural Gas fireplace insert that’s about five years old in the family room on the first floor. Temps rarely get down below freezing and the main living areas and master bedroom are on the first floor so the insert is typically our source of heat.

Kids and guest bedrooms are upstairs so we only run the furnace if those are occupied … or if temps drop below freezing.

 

[Time2]

A friend of mine had some service on his air conditioning and the tech told him the heat exchanger was old and should be replaced. It was over 35 years old. It was suggested at that age it could have cracks in it. He looked up Youtube videos about what he was looking for, did all the leak tests and was convinced the heat exchanger did not have any leaks. It was several years later that the air conditioner gave up and he got a new system, It is a shame he will probably only get 15 or 20 years out of the new system.

 

[COcheesehead]

Years ago we had an old 1926 era house. The furnace was a monster, but it worked. We had no AC in the house because we were told the system could not support it. When we wanted to upgrade our living space and move on, we decided we should replace the furnace and that would be one more thing to make the house more attractive to a buyer. We installed a new high efficiency furnace with AC. We ended up living in the house for almost a year after the new HVAC was installed. The utility bills went down, it was quiet, the AC in summer was wonderful. I think all in we spent $3000 - $3500. We kick ourselves for not having done it sooner. Lesson learned upgrade early so you can get some enjoyment from your investment.

Also if you live in a dry climate, a humidifier add on is relatively cheap, $800 or so and well worth it for comfort, lack of static, gaping in wood floors, etc.

 

[MC Rider]

.......... Lesson learned upgrade early so you can get some enjoyment from your investment......

Agree. We remodeled our kitchen and did a bunch of other stuff after buying our place. It made no sense to me to remodel right before selling. Do it now and enjoy it.

 

[aaronc879]

Mine is 9 years old. This will be my 6th winter in this house. I haven't gotten an inspection yet because I didn't want to spend the money. No problems so far but it is getting a little older now so I should probably get it checked out soon. It gets a lot of use up here in Wisconsin.

 

[Sunset]

Mine is 9 years old. This will be my 6th winter in this house. I haven't gotten an inspection yet because I didn't want to spend the money. No problems so far but it is getting a little older now so I should probably get it checked out soon. It gets a lot of use up here in Wisconsin.

Around here, some places that inspect say they guarantee your furnace won't fail for 6 months after inspection.
It cost me ~$69

 

[Sunset]

I bought the furnace parts, flame sensor and igniter.

The flame sensor was a pk of 2, and one didn't have the little electric connection tab on it.
I can return them to Amazon, and spend $2 more to order a new set from a different seller adn the return drop off at Kohls. (my seller no longer has any and does not reply).

I am wondering, can I just solder on a metal tab, or is it trickier than that to fix it.

<edit> Added picture

 

[tmm99]

The furnace when we bought this house was 30 years old but it was still working fine. Replaced it with a HE furnace to be on the safe side and for the rebate that was available. The efficiency ìncrease from 75% to something much higher like 95%+ but I can't remember exactly.

 

[street]

I think you got your money out of your 35 year old furnace. I replaced mine when about 20 years old for tax credit, HE and for a safety thing. I think if maintenance and taken care of they should run a long time.

In the winter months up north a furnace gets more use then a furnace in the south. That makes a big difference IMO.