Goodman GMH95 gas furnace high (95%) efficiency Review

I am currently having my heating system replaced. So here is my story. I have a 19 year old Lennox Pulse system that pretty much bit the dust. While attempting to do an operational check to get ready for those long cold winter nights in upstate NY, the system decided to just chatter and never came online. After extensively exhausting my engineering and electrical background, I finally broke down and called a service repairman.

First words of wisdom! Find someone locally that you know or someone you trust knows. ASK! Don't finger tab through the yellow pages. Check them out with the Better Business Bureau. It is even better if they have prior experience with your unit.  A contractor insuring a quality intallation is more important than the brand of furnace!

For my dilemma, I just recently purchased the house and all the inspector did was check the unit for operation, no foresight into potential problems with age of the furnace. Seems all units are built for an average life of 12-14 years. After finding the service center, the bad news came - I needed a new system. I even watched as he did his troubleshooting. I don't think water is supposed to come out of the exhaust pipes or secondary heat exchanger.

I did a lot of research in pricing and sizing a new system since I found my problem before needing the furnace. I got estimates from several dealers, included the service center that brought me the bad news. It is true, 90% of the furnaces are EXACTLY the same. The manufacturers do not make most of the components themselves. It is like buying a car and complaining to Ford when the GE headlight burns out. As long as Ford covers it in their warranty and will do the repair work, your ok. Key word = WARRANTY. The best warranty I was able to find was 10 years on parts, 3 years labor.

I decided to change out the furnace, the old humidifier that wasn't working anyway, electronic filter and thermostat. After comparing the different manufacturer's, our service center provided the best estimate and warranty. Guess what - Goodman. But not $78 or $100 difference from Trane or Lennox, but over $2000.00 for the entire install. Yes that's two thousand. As you know, you don't just pay for the labor and equipment, but overhead and the NAME. Is saying "I have a Trane" worth $2000. Plus, our service center gave us 10 years labor with the warranty.

Make sure you check for rebates with your energy provider and the unit you get qualifies for the federal tax credit. When finished, we upgraded to get a >95% efficient variable speed blower model to qualify for the federal tax credit rather than replace the 2-stage 90% efficient model that just died which doesn't qualify. With the qualifying rebates and tax credits it was only an additional $100 for the upgrade.

It has been operating for about two weeks now with no problems.  I can't wait to see the first couple of heating bills so I can compare them to the old ones.