Talked to my 80 year old neighbor about his old furnace last week

I was out raking leaves and Mr. Peterson came over to complain about my leaf blower noise. We got talking about his old gas furnace he's had since 1975. He said he's never had a single repair on it, just replaces the filter twice a year. Made me think about how my fancy high efficiency unit has needed two service calls in three years. Anyone else feel like old stuff was built better?

3 comments

3 Comments

kevin_west1mo ago

Keep in mind those old units were way less efficient, so you're paying for that reliability at the gas meter. Your new furnace is more complex but it's also saving you money every month.

kaih361mo ago

Hold on @kevin_west, you're telling me my old 80% furnace was actually costing me that much more every month? I mean I knew it was old but damn. My buddy's still running one from the 90s and his winter bills are brutal. I guess I never did the math on what that 15-20% efficiency difference adds up to over a whole heating season. That might actually justify the headache of the new unit's circuit boards.

tylerj221mo ago

And @kevin_west is right too, that circuit board headache still feels cheaper than burning all that extra gas every winter.