My 50-year-old HVAC system gives up the ghost

[human]

So this week when I cleaned the filter on my furnace, which is also the air handler for the air conditioner, I noticed an excessive amount of condensation dripping down and subsequently noticed the engineered wood floor starting to curl up in the hallway. As is usually the case in hot weather, it took about three days to get a service technician out to the house and what he found was pretty depressing.

The condensation problem has been happening for a long time and the gas furnace is rusted out to the point that it would be dangerous to operate this winter so I was faced with three choices: patch it up with no guarantee of how long it would last, replace just the furnace with a five-year warranty or spend a bit more and replace the whole system for about $7,000 and get a ten-year warranty. Considering the lack of longevity for modern HVAC systems, I chose the latter option. They'll be back Monday to install it.

On the one hand, I can't be too disappointed because this Singer system is original to the house, which was built in 1970. Fifty years is a good, long run for any system and I have no illusions that the new system will last anywhere near that long and in that respect, I just hate the idea of getting on the replacement merry-go-round every 10-12 years. But hey, that's reality in the twenty-first century. Nothing's built to last. Of course, I've still got to do something about the floor in the hallway. After the expense of the HVAC system, I'm tempted to cheap out and put carpet down over it.

 

[fan-of-fans]

Now that is a good service life! Any chance we could see pics of this old system before it's gone? Guessing it's a green color. I used to see some of these older systems still around on houses built in the 1950s and 60s but most are gone now.

 

[human]

Ask and you shall receive. The sheet metal on the furnace is a greenish gray or grayish green, depending on how you want to look at it. They sure don't make 'em like this anymore. I'll be sad to see it go. The stainless steel mixing bowl is not standard equiment but it's exactly the right size and shape to catch the drips coming out of the flue.

 

[human]

Just for the heck of it, I popped the 'American Furnace Company' badge off the front panel to save as a souvenir. Maybe I'll stick it on the new furnace as a good luck charm.

 

[kirby519]

What is really alarming is the fact that the engineered wood floors are curling up.

For the cost of them which is less than solid hard wood flooring. I would be upset over that.

That could end up to be an unexpected expenditure to replace those floors. I understand as the humidity drops the floors should return to their normal flat surface. But until then WOW that could lead to damaged edges. Wood doors swell up around here when the humidity is high stained or painted. Painted doors stick even worse.

 

[fan-of-fans]

Those old units really lasted. My parents house still had the original Fedders electric heat/AC system from 1976 when they moved in. It was weird because it had two compressors inside the unit, instead of one. I think one of the compressors went bad, so they had the repairman set it up to use one and then they ended up replacing it a few years later. They're on their second replacement system now.

One tip I'd suggest, is after the compressor unit is installed outside, give the cabinet a good coat of automotive wax. That'll keep it looking new and prevent rusting and paint fading from the sun.

 

[human]

Yes, I am quite irritated over the damage to the flooring. What tipped me off was I found a wet piece of paper on the floor in the hallway where there shouldn't have been any water. It is actually seeping up between the seams in spots. The house is on a concrete slab so there's nowhere for the water to go. Once the new system is in and I know no new water is coming down, I'm going to go over the the floor with my wet/dry vac to see how much water I can suck out of there. I'm not going to do anything about replacing the floor right away. I'm just going to let it dry out for at least a month or two and see what happens. Meanwhile, I'll be pricing flooring and carpet and coming up with affordable solution while I wait for my bank account to recover from the cost of the HVAC system.

 

[kirby519]

Oh man concrete is like a giant sponge.

Hopefully with the new unit and the air being dried out by the A/C. The floors will return to as close to normal as possible with minimal damage.

50 years for a heating system is excellent sad part is you are the one that had to bite the bullet and shell out for new units. One of the joys of home ownership instant poverty.

 

[kirby519]

If you haven't already done it. Put some large fans blowing across the floor to aid drying.

Even if you have to rent some commercial squirrel cage blowers or the newer down draft fans we use in commercial cleaning/restoration to aid drying of floor finish and carpets and or a dehumidifier if you have one.

 

[human]

Good idea on the fans. I've got a big, commercial grade fan that I'll set up in the hallway once the new system is in. I, too am hoping the floor will relax back into place as it dries.

 

[kirby519]

There is Luxury vinyl tile available too in an array of colors and patterns.

Commonly referred to as LVT.

If you Google LVT flooring you will come up with sites that offer LVT. Some if not all have a textured surface for slip resistance when the floor is wet.

No slipping or sliding around on the flooring like you do on some ceramic tile floors or the traditional rolled vinyl floors are when wet. I have rolled vinyl flooring in my bathroom, boy can that be a recipe for disaster.

 

[madman]

'Engineered hardwood' is marketing-speak for 'particle board with a wood veneer glued to it.' Particle board does not like water, as anybody who's had Kmart furniture in a basement will tell you. I'd never put that crap in my house.

New systems aren't really all that bad. My Goodman furnace lasted a good 8 years, needing only a new inducer fan once, but we moved after that, so probably longer. Kept the A/C condenser unit, that's gotta be going on 12 years now. It's been acting up lately, but that's just because it probably leaked a bit of charge, that and that it's coupled to an ancient evaporator core that's completely wrong for it.

The furnace in my current house is from the 80s, maybe late 90s. My dad keeps saying we should buy a new one just in case - maybe he's right - but all the problems it's had have been stupid little things that any furnace will need in its operating life. Especially considering it's been operating for 30-40 years!

Incidentally, it kindof needed an inducer motor, but I found it had ball bearings, so I just replaced them. It did NOT need a fan motor, but my dad went and bought one anyway, so that's new. It needed a control board, but I just resoldered some broken joints, and it's fine (and I literally had it fixed within one hour of discovering it stopped working lol). And it always used to make this shrill metallic rattle whenever the fan was running. This current summer, with the A/C problems we've had, I had it in pieces and I found out the heat exchanger pipes were wiggling around in their holders. I filled the holders with high temp RTV silicone, it's completely silent now.

Point being, any furnace requires maintenance, old or new.

 

[kirby519]

It's true could be repaired if all parts needed are available. However that can be an unending repair job. In the end costing even more between repairs to keep the system working and finally in the end complete replacement.

At this point maybe best all the way around to replace the system with a new one. Reliable for years and more cost efficient to use.

 

[human]

I'm sure the flooring isn't of the best quality. It was in place when I bought the house, doubtless put down to help sell it. It's kind of like that the used car salesmen say--Bondo and paint makes it look like what it ain't.

Yes, the expense is irritating and the ten-year warranty means the it's designed to last for eleven so I get to pay full freight again on the next one too. Meanwhile, maybe I can recoup some of the cost through reduced utility bills but I'm not counting those chickens yet. I was promised the same thing by the guy who sold me my vinyl replacement windows but that definitely didn't materialize.

 

[kirby519]

@human

Yes it is sad that products that once lasted decades now have a much shorter life span.

The new furnace may give you a longer lifespan than maybe expected. If repairs need to be made any time around year 9 to 10 under warranty you could expect another 9 to 10 years trouble free. Granted no guarantees on that.

I had a Ford Explorer that needed the radiator replaced. The original lasted over 200,000 miles. The next radiator lasted a year and that one failed with in a year. How frustrating is that. Fortunately the replacement failed just before the warranty ran out. Makes you wonder if it isn't worth replacing the radiator with a new vehicle to go along with it.

 

[vacuumlad1650]

"Ford radiator" now what you need there Is a reputable radiator shop! We have had one in the Chicagoland area for many years, Rex radiator. They have probably done 200 radiators for us through the years. They recored the radiator on my International scout most recently...at a fraction of the cost of a replacement that may only last 5 years.

It's a shame the Singer system finally.let go. I saw a house in my adventures househunting that had a full singer system still operating, although the air conditioning unit outside the house sounded awful

 

[kirby519]

The shop was recommended by someone I have done business with for years. Thankfully that problem child is no longer my problem.

 

[human]

The Singer is still running, at least for tonight. The top of the furnace is just so rusted out that it would be unsafe to operate this winter and I don't want to monoxide myself or my cats. When I bought the house in 2014, it still even had the original Singer thermostat. That broke almost immediately and I replaced it with a programmable Honeywell unit. I do not plan to let them scrap that, especially if the new system, comes with a lesser thermostat.

I had a funny experience with a radiator rebuild when I was in college back in the '80s. I took my car to the Kmart Auto Center that was next door to campus and they sent the radiator out to a shop in town. When I picked the car up, the receipt from the radiator shop was attached to the Kmart Auto Center invoice and showed the discount they had given Kmart. Not only did Kmart not mark up the cost of the repair, the discount from the radiator shop was greater than the labor Kmart charged to remove and install the radiator. The repair was good. I kept the car three more years and had no further problem with it.

 

[madman]

I doubt they will replace your thermostat, that's rarely part of the deal.

@kirby519 - owning a home is always an unending repair job.