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Furnace problems - repair, replace or ?
QUESTION:I have a Carrier Weather maker SX - model number 58SXA100-JG Serial
Number - 4390A02724 - the only reason I'm including the serial number
is because someone told me that you may be able to tell the age of the
unit. I don't know the age of the unit. It is definitely before the
age of blinking leds to help diagnose problems. We had to replace the
AC unit when we moved in 3 years ago, I've replaced it with a Lennox
AC unit.
About 1 month ago the furnace started to work intermittently on a
weekend - of course. I called a local repair shop and they sent a guy
out who listened to my story and said it's probably your high temp
limit switch. We can replace it and do the green label program for
$245.00. I was cold, so I said okay. I was in the middle of
replacing the furnace filter when he arrived.
The furnace worked that day, but the next morning it stopped working
again. I called the shop and the same guy came over and said, you know
I didn't have the right temperature high limit switch, so I'm going to
replace the original one I put in with one that has a higher
temperature rating at no charge.
Well it worked for about 10 days, then stopped again. I called the
same firm and a new guy came and said the only thing he could find
wrong with it was that door to the blower fan housing was loose and
the safety switch didn't let the furnace go on. No charge for that
service call either.
The furnace worked for another couple of days and stopped again. At
this point I said to my wife, well I'm going to give these folks one
more chance. I called them and told them that I was getting pretty
frustrated.
So they sent a new person over. A very, very conscientious and
persistent fellow. He said right up front that he didn't like working
on this type of furnace, that it was particularly difficult to
diagnose. But he started in.
He checked the power both 115v and 24v to the furnance, gas valve
circuit board, high limit switch through the inducer circuitboard. He
found that the inducer circuitboard was bad. The board had that
"toasted" electronics smell. He said that he would have to replace
the inducer circuitboard - $365.00. I said okay. So then the inducer
motor came on, the pilot came on, the gas valve opened and the main
burner came on. But there was no power to the blower motor from the
main circuit board. The blower motor did work using a manual setting.
He said he'd like to try to replace the main circuit board - cost
$210. He replaced the main circuit board and still could not get the
blower motor to run. He called another tech and they both traced all
of the circuits using the schematics on the furnace and the
schematics that came with the new parts. They could not get the blower
motor to come on. So far total cost was $821, and the furnace was
still not working. So - I asked them to put back the old circuit
boards and not charge me the $365 and $210 for the new circuit boards.
- I'll deal with the $245 later.
My questions:
1) Should I call a "certified" carrier repair person, and get an
estimate for what it would take to fix. Are these furnaces really
that hard to diagnose? I know I need the inducer circuit board at
$365.00. Is it worth getting fixed or
2) Should I start getting quotes - including a manual j calculation
for a new furnace
3) If I do need a new furnace, are there any issues of mixing and
maxing AC and furnace brands? I'm assuming that there isn't.
3) $245 sounds excessive for a limit switch that is very inexpensive.
What's a reasonable rate for that.
4) If I did have to buy a new furnace, based on my description above,
would you consider going through that shop for a new furnace - I'd
probably get a credit of $245. I think I know the answer to this -
call the local HVAC supply house, and ask them who would they use.
ANSWER: You need to, at the very least, call someone that knows what they are doing!
The "techs" you have been calling don't!
I don't work on Carrier furnaces every day, but they are relatively simple
to work on.
Also $245 seems quite a bit high for a limit switch, unless you are counting
after hours labor in the price too.
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