Furnaces Reviews

The reviews below are assigned ratings by ConsumerSearch. These ratings are based on credibility in testing, evaluating and identifying the best Furnaces. See our ratings criteria

For recommendations of best Furnaces, see our Fast Answers page, which summarizes what these reviews say. A longer summary and analysis appears in our Full Story report for Furnaces. Our Where to Buy page contains information on retailers and Furnaces prices.

Where to Buy

Fast Answers

Full Story

All Reviews

Furnaces Reviews Reviewed
Review Ratings	Citation	CS Credibility Rating	Furnaces Ratings Comments on Reviews
1. Sensible Home >> Details/Subscribe	Super-efficient 2008 two stage modulating gas furnaces save money James Dulley 2008		This four-page guide contains columnist and engineer James Dulley's picks for super-efficient furnaces (AFUE of 92% or greater). Many brands are recommended and described. All are vaguely alleged to be reliable. Dulley says, "The primary change for 2008 is most companies now offer two-stage gas furnaces and a few offer modulating models." He likes the consistent temperature these furnaces enable. Dulley cites benefits of specific brands (e.g. Lennox is quiet), but no drawbacks. Dulley's evaluation process is described below. It falls short of formal testing, but is sincere and somewhat scientific, and the general information is some of the best we found.
2. Consumer Reports >> Details/Subscribe	Furnace picks and pans Editors of Consumer Reports Feb. 2005		This short and outdated article reveals the results of a survey of repair rates of gas furnaces. The survey covers 36,181 furnaces installed in homes between 1997 and 2004. Twelve brands are rated, but no particular models are recommended, and no furnaces are tested by the editors. The instances of repair range from about 15 percent to 26 percent. One brand stands out; it has significantly more repairs than the others.
3. Sensible Home >> Details/Subscribe	New 2008 gas and oil boilers for efficient, comfortable heat James Dulley 2008		James Dulley lists "the most efficient and most unique models of residential boilers." He explains that gas boilers provide the highest efficiency, but oil boilers are typically slightly more efficient than non-condensing gas models. He recommends sealed-vent models. Specific brands and furnace models are listed and briefly described. All are equally recommended. As in the other reports, Dulley provides a chart that shows projected dollar savings from buying a new unit. Like all such charts, it has little meaning because energy prices change often.

Furnaces Reviews above this line are significantly better than reviews below.

Review Ratings	Citation	CS Credibility Rating	Furnaces Ratings Comments on Reviews

4. Consumer Reports >> Details/Subscribe	Heating with gas Editors of Consumer Reports July 2003		Consumer Reports also has an informative report on how to select a furnace culled from interviews with 500 contractors. No specific models are compared or recommended, however. The magazine emphasizes the importance of a reliable contractor and correct sizing. Information is also provided about choosing the right efficiency level for your climate, selecting a contractor, and soliciting bids. An adjunct article from October 2007 evaluates features as buying considerations.
5. Consumer Reports	Heating, cooling, air, power Contributors to ConsumerReports.org As of Mar. 2008		Consumer Reports hosts a moderated forum that is free to the public. Many consumers inquire about the best and worst brands. Answers are anecdotal, but we found some very helpful posts by professional installers. An advanced search option is a major asset of this forum. You can, for example, search for all messages containing Trane and Rheem in the past year. Ultimately the forum is a bit unsatisfying since almost half of the posts are questions about what model to buy.
6. All Experts.com	Heating, Air Conditioning, Fridge, HVAC 15 active experts As of Mar. 2008		All Experts.com, a little known service from About.com, is an excellent place for consumers to seek answers. It is a free question and answer service. Volunteers are experts in specific relevant fields. Each describes his or her background, and answers are rated in many subcategories by site users. Most existing questions are about problems, but some people ask for recommendations about quotes they’ve received, as well as what to buy. If you want to ask a question, we found that these experts need as much information as possible to give a useful answer.
7. FurnaceCompare.com	Search and Compare Air Conditioners, Boilers and Furnaces Editors of FurnaceCompare As of Mar. 2008		FurnaceCompare.com provides some free content for evaluating furnaces and requires a subscription for most information. A comprehensive directory of U.S. HVAC contractors (sorted by state, then city) is free. A subscription costs $25 for 30 days. The furnace report is more informative than evaluative; only features are subjectively evaluated. The similar Dulley reports at least narrow the field. The newest furnace report here is from 2006. The Dulley report is more recent. Brands are rated on this site for average efficiency and popularity, but the information is out of date. Several articles are useful, especially "Buying HVAC Equipment Without a Middleman."
8. Sensible Home >> Details/Subscribe	Budget-priced 80% gas furnaces improve comfort, savings James Dulley 2007		In this report, James Dulley lists 18 manufacturers (and many models) of 80% to 82.2% efficiency furnaces. The mechanical engineer explains that he and his research staff are unable to test unreasonably-sized items, but he evaluates designs and discusses them with the manufacturers’ engineers as part of the evaluation process. Dulley does not rate or rank brands or products, but explains, "I generally list only the highest-quality, most efficient or unique ones that I feel are particularly ‘good buys.’" He mentions his personal preference for the crimped clamshell heat exchanger design offered by Bryant and Carrier. If you suffer from asthma, Dulley suggests going with a two-stage furnace.
9. HVAC-Talk	Refrigeration, Heating and Air Conditioning Discussion Contributors to HVAC-Talk.com As of Mar. 2008		This forum is a bulletin board with a large user base of professional installers. It's an excellent resource for reading posts about repair problems for different brands. There's a lot of insider language since most posters appear to be in the HVAC business.
10. GardenWeb.com	Heating & Air Conditioning Forum Contributors to GardenWeb.com As of Mar. 2008		This is an excellent resource to obtain user opinions and experiences on a broad array of furnaces and air conditioning units. Rather than specific manufacturer recommendations, most of the advice centers on picking a reliable contractor to install the unit and a strong factory warranty. Professionals answer many of the recent questions in this forum, including some about brands. The weakness here is both homeowners and professionals generalizing from one or two experiences, or experiences with older furnace models.
11. American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy	Heating Systems: Furnaces and Boilers Editors of ACEEE As of Mar. 2008		"The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing energy efficiency as a means of promoting both economic prosperity and environmental protection." This site has lots of information relating to energy-efficient appliances and government tax incentive programs. There's some good information on deciding when to replace a furnace, and editors offer a checklist of maintenance tips as well. The organization provides advice for finding a good contractor. ACEEE also recommends efficiency levels for new equipment. Except for the intentional absence of brand recommendations, ACEEE is a comprehensive resource.
12. U.S. Department of Energy	Space Heating and Cooling U.S. Department of Energy staff Sept. 12, 2005		This government guide is broken into several sections: Selecting and Replacing Heating and Cooling Systems and Furnaces, and Boilers are the most useful. Advice here is typical, but more straightforward and comprehensive than most similar guides are. It’s a very reasonable starting point for learning about the technology and buying considerations, but it has no information about furnace brands, and no comparative guidance.
13. Today's Homeowner with Danny Lipford	Tips For Dealing With HVAC Pros Danny Lipford Oct. 19, 2006		Danny Lipford is a remodeling contractor who hosts a nationally syndicated home improvement television show. Half this article offers tips on maintaining HVAC equipment and dealing with the professionals that service it. The rest is about buying a new HVAC system. He offers tips on how to select a contractor, such as hiring a company that designs, installs and services the desired system. The advice is straightforward and less drenched in jargon than most guides. Lipford explains the key terminology.

Furnaces Reviews above this line are significantly better than reviews below.

Review Ratings	Citation	CS Credibility Rating	Furnaces Ratings Comments on Reviews

14. FurnaceCompare.com	Furnace Reviews User ratings As of Mar. 2008		FurnaceCompare.com is the most comprehensive source for user ratings of furnaces. They are conveniently sorted by brand. Users rate their satisfaction and some add comments. This resource has two major limitations. First, only Goodman has more than ten ratings. The scores for other brands don’t add up to more than anecdotal information. Second, some contributors evaluate old furnaces. While long-term reliability may be the most important consideration, the relative success of an eight-year-old unit, for example, does not address current product quality.
15. Gas Appliance Manufacturers Association (GAMA)	Consumers' Directory of Certified Efficiency Ratings GAMA Certification Services staff As of Mar. 2008		This trade association contracts with an independent lab to test all gas and oil furnaces and boilers. "Randomly selected units of gas and oil furnaces and boilers are tested in accordance with the U. S. Department of Energy Test Procedures." Products are certified and rated. GAMA produces comparative EnergyGuide labels like the ones you see on other types of major appliances. Instead of comparing stickers in a store, you can use GAMA’s online database or directory to compare models of interest. Both are complicated to use. With patience, you can sort this information to find the most energy efficient models.
16. North American Technician Excellence, Inc. (NATE)	Consumer Information NATE staff Not Dated		"NATE, North American Technician Excellence Inc., is an independent, third-party certification body for HVAC/R technicians." To achieve NATE certification, technicians only have to pass a written test, while HVAC Excellence (below) also requires a hands-on test. However, NATE certification seems to carry more weight within the industry and from experts outside the industry. At the least, it is the more established standard. Technicians can achieve installation and/or service certification in five specialty HVAC areas.
17. HVAC Excellence	Consumer Information: Hiring a Service Technician Made Easy HVAC Excellence directors Not Dated		HVAC Excellence is a non-profit professional development association. The organization has a formal certification program for service contractors. "The Master Specialist Certification requires technicians to pass a written and hands-on certification exam." Gas Heat, Oil Heat, Heat Pumps and Residential Air Conditioning are all separate certification categories. The association encourages you to hire a certified technician.
18. Bob Vila's Home Site	HVAC forum Contributors to Bob Vila's Home Site As of Mar. 2008		Bob Vila is another respected home improvement television host. His website includes a forum with poor sorting options, a handful of one-paragraph tips, a video that shows part of a gas furnace installation and a helpfully comparative article, "Heating a Home: Gas, Oil or Propane?" Purchasing tips are generally shallow. For example, the advice that consumers can often get better deals in the off-season is the best we found, but it doesn’t help people who are stuck with a dead furnace in winter. The forum has some useful discussion threads of specific brands.
19. United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)	A Guide to Energy-Efficient Heating and Cooling Office of Air and Radiation May 2005		The government is here to help…a little. This Energy Star how-to guide covers whether to repair or replace, maintenance, energy-saving strategies and how to choose a contractor and replacement equipment. The advice is consistent with what others say. Depth is satisfactory, except in the latter two areas. You’ll need a better resource to tell you where to find a contractor, and the only advice regarding furnaces is to get one that is Energy Star qualified.
20. ENERGYSTAR.gov	Heat & Cool Efficiently U.S. EPA and DOE Not Dated		Information here is mostly the same as in the government guide above, but the organization is a little less useful. The main purpose here is to encourage energy conservation. The lack of depth is frustrating, however.
21. Professional Remodeler	How to Choose Gas Furnaces Jenni Smith Oct. 7, 1999		This dated trade journal article, oriented toward remodeling contractors, offers some helpful insider advice. The bulk of the article is general advice. A paragraph is devoted to each of three brands. The information is entirely descriptive, or arguably advertorial. Furnaces are not compared or evaluated. Jenni Smith doesn’t explicitly state that these brands are recommended. While the advice is worth reading, we would pay little attention to the mentioned brands. At best, they are old recommendations. The article disingenuously cites a manufacturer study that proves variable-speed and two-stage heaters save money on heating bills.
22. Professional Builder	What Builders Used for Building Their Own Nick Bajzek Oct. 1, 2006		This trade journal article is primarily a chart devoted to the premise that "what builders used for their own homes is ultimately a testament to the many products available on the market today." The chart lists the brand of product used by five builders in every category of construction. In many cases, the builder did not report which brand he used. The premise has validity, but the information is skimpy. For example, Nick Bajzek doesn’t let readers know when the houses were built. The three reporting builders used Lennox, Lochinvar and Carrier furnaces.

Furnaces Reviews above this line are significantly better than reviews below.

Review Ratings	Citation	CS Credibility Rating	Furnaces Ratings Comments on Reviews

23. FSnewsletter.net	FAQ on Heating Equipment Anonymous As of Mar. 2008		This very unusual website is something like a forum. People post hundreds of questions, and all seem to be answered by the same anonymous site proprietor. This person obviously has industry experience and knowledge, but his answers often altogether fail to address the questions. His general opinions are similar to most people in the industry: avoid Goodman, otherwise "quality of the installation means more than the unit name." However, we have read comments elsewhere from contractors that while older Goodman furnaces were problematic, the newest units have been revamped and are now the equal of those from other brands.
24. Warmair.com	Gas Furnaces Online Comfort Network As of Mar. 2008		OnlineComfort.com claims to be "an independent home comfort professional information center." However, the domain is licensed to Forced Air Sheet Metal, a heating contractor in Connecticut. The cloak of anonymity diminishes the website’s credibility, but Warmair.com includes some troubleshooting tips and a good HVAC glossary. Proprietors claim, "Consumer guides cannot compare furnaces because each installation must also be compared, and this is impossible." That statement and "Choosing a furnace is not the homeowner’s concern, it is the contractor’s concern" may be somewhat valid, but the bias is clear.