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11 year old Goodman - should I repair or replace? Myhvacisdead 08-18-2006
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Posted by Myhvacisdead on August 18, 2006, 10:29 pm
Hello,

I have a 11 year old Goodman gas furnace (model gmp125-5) with a 3 ton
central air unit (southern Pennsylvania).
The a/c quit working a few weeks ago. I had a serviceman come out and
he said the control board had burn spots on it. He put in a new
control board, turned on the system, it ran for about 1 minute and then
burnt up the replacement board.
I was told that the thermostat (basic round dial one) could be causing
a short so I put in a digital programmable thermostat. They put in a
second control board. The tech was going to turn on the a/c again and
I said let's just turn the blower fan from auto to on first and see how
that works. We did that and the control board burnt out again after
1/2 minute or so. He tested the wires from the thermostat to the
control board and there was no short in them.

The control boards are $170 each and my repair bill so far is close to
$500. I've called several hvac shops in the area and the general
concensus is that troubleshooting a short in the system could be quite
costly and considering the system is 11 years old, it would be better
to replace it.
Thoughts/Comments?

My second question is this: How much should it cost (ballpark) for a
new natural gas furnace and central air system? My house is ~2600 sq
ft, 2 floors. I had an Amana supplier come out and do a engineering
analysis. She said the 3 ton a/c unit is too small for my house and
that I should have a 4 ton unit.
She gave me quotes on new systems and I'm in shock at the price quotes,
which range from $6500 for a system with the cheapest parts (13 seer
a/c with 5 yr compressor warranty, 80% gas furnace) all the way to
$11,000 for a 16 seer a/c with lifetime compressor/10 yr parts and a
96% gas furnace with variable speed blower and lifetime heat exchanger.

I was hoping I could get a efficient system for $5000-$6000 installed.
Are the high-efficiency furnace and a/c units really that much more
expensive and/or more involved to install - or is this place charging a
premium to install the high-end components?

Thanks ahead of time for any guidance you can offer!!!


Posted by Stormin Mormon on August 18, 2006, 10:41 pm
Makes me wonder if you have a bad transformer, feeding more than 24
VAC. Shouldn't burn up boards that quickly. In any case, the wire from
the thermostat oughta have a fuse in it (not provided, probably, your
guy will have to put it in). Blow fuses, not boards.

I wonder about the "bad thermostat" idea. You can do a lot of really
goofy things with a bad thermostat, but I doubt burn spots and such.

Sounds like some thing is shorted, but what?

As for the estimate being high, eleven grand sounds a bit much. Did
you get a couple other estimates? Your old 3 ton AC was probably not
moving 3 tons of heat, so please don't be in a hurry to go to a larger
unit.
--

Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
.

Hello,

I have a 11 year old Goodman gas furnace (model gmp125-5) with a 3 ton
central air unit (southern Pennsylvania).
The a/c quit working a few weeks ago. I had a serviceman come out and
he said the control board had burn spots on it. He put in a new
control board, turned on the system, it ran for about 1 minute and
then
burnt up the replacement board.
I was told that the thermostat (basic round dial one) could be causing
a short so I put in a digital programmable thermostat. They put in a
second control board. The tech was going to turn on the a/c again and
I said let's just turn the blower fan from auto to on first and see
how
that works. We did that and the control board burnt out again after
1/2 minute or so. He tested the wires from the thermostat to the
control board and there was no short in them.

The control boards are $170 each and my repair bill so far is close to
$500. I've called several hvac shops in the area and the general
concensus is that troubleshooting a short in the system could be quite
costly and considering the system is 11 years old, it would be better
to replace it.
Thoughts/Comments?

My second question is this: How much should it cost (ballpark) for a
new natural gas furnace and central air system? My house is ~2600 sq
ft, 2 floors. I had an Amana supplier come out and do a engineering
analysis. She said the 3 ton a/c unit is too small for my house and
that I should have a 4 ton unit.
She gave me quotes on new systems and I'm in shock at the price
quotes,
which range from $6500 for a system with the cheapest parts (13 seer
a/c with 5 yr compressor warranty, 80% gas furnace) all the way to
$11,000 for a 16 seer a/c with lifetime compressor/10 yr parts and a
96% gas furnace with variable speed blower and lifetime heat
exchanger.

I was hoping I could get a efficient system for $5000-$6000 installed.
Are the high-efficiency furnace and a/c units really that much more
expensive and/or more involved to install - or is this place charging
a
premium to install the high-end components?

Thanks ahead of time for any guidance you can offer!!!



Posted by geojr on August 18, 2006, 10:45 pm

> Hello,
>
> I have a 11 year old Goodman gas furnace (model gmp125-5) with a 3 ton
> central air unit (southern Pennsylvania).
> The a/c quit working a few weeks ago. I had a serviceman come out and
> he said the control board had burn spots on it. He put in a new
> control board, turned on the system, it ran for about 1 minute and then
> burnt up the replacement board.
> I was told that the thermostat (basic round dial one) could be causing
> a short so I put in a digital programmable thermostat. They put in a
> second control board. The tech was going to turn on the a/c again and
> I said let's just turn the blower fan from auto to on first and see how
> that works. We did that and the control board burnt out again after
> 1/2 minute or so. He tested the wires from the thermostat to the
> control board and there was no short in them.
>
> The control boards are $170 each and my repair bill so far is close to
> $500. I've called several hvac shops in the area and the general
> concensus is that troubleshooting a short in the system could be quite
> costly and considering the system is 11 years old, it would be better
> to replace it.
> Thoughts/Comments?

Try telling the stupid fuck tech to use an inline fuse to trouble shoot the
problem. That way the fuse will blow instead of the 170$ board.

> My second question is this: How much should it cost (ballpark) for a
> new natural gas furnace and central air system? My house is ~2600 sq
> ft, 2 floors. I had an Amana supplier come out and do a engineering
> analysis. She said the 3 ton a/c unit is too small for my house and
> that I should have a 4 ton unit.
> She gave me quotes on new systems and I'm in shock at the price quotes,
> which range from $6500 for a system with the cheapest parts (13 seer
> a/c with 5 yr compressor warranty, 80% gas furnace) all the way to
> $11,000 for a 16 seer a/c with lifetime compressor/10 yr parts and a
> 96% gas furnace with variable speed blower and lifetime heat exchanger.
>
> I was hoping I could get a efficient system for $5000-$6000 installed.
> Are the high-efficiency furnace and a/c units really that much more
> expensive and/or more involved to install - or is this place charging a
> premium to install the high-end components?
>
> Thanks ahead of time for any guidance you can offer!!!
>



Posted by Stormin Mormon on August 19, 2006, 7:40 am
The second thing that came to mind. If the blower motor is shorted
out, that could explain over amping, and burning out the boards. So,
in addition to checking if the transformer is over volting, it's good
to check if the blower motor is shorted.

--

Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
.

Hello,

I have a 11 year old Goodman gas furnace (model gmp125-5) with a 3 ton
central air unit (southern Pennsylvania).
The a/c quit working a few weeks ago. I had a serviceman come out and
he said the control board had burn spots on it. He put in a new
control board, turned on the system, it ran for about 1 minute and
then
burnt up the replacement board.
I was told that the thermostat (basic round dial one) could be causing
a short so I put in a digital programmable thermostat. They put in a
second control board. The tech was going to turn on the a/c again and
I said let's just turn the blower fan from auto to on first and see
how
that works. We did that and the control board burnt out again after
1/2 minute or so. He tested the wires from the thermostat to the
control board and there was no short in them.

The control boards are $170 each and my repair bill so far is close to
$500. I've called several hvac shops in the area and the general
concensus is that troubleshooting a short in the system could be quite
costly and considering the system is 11 years old, it would be better
to replace it.
Thoughts/Comments?

My second question is this: How much should it cost (ballpark) for a
new natural gas furnace and central air system? My house is ~2600 sq
ft, 2 floors. I had an Amana supplier come out and do a engineering
analysis. She said the 3 ton a/c unit is too small for my house and
that I should have a 4 ton unit.
She gave me quotes on new systems and I'm in shock at the price
quotes,
which range from $6500 for a system with the cheapest parts (13 seer
a/c with 5 yr compressor warranty, 80% gas furnace) all the way to
$11,000 for a 16 seer a/c with lifetime compressor/10 yr parts and a
96% gas furnace with variable speed blower and lifetime heat
exchanger.

I was hoping I could get a efficient system for $5000-$6000 installed.
Are the high-efficiency furnace and a/c units really that much more
expensive and/or more involved to install - or is this place charging
a
premium to install the high-end components?

Thanks ahead of time for any guidance you can offer!!!



Posted by aka-SBM on August 19, 2006, 8:27 am

> The second thing that came to mind. If the blower motor is shorted
> out, that could explain over amping, and burning out the boards. So,
> in addition to checking if the transformer is over volting, it's good
> to check if the blower motor is shorted.
>
> --


Im still in awe of how stupid one person can be, giving advice that is so
damn wrong, and no one has beat the hell out of em yet...

>
> Christopher A. Young
> You can't shout down a troll.
> You have to starve them.
> .
>
> Hello,
>
> I have a 11 year old Goodman gas furnace (model gmp125-5) with a 3 ton
> central air unit (southern Pennsylvania).
> The a/c quit working a few weeks ago. I had a serviceman come out and
> he said the control board had burn spots on it. He put in a new
> control board, turned on the system, it ran for about 1 minute and
> then
> burnt up the replacement board.
> I was told that the thermostat (basic round dial one) could be causing
> a short so I put in a digital programmable thermostat. They put in a
> second control board. The tech was going to turn on the a/c again and
> I said let's just turn the blower fan from auto to on first and see
> how
> that works. We did that and the control board burnt out again after
> 1/2 minute or so. He tested the wires from the thermostat to the
> control board and there was no short in them.
>
> The control boards are $170 each and my repair bill so far is close to
> $500. I've called several hvac shops in the area and the general
> concensus is that troubleshooting a short in the system could be quite
> costly and considering the system is 11 years old, it would be better
> to replace it.
> Thoughts/Comments?
>
> My second question is this: How much should it cost (ballpark) for a
> new natural gas furnace and central air system? My house is ~2600 sq
> ft, 2 floors. I had an Amana supplier come out and do a engineering
> analysis. She said the 3 ton a/c unit is too small for my house and
> that I should have a 4 ton unit.
> She gave me quotes on new systems and I'm in shock at the price
> quotes,
> which range from $6500 for a system with the cheapest parts (13 seer
> a/c with 5 yr compressor warranty, 80% gas furnace) all the way to
> $11,000 for a 16 seer a/c with lifetime compressor/10 yr parts and a
> 96% gas furnace with variable speed blower and lifetime heat
> exchanger.
>
> I was hoping I could get a efficient system for $5000-$6000 installed.
> Are the high-efficiency furnace and a/c units really that much more
> expensive and/or more involved to install - or is this place charging
> a
> premium to install the high-end components?
>
> Thanks ahead of time for any guidance you can offer!!!
>
>



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