Amana ACVC9 — 93% AFUE gas furnace Price

• Posted in Amana Furnace, Gas Furnaces
• on January 7, 2011
• No Comments.

We just received this “Share an HVAC Price” post from Wilson in Roxbury, Connecticut regarding the Amana ACVC9 — 93% AFUE gas furnace.  I’m sure many of you will relate to his story and his rationale for installing this quality furnace.  Give it a read, and feel free to send us your own pricing story to add to our HVAC Prices database and list of articles.

“We’ve considered selling our house for about 5 years now, but since the real estate market doesn’t show signs of improving we decided to invest in our existing home instead, and ride out the housing slump right here.  We had put off making improvements thinking we wouldn’t get the money out of them when we sold.  So it was time for a few things, including a new furnace.  Our goal was to find a top-quality, fuel efficient furnace that had comfort features that would make it worthwhile to stay in this house!  After looking at the Carrier ICS and the Bryant Evolution we chose the Amana ACVC9.  We felt it had a lot to offer our 2,600 square foot home with full basement.

Amana ACVC9, 115,000 Btu

Energy Star qualified 93% A.F.U.E.

Variable speed motor that is very quiet since it runs on low most of the time

ComfortNet Communication that is really easy to program

Diagnostic panel that gives error codes

Auto-comfort mode that will sense excess humidity in warm weather and use the fan to reduce it

Lifetime replacement warranty if the heat exchanger fails; 10 years on parts

We had one major glitch in the deal.  I bought the furnace through some connections at a wholesale supply place near here.  Then I gave the installation job to my handyman who was sure he could install it “no problem.”  By lunch on the third day he had it started, but it obviously wasn’t running right.  He kept working with the air pressure adjustment and it just got worse.  Before he busted it I called him off the job, paid him for his time, and called a pro.  The guy was happy to come out and look at it saying he “fixed botched DIY jobs about once a month.”  He gave my handyman a “C+ for effort” and charged me about half the normal installation rate for checking everything over and re-doing what was done wrong.  My total costs were:

$2,150 for the furnace

$250 for extra materials for venting, plenum

$300 to my handyman

$1,000 to the professional installer

Total: $3,700

So in the end I saved a few bucks on installation but the professional told me I was lucky my guy didn’t ruin something like blowing the motherboard or cause some other disaster like leaking carbon monoxide.  I’ve since confirmed that these things frequently happen!”

Wilson’s story is a great reminder of the value of using a qualified contractor for performance and safety reasons.  HVAC experts frequently state that the quality of the installation job is the biggest factor in how well the furnace will perform.   An experienced contractor will help you get the most out of your sizable investment!