Is this system a good fit for my home?

[firefighter4634]

I live in N.W. Iowa in a single story ranch home with 1000 sq. feet, with a partial finished basement. We are looking into replacing our 23 year old single stage 74,000 btu furnace only. I have a quote from a local contractor for Trane and was wondering if this setup sounds correct for us. I will be replacing our Central Air some time down the road, but for not it still works so we are trying to save some money. We were quoted a model TVH2B080R9V with a Media Filter and a TCONT802
thermostat. Can you also advice what is the best way to determine if we have enough cold air return for this system.
We currently only have one cold air duct and a divider wall between the living room and dinning room. The register is on both sides of the 3.5 inch wall and is 8" x 31", this drops down through the floor into the cold air duct in front of the furnace and it measures 8" x 16" x 5 ft. He suggested adding a cold air return in the basement in the wall into the finished living area to aid in heating that room and also being able to run the fan only when we have the free standing wood stove in the room going to circulate the warm air through the whole house.

[catmanacman]

thats a 2 stage 95% furnace and 80000 btu ,seems huge to me for a 1000 square ft as the base ment probably wont need much heat , a oversized 2 stage furnace will only run in low .they do make one that is 6000 btu .ask for a load calcuation .also its is a tuh

[firefighter4634]

thats a 2 stage 95% furnace and 80000 btu ,seems huge to me for a 1000 square ft as the base ment probably wont need much heat , a oversized 2 stage furnace will only run in low .they do make one that is 6000 btu .ask for a load calcuation .also its is a tuh

Thanks, I will contact them to see if they will do a load calculation. I am not sure what the last part of your reply is, asking is it a tuh?

[jtrammel]

Thanks, I will contact them to see if they will do a load calculation. I am not sure what the last part of your reply is, asking is it a tuh?

It's a TUH2B080*** not TVH is what he was saying.

[Strkout499]

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[Brent Ridley]

The model number is TUH not TVH. If the contractor didn't do a load calculation then he is already cutting corners. It's his job to determine the proper size, not yours.

Call another contractor out. Check out the contractor locator map on this site for help finding a better contractor.

[jpsmith1cm]

Strkout449


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[George2]

I live in N.W. Iowa in a single story ranch home with 1000 sq. feet, with a partial finished basement. We are looking into replacing our 23 year old single stage 74,000 btu furnace only. I have a quote from a local contractor for Trane and was wondering if this setup sounds correct for us. I will be replacing our Central Air some time down the road, but for not it still works so we are trying to save some money. We were quoted a model TVH2B080R9V with a Media Filter and a TCONT802
thermostat. Can you also advice what is the best way to determine if we have enough cold air return for this system.
We currently only have one cold air duct and a divider wall between the living room and dinning room. The register is on both sides of the 3.5 inch wall and is 8" x 31", this drops down through the floor into the cold air duct in front of the furnace and it measures 8" x 16" x 5 ft. He suggested adding a cold air return in the basement in the wall into the finished living area to aid in heating that room and also being able to run the fan only when we have the free standing wood stove in the room going to circulate the warm air through the whole house.

You do not have enough RA now. You're only getting about 300-400 cfm if two plates were removed and only 700-800 cfm if 4 plates were removed.

The (added) return in the basement (the easiest place to get the extra RA) will needed to be very large to make up for the shortage. This is not a problem if your basement is open (no door) to the living area. If the basement can be sealed from the rest of the home, then you could end up reversing the flues.

80,000 btu is what I use to heat my 2,250 s.f. 1946 (no insulation) colonial home (also in Iowa). Your new "2-stage" will almost never go to high fire. Don't feel too badly....it happens more often than not.

[jtrammel]

I'd be surprised if the heat exchanger is not cracked from such little return air. Return air definitely needs to be addressed with new install.

[BaldLoonie]

I've got 1000 sq ft, decently built. Basement adds little to the heat loss. I have a 60K 95% and have high fire turned off which means I can heat when it's below zero on about 37,000. We're a bit warmer than you, usually don't use an 80K furnace til we get into over 2000 sq ft.

[George2]

I've got 1000 sq ft, decently built. Basement adds little to the heat loss. I have a 60K 95% and have high fire turned off which means I can heat when it's below zero on about 37,000. We're a bit warmer than you, usually don't use an 80K furnace til we get into over 2000 sq ft.

Heck.......does it get warm enough for snow down there?

[firefighter4634]

You do not have enough RA now. You're only getting about 300-400 cfm if two plates were removed and only 700-800 cfm if 4 plates were removed.

The (added) return in the basement (the easiest place to get the extra RA) will needed to be very large to make up for the shortage. This is not a problem if your basement is open (no door) to the living area. If the basement can be sealed from the rest of the home, then you could end up reversing the flues.

80,000 btu is what I use to heat my 2,250 s.f. 1946 (no insulation) colonial home (also in Iowa). Your new "2-stage" will almost never go to high fire. Don't feel too badly....it happens more often than not.

Thanks for the reply. Our basement is open and it can not be sealed from the rest of the house. The stairway going upstairs is open into the kitchen, with a 30" tall knee wall along the top of the stairs. Can you please explain what you mean by removing plates?