goodman furnaces

[trbomax]

Anyone ever use one of these? Looking at a 95%/90,000btu to heat the two shop rooms in the big shop.

 

[cowboyjosh]

I have had pretty good luck with Goodman; I install them in nearly every house I build in Colorado and Arizona. They are a so called "builder" grade furnace / air conditioner, however many of their components are the same names that are in say Lennox, and Carrier, such as Copeland Scroll Compressors, Johnson Controls circuit boards, etc. As with any brand the best outcome is a top notch install job, even the finest of equipment will fail if its installed incorrectly or poorly. The one downside to Goodman is that ANYONE can buy their stuff, unlike say Lennox which only sells thru authorized dealers, any handman or homeowner can buy a Goodman and do a half a## install and then complain on the internet about what a horrible product Goodman is.

 

[larry4406]

I worked for a production home builder in Northern VA for 6 years - homes 3500 sf ($500k) to 11,000 sf ($1.3M). We used goodman products exclusively. They are robust units and worked well. Of the 150 houses I built while there, I had one outdoor unit with a bad compressor and one furnace that developed a leak in the HX - both were covered by warranty (parts only, no labor).

Only odd thing to me was that you need a 5/16 nut driver simply to remove the cover. There are a lot of screws and you need them all, leaving them out sometimes caused a vibration noise in the door.

 

[JDM5LugHatch]

Aren't they also made by Carrier? That's what I've heard anyways.

 

[enrgeezone]

I sell these aswell I have installed hundreds over the last 15yrs. We used only York and Rheem for the longest time when I had a low income project or something on a budget I would sub the goodman in to get the job....guess what? I never had a call back to these units....they were NEVER well taken care of and never gave me anytroubles.... it is all in how they are installed they do require the duct system to be able to handle the furnace you are mating it to..... I see to many times on a service call when someone installed a 120,000 furnce where a 60,000 should have been used Goodman gets a bad rep for a lot of poor installations. They are now my main brand. As for who makes what it honestly is a name tag game there are about 5 big boys and 40 name tags.... York is Coleman, Air pro, rheem is rude they do weather King..... the list goes on and on.... Goodman for years was Sears Kenmore and I hear how a person didn't take the Goodman bid but yet was delighted with their new sears installed unit! go figure right?......Goodman also now owns Amana corp. another big player in the market...... Truth be told they are the best bang for your buck and their warranty is second to none.... open any manfactures unit and see what seperates them from each other on the inside....you'll be suprized to see how many components are made by the same co..... General elec. Siemans, copeland etc..... so I guess the question would be who's copper and steel is better.... Like buying a buick Chevy or Pontiac....Gm is behind them all..... pick a color! Good luck in your quest.....

 

[OccupantRJ]

That's good info to know, guys. Thanks. A friend gave me a 6 month old 2-1/2 ton Goodman package heat pump to use on my workshop. I guess I'll be using it.

 

[bigjmcconnell]

I guess the OPs question has been answered but I figured I'd add my $.02 I put a Goodman Downdraft unit in my house. Its been reliable for the 3 yrs its been in. It is noisy, but I think that is because the cold air return is one large vent in the center of my 1200 sq ft house. If I recall corectly it a 65K BTU.

 

[trbomax]

Good answers! As far as sizeing it,I have 2 shops,my wifes stained glass,and my machine shop.They are sitting end to end with a 14x8 room in between that is the bathroom and furnace/h/w room. The shops are 14x 32 each. They only have 2 outside walls as they are on one side of the fab shop bay. 8" walls w/ r26 and foam wrapped on the outside.Ceilings are 8' with r 45. I figured a 60k btu 95% unit would be about right? Want to keep it @45 all the time and run it up as required.

 

[ddrewyor]

I have a Goodman 93% 100k btu in my garage - 1800sq ft.
The walls are R-19 and the ceiling is R-50. I am in MI and the furnace is set to 40 deg unless we are working. Then we bump it to 60 deg. On the coldest days the furnace only runs about three time an hour for a short time once it is up to temp. I have had it for 6 years and no issues. I installed it in the knee wall of my second story so it draws air from outside so no issue with explosions from fumes. Make sure you do a temp comparison on cold air return temp vs output air temp. There is a chart for the delta on the temp so you run efficient and do not toast your heat exchanger. My home furnace is a Janitrol and it looks identical and uses the same components. In ten years the only item I replaced was the ignitor. That was the first season and I think when they installed the unit they bounced it around and cracked the ignitor. They seem like good units and reasonably priced. Good luck on your project.

Dave
________
DRUG TEST KIT

 

[trbomax]

I have a Goodman 93% 100k btu in my garage - 1800sq ft.
The walls are R-19 and the ceiling is R-50. I am in MI and the furnace is set to 40 deg unless we are working. Then we bump it to 60 deg. On the coldest days the furnace only runs about three time an hour for a short time once it is up to temp. I have had it for 6 years and no issues. I installed it in the knee wall of my second story so it draws air from outside so no issue with explosions from fumes. Make sure you do a temp comparison on cold air return temp vs output air temp. There is a chart for the delta on the temp so you run efficient and do not toast your heat exchanger. My home furnace is a Janitrol and it looks identical and uses the same components. In ten years the only item I replaced was the ignitor. That was the first season and I think when they installed the unit they bounced it around and cracked the ignitor. They seem like good units and reasonably priced. Good luck on your project.

Dave

It would seem ,from your experience,that a 60 k unit for my 1100 sq ft might be about right then. I havent done the insulation in the ceilings yet except for 2" foam sheet blocked between the trusses.I plan on blowing the rest, so I can really make it whatever I want.I just arbitrarily picked 16" as giveing r45. How far north are you?

 

[trbomax]

Heres the layout. First pic is hers,framed,wired and plumbed. Second pic is the furnace room/bathroom.Woodburner and the gas furnace will be here (wood unit is for the high bay fab area).Third pic is where my machine shop will be,but is stuffed with all the things that belong in hers. Behind the furnace room is the bathroom. So each shop room is 14x32.

 

[cowboyjosh]

Just to add to the Goodman conversation, I just quoted someone today to wire their basement in a $1.6 million house in a 1 year old custom home in Colorado, what brand furnaces (they had 2 furnaces for the house) did they have? Goodman's. From what I see it doesn't matter what the size, or price a house is, Goodman's are the choice of custom, semi custom and tract builders; at least in these parts of Colorado. In Phoenix I see allot of houses with Carrier and talk to allot of upset homeowners about problems with their Carrier units.

 

[dawg]

im getting ready to install a furnace in my house and did a bit of research
now i have oil and the biggest problem with oil is that its dirty.
so yearly cleanings are a must.
also the burner box sheds corrsion chips and needs cleaning yearly.
i only found a few high end furnaces that have stainless burners and boxes.
it wasnt goodman.
anyhow Im going to convert to propane and looking at a prestige rheem furnace with variable speed blower and variable burner.

 

[Dodge]

Goodman makes Amana and Janitrol branded HVAC systems.