Smallest gas furnaces (US market)
I’m looking for info\help on options for gas furnaces with a low-fire rate below the 24K BTU input that has been the lowest available at supply houses for years now.
With the existing housing stock becoming tighter and better insulated, the existing gas furnaces available on the US market are just too darn big.
The struggle is real out there, with many homeowners who wish to stick with gas forced air heat — even when their state legislators and utilities are pushing hard for heat pumps.
In my experience, the typical installed cost of an inverter-driven heat pump is roughly 2x’s the cost of a gas furnace paired with an evaporator coil and condenser. The cost premium alone keeps most folks I work for from even considering the upgrade to a high-performance heat pump only system.
Any suggestions on gas furnaces available on the US market for low load (18K BTU/hr or less) existing houses?
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Replies
Down to 15k btu/hr
https://www.dettson.com/en-ca/products/furnaces/gas/chinook.aspx?cat=%2fProduits%2fFournaises
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The only reason for a heat pump to cost more than a gas furnace with AC is that the installer doesn’t want to install HPs.
Walta
In a true apples-to-apples comparison of the two types of heating\cooling systems, I believe the installed cost between them is quite close.
I find that in the majority of cases there are plenty of variables at play—variables which often make an apples-to-apples comparison far from likely\possible.
The existing housing market is a very tough one to navigate as a contractor. You are often constrained by decisions made many years ago that dictate what you can do today (because money is tight for most folks, and reinventing wheels is not very attractive).
In the end, my goal remains giving homeowners what they want within their available budgets. I focus hard on reducing loads with envelope upgrades, and hope they see the sense in starting with load reductions and then moving to choosing equipment that will fit the reduced loads.
I would say that roughly 50% of the folks I work for will spend the money to make the low-hanging fruit envelope upgrades, but often this same group now has X thousand dollars less to spend on heating & cooling equipment. The 50% who don’t opt for envelope improvements typically don’t have much more to spend than what the lowest level of “decently right-sized” and energy-efficient equipment can get them for the money available.
If I can find and install reliable equipment that is better-sized for the house than what is currently dominating the market, then I’ll consider this a win (and in reality it is a win, for them, for me, and for those concerned about efficient resource usage).