Not all furnaces are made equal. You can find excellent products that offer accurate temperature control, indoor comfort, low noise levels, energy efficiency and reliability. However, there are also low-quality furnaces that lack these features, and they can give you many headaches over time.
source: mathewsplumbing.com
The following are some common issues you can expect when purchasing a low-quality furnace:
- Excessive fuel consumption and high operating costs
- High noise levels and strange sounds
- Frequent breakdowns and expensive repairs
- Poor temperature control (your home interior gets too cold or too warm)
- Excessive airflow (your home interior becomes uncomfortable due to air drafts)
- Complete system failure within a few years, forcing you to purchase a replacement
Using a low-quality furnace can also be dangerous. The flue gases released when burning fuels like natural gas or heating oil are lethal at high concentrations, and your furnace must be capable of always exhausting and venting them outdoors.
A malfunctioning furnace can release harmful gases inside your home, including carbon monoxide – a deadly substance for humans.
Here we will review six furnace brands you should avoid if you’re looking for a reliable space heating system. We will also discuss some general “red flags” to look out for when comparing different furnace models.
Comparing Furnaces? Watch Out for These Warning Signs
Right off the bat, a good furnace can look identical to a low-quality product. However, you can find important differences if you take the time for a detailed comparison. Here are some common “red flags” to keep in mind:
1) Avoid furnaces with short warranties. The best furnaces now come with a warranty coverage of 10 years or more. When a manufacturer offers a short warranty, they are probably aware that their furnaces are not built to last. For example, if you buy a furnace with a 3-year warranty, don’t expect a service life of 10 years!
2) Watch out for missing technical information. When a furnace offers features like low noise and energy efficiency, the manufacturer will want you to know. For this reason, you should be skeptical of any products that hide key information. The following are some examples:
- If furnace specifications provide no information about noise levels in decibels, the unit is probably very noisy. They don’t want you to know until you have the unit installed at home.
- If the Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (AFUE) value is not provided or hard to find, the unit is probably inefficient.
Missing or hard-to-find warranty documents are also a warning sign. There are also cases where the manufacturer provides a warranty that seems decent, but the terms and conditions are deceiving. Make sure you read the fine print.
3) Avoid furnaces with single-stage heating and/or single-speed fans. A high-performance furnace can control its heat output and airflow according to the heating needs of your home. This offers two benefits:
- Your home interior becomes more comfortable (no overheating)
- The furnace consumes less fuel and electricity, by not using its full capacity all the time
Furnaces that always run at full capacity waste energy, while potentially making your home uncomfortable. If a furnace is running at maximum BTU/hour output when the weather is mild, your home will be warmer than necessary. This also represents a waste of energy, driving up your heating bills.
For maximum energy efficiency, you should look for a furnace with variable heating output, also known as a modulating furnace. These furnaces can increase or decrease their output to match the exact heating needs of your home at any time. Two-stage furnaces are also viable if you’re looking for a more affordable (good value) option.
4) Be careful: There are unreliable furnace brands with ENERGY STAR ratings! Since the ENERGY STAR program focuses on energy efficiency, some manufacturers who offer low-tier furnaces have managed to get the label.
- For example, you can find ENERGY STAR furnaces with a service life of only five years.
- In this case, the energy savings are negated by having to purchase a new furnace in a short time.
Energy efficiency is one of the main features of a high-quality furnace, but there are other important features you should also look for. Energy efficiency alone does not make for a high-quality or good value furnace.
5) Compare customer reviews before your purchase. No brand is perfect, but a reliable manufacturer will make sure that any malfunctioning units are replaced at no cost during the warranty period.
Before choosing a furnace brand, check what previous customers are saying online. If frequent equipment failures or poor performance are mentioned frequently for a specific brand, stay away!
Here are the six furnace brands to avoid:
1) ArcoAire
ArcoAire is considered an affordable furnace brand, and they offer three main product lines:
- Ion Series – Premium
- QuietComfort Series – Standard
- Performance Series – Value
These furnaces are available in various energy efficiency ratings, which range from AFUE 80 to AFUE 98. The product selection includes single-stage, two-stage, and modulating furnaces. Unfortunately, owners have reported several performance issues that affect this brand.
If you visit the ArcoAire website and check the specifications of several furnace models, you will notice that no information about noise levels is provided. As you might guess, high noise is one of the main complaints among homeowners who use ArcoAire furnaces.
Another drawback of ArcoAire furnaces is their short service life and warranty. You will notice that many of their products have a warranty period of only five years, and many owners have reported a complete system failure within this period. Their warranty terms also have some confusing requirements, and you may not get full coverage if your unit fails.
Some ArcoAire furnaces have the ENERGY STAR logo, but keep in mind that this only indicates high energy efficiency.
- These units are also affected by the high noise and short service life issues that have been reported by customers.
- You can get ENERGY STAR furnaces from other manufacturers who also offer quiet operation, comfort, and better warranty conditions.
Contractors have also reported that ArcoAire furnaces are often difficult to install, and their instructions are confusing. When they break down, reparations are complex and expensive.
2) Buderus
Buderus is one of the most affordable furnace brands, but their low prices come at the cost of many performance issues. The Buderus website does not show any information about their products directly, only a company profile and contact information to get in touch with their sales team. This is an immediate warning sign!
- Owners of Buderus furnaces have reported issues like expensive repairs, complete system failure in just a few years, whistling noises and poor heating performance.
- They also have poor customer service, which means you can be left with a malfunctioning furnace for several days in the middle of winter.
Buderus is owned by Bosch, and they are known for their high-quality boilers. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of their furnaces.
3) Burnham
Burnhman is another low-cost furnace brand. Like Buderus, they are an established boiler manufacturer who also provides residential furnaces. However, there are many common complaints among their owners:
- High energy consumption, leading to higher heating bills
- Expensive repairs in less than five years
- Frequent burner issues
- Frequent leakage issues
- Defective controls
- Deficient customer service
The upfront savings offered by a low price are negated by high energy bills and expensive repairs in a short time. Official information about Burnham furnaces is also difficult to find online, and this includes product specifications. Most of the information available is related to sales contacts.
4) Ducane
Unlike Buderus and Burnham, Ducane is more transparent with technical information. This brand is owned by Lennox, and their furnaces can be classified into two main categories:
- 80% AFUE furnaces
- 90%+ AFUE furnaces
Based on the information provided by the company website, Ducane furnaces can seem a decent option. To be fair, Ducane is slightly better than other brands included in this list. However, there are specific issues that have been frequently reported by owners.
Ducane furnaces have a 10-year warranty, which seems good on paper. However, contractors and owners have reported that replacement parts are hard to find, and expensive repairs once you obtain them. This means you can be left with a malfunctioning furnace for several days while waiting for a critical part. Their warranty is also misleading you only get five years for free and must pay to get a 10-year extended warranty.
High noise is another common issue that has been reported by Ducane furnace owners. The website mentions an anti-vibration assembly that prevents loud startups and shutdowns, and they also mention “peaceful and quiet operation”, but Ducane doesn’t specify noise levels in decibels.
Ducane offers some ENERGY STAR certified furnace models, but again, this only indicates energy efficiency and not long-term reliability. Some owners have reported poor heating performance, which means that efficiency is achieved at the expense of comfort.
There are better ENERGY STAR furnaces in the market, which also keep a comfortable indoor temperature during the winter.
5) Tempstar
In terms of technical specifications, Tempstar furnaces are very similar to those provided by ArcoAire – both brands are owned by International Comfort Products. Unfortunately, this also means they are affected by similar performance issues:
- Noisy operation
- Short service life and warranty
- Difficult and expensive repairs
Tempstar furnace owners have also reported frequent electrical issues. These include error codes without a clear cause and buzzing circuit boards. Users have also reported a poor customer experience, which means you can have a hard time getting technical issues fixed.
Just like ArcoAire, Tempstar offers three product lines that range from AFUE 80 to AFUE 98 efficiency. This includes single-stage, two-stage, and modulating furnaces; and some of them have achieved ENERGY STAR certification. However, energy efficiency alone is not enough if durability and reliability are lacking.
6) Weatherking
Weatherking offers a wide selection of furnaces, and their efficiency ranges from AFUE 80 to AFUE 96. These specifications can seem decent on the surface, but there are some performance issues that are common when using this brand:
- Poor heating performance
- Low-quality electronics, which are prone to malfunctioning
- Easily damaged: frequent breakdowns and expensive repairs
Although the Weatherking website has a long list of furnace models, the specifications provided are very general and, in some cases, misleading.
For example, some of their furnaces have efficiency ratings of over AFUE 90, but they are single-stage units. Since these furnaces cannot ramp down their heating output during mild weather, they still waste energy regardless of their high AFUE.
In many product pages, the sections that should contain download links for technical documentation are empty.
Weatherking furnace owners have also reported very poor customer service, which makes performance issues even harder to fix.
Many of their product pages are missing the warranty information, and when this information is provided, the terms and conditions are confusing. Some of their parts only have a one-year warranty period.