Furnace Installation and Replacement in Ypsilanti and Southeast Michigan

We replace a lot of furnaces in Washtenaw and western Wayne County, and we talk people out of replacing almost as many. The ones that genuinely need to go are easy to spot: a cracked heat exchanger on a 22-year-old 80 percent unit, a standing-pilot furnace from the 1980s that is eating a thermocouple a year, a furnace that has needed an inducer, a board and a blower motor in three consecutive winters. The ones that do not need to go are the ones another company condemned over a dirty flame sensor. Our reviews mention Al encouraging a second opinion on a replacement, and that is how we operate: if your furnace has life left, we tell you, and if it does not, we show you why.

When replacement is right, the first decision is efficiency, and it is less obvious than the brochures make it. An 80 percent AFUE furnace vents through the existing metal chimney and is the cheaper install. A 96 percent condensing furnace vents through PVC out a side wall, condenses water that needs a drain, and uses about 16 percent less gas for the same heat, which on a DTE bill across a 6,000-plus degree-day winter adds up over the life of the furnace. But a 96 in a house with a water heater that still vents up the old chimney can leave that chimney oversized and cold, causing the water heater to backdraft, and a 96 in a house where the side-wall vent would exit under a deck or next to a bedroom window has placement problems. We walk through all of that on the estimate instead of defaulting to whichever sells.

Sizing is the second decision and the one most often botched. Furnaces in 1950s to 1970s ranches and colonials were sized for uninsulated walls and single-pane windows, and like-for-like replacements in the 1990s and 2000s copied those numbers. The result is a huge number of homes around Westland, Livonia, Canton and Ypsilanti Township with furnaces that are 30 to 50 percent oversized, short cycling all winter, wearing out ignitors and cracking heat exchangers early. We run a Manual J load calculation on every replacement using the house as it is today, and we size the furnace and the blower to that. Two-stage and variable-speed furnaces help here too, running on low fire for most of the winter and reaching high fire only on polar vortex nights.

The installation is the part you cannot see once the panels are on, and it is where we are deliberate. New furnace set level on a pad with a proper return drop and supply plenum, not crammed onto the old transitions with duct tape. Gas line checked and sized, with a new drip leg and shutoff. Venting done to the manufacturer's spec for the length and number of elbows, pitched back to the furnace on a condensing unit, and terminated where ice and snow will not block it. Condensate trapped and routed to a drain or pump that will not freeze. Filter rack sized for a real filter, not a one-inch slot. Blower speed set to the correct temperature rise, and gas pressure set with a manometer. Then a combustion analysis on the running furnace to confirm it is burning clean, and the mechanical permit and inspection through the city or township.

Estimates for a new furnace are free and come with no obligation. We put the complete price in writing as one flat number covering the equipment, materials, labor, permit, haul-away and startup, and that is what you pay. DTE Energy offers rebates on qualifying high-efficiency furnaces, and the federal 25C tax credit applies to furnaces meeting the current efficiency threshold; we identify which of your options qualify and provide the documentation. If you are holding another company's quote, bring it to the estimate and we will tell you honestly whether it is a good one.