Furnace Installation & Replacement in Livonia, Michigan

Oversized furnaces are the norm in Livonia, not the exception. The 1950s–70s brick ranches, colonials and tri-levels that line the streets around Greenmead Historical Park got their original furnaces when the walls had no insulation, and the replacements that went in during the 1990s and 2000s simply matched the old BTU number. Temprasure's furnace replacement for Livonia starts by fixing that: we calculate what the house actually needs today, which is often 30 percent less, and we install a furnace that runs long, quiet cycles instead of hammering on and off all winter. Free estimates for every 48150 address, flat-rate pricing, DTE Energy rebate paperwork handled.

Livonia houses and what that means for furnace installation

Livonia's housing is the biggest block of 1950s through 1970s construction in our radius, and we see every variation of it. The 1950s brick ranches between Joy Road and Five Mile are on full block basements with a single-return furnace and a center trunk, typically on their second or third furnace with a condenser added in the 80s or 90s. The tri-levels and quad-levels from the 1960s, common between Five and Seven Mile, have a lower level that never gets enough air and a bedroom level that overheats in summer. The 1970s colonials in the northwest toward Eight Mile and Newburgh are larger, with longer duct runs and two-and-a-half to three-ton condensers that are often oversized. Rosedale Gardens is the exception: 1920s and 30s Tudors with Michigan basements, retrofitted duct and occasionally a boiler. Finished basements are nearly universal, and the furnace is frequently boxed into a closet that limits combustion air and filter access. Electrical service is 100 amps on most pre-1975 houses.

Chimneys decide a lot of furnace replacements in Livonia. The 1950s–70s brick ranches, colonials and tri-levels around Country Homes were built with a masonry chimney that served both the furnace and the water heater, and when a homeowner switches to a 96 percent condensing furnace that vents out the side wall in PVC, the water heater is left alone in a flue far too large for it. The exhaust cools, condenses on the brick, and in bad cases backdrafts into the basement. On every Livonia, MI estimate where a high-efficiency furnace is on the table, we look at the chimney and price a properly sized liner or a power-vent solution for the water heater as part of the job, so the upgrade does not create a new problem.

Livonia winters are long enough that a furnace runs more hours in a year here than an air conditioner runs in five. We maintain and repair the gas furnaces in the 1950s–70s brick ranches, colonials and tri-levels near Madonna University and Rotary Park, the hot-water boilers in the older houses around Rosedale Gardens, and the furnaces in newer subdivisions out toward Burton Hollow where builder-grade equipment hits its first real failures around year ten. The shop is 20 miles away, the truck carries the parts that fail, and a heating call in Livonia ends with heat on the first visit far more often than not.

Local details we plan around in Livonia

• Original owners aging in place means we see a lot of 30-plus-year-old furnaces here that have been maintained but are long past their rated life, and an honest repair-or-replace conversation is the norm.
• Rosedale Gardens has historic district guidelines that affect exterior equipment placement on the 1920s and 30s houses.
• Finished basements with the furnace in a closet often have no combustion air provision at all, and we address that before anything else on a replacement.
• Livonia is flat and almost entirely built out, with mature street trees on the older blocks that give shade in summer but drop leaves into condensers every fall. The Middle Rouge through Hines Park and Bell Creek and Tarabusi Creek through the middle of the city create damp pockets, and basements near those drains need dehumidification in summer. Winter is freeze-thaw cycling with the full effect of polar vortex nights on 70-year-old brick with minimal insulation.