Living up here in the land of the frozen north, I’m used to needing heat nearly all year round. We maintain our furnaces better than our cars.
Imagine my surprise Saturday morning when our furnace decided that it no longer needed to work for the summer. I called a technician and was told that the gas valve had failed, and that it would cost $1000.00 to replace it. :eek: The switch is the one that controls the flow of gas to the furnace and needs to switch open when the furnace begins heating.
Now, complaining about the price is not what GQ is for. What I’m wondering is what miracle this switch does to be worth the money. It is front & center of the furnace, there is a shut-off just upstream from this switch, and it seems to just screw in. So I don’t think much of this is a labor cost. And conceptually, the switch is simple; it opens and closes when it is told to open and close.
So why is there such an expense?
Did you mean to type $100 or $1,000? If the latter, then I suggest you get another estimate.
I replaced our NG furnance in my house last fall and the cost installed was about $l,500. That was for a 80% efficiency furnace, a 90+ would have been about $2,400.
What aahala said. Sounds pretty fishy to me.
That would be one heck of a motorised valve, even on industrial dryers they don’t cost that much.
If I can be of a somewhat dissenting opinion. How old is your furnance? I just replaced mine last year because of a $385USD gas valve. The high price had to do with the extreme rarity of that valve. I certainly couldn’t find it on the web anywhere. My furnace was 40 years old. In my mind it was money well spent as my inspection of the old one revealed may holes that could have let CO into my house.
What had broke on my valve was the mechanism that verified the pilot was burning.
$1,000 was the amount I meant to type. It was enough to make you shake all over.
I’ve got estimates to replace the furnace coming in over the next several days. I’ll set up a second opinion for replacing the switch also.
Thanks for all your help!
Eli
The furnace is about 12-15 years old. The switch is no longer made, I’ve been informed, which is what is apparently increasing the price. But that still does not explain to me the seemingly incredible cost of this part.
But maybe I’m just a cheapskate… 
Eli
From the furnance guy of my earlier post. Furnances have increased greatly in efficency from the old days. Also, buy the SMALLEST furnance relative to your needs, you burn less gas when a furnance runs frequently than infrequently. At least that’s what he told me.