As the heating season approaches, I thought I would cover some tech tips and give you guys the jump on the Goodman product line of 90%+ furnaces. 

 

Inspection: Look the equipment over before installation, make sure there are no loose or missing wires, nothing is bent, broken or missing. It's been known to happen.

 

Size: Make sure the duct system is the correct size for the amount of BTU's

 

Venting/pressure switches:  Make sure furnace has slight pitch forward per the manual.  1/4" per foot MINIMUM of fall back to the appliance with your venting. If you are getting close to the max length of the run, bump up to the next size vent. Maintain 12" of separation from intake and exhaust outside, the vent should be higher than the intake. Make sure there are no dips or trapping of condensate. Avoid short horizontal runs and "double-back" 90's. Inspect the drain boot (attached to inducer) for manufacture defects, we have seen this before. Make sure there is an open tee or "air-gap" for the furnace condensate drain. (SEE ATTACHMENTS). It is sometimes necessary to add a drain tee to the intake, due to home depressurization (negative building pressure). Check pressure switch tubing for correct routing and length, again, something we have run across before. 

 

Condensate: Sometimes the plastic drain fitting (0161F00048)  shipped with the furnace is not made correctly, and slipping a 3/4" tee on it could be a challenge. Take some sand cloth to it and sand it down, or grab a new one from Johnstone. 

 

Burners: Make sure they are clean (this helps flame signal and better combustion). Upgrade to stainless for LP applications (SBKSS90). ALWAYS CHECK AND SET GAS PRESSURE. Never assume it is correct out of the box (most times it is not). 

 

Electrical: Dedicated circuit (its own wire and breaker). Ground it, Ground it, Ground it, this helps to avoid board "issues" and flame sensing problems.

 

Thermostats: ANY residential heating/cooling thermostat will work. Some Wifi stats will say "No C wire required", we say run a C wire anyways to avoid possible board issues. 

 

Board lights: Familiarize yourself with the control board lights. Not all of them are faults, they are sometimes a status code telling you what stage its in and how fast the blower is running. Most models allow you to retrieve the last 6 faults (this procedure is in the manual). Remove the call for heat, cool and fan first to check. 

 

Extras: 90% upflow/horizontal furnaces are no longer shipped with parts for horizontal install. Ask for this kit if you need it, and specify if you are going horizontal (X93-516) there is no extra charge at this time. Download the Cool Cloud app for newer communicating furnaces, this allows you to set the system up easier, and view faults. Also, invest in the BTSDL (blue tooth shared data loader) L50-794, you will need this if you are replacing the control board and blower motor at the same time. You can also download any new updates to the equipment if there are any.  

 

*Update: In some cases (we are actually seeing quite a few) there may be a need for external condensate management on the intake AND flue pipes of the 90% product line. This provision is shown in the manuals as well. There is a lot of condensate produced during the combustion process that ends up in the exhaust. Sometimes this condensate can "stack" and overwhelm the internal drain system of the furnace during the off cycle. Providing external management can help with nuisance pressure switch trips or loss of flame faults as well.