Looking for 80% furnace recommendations for quiet burner

markrb

I live in a townhouse that has the furnace in an upstairs closet that cannot be moved. It has to be an 80% downflow as I cannot modify the building. I recently put in an Amana 60k 2 stage and the burner sounds like a jet engine on low that keeps me awake at night. The air is actually pretty quiet.
I am looking to replace it with something quieter. I have been given 2 recommendations so far and want to bounce them off this community to see what you think of those two or maybe add another.
The first is the American Standard 80V Gold 60k. The second is unfortunately has to be upsized as Rheem doesn't make a 2 stage down flow 50 or 60K and that would be their 75k which might be a bit large and I am not 100% sure my contactor can get it.

Please help me with this tough situation. I cannot take the burner noise of the Amana 80 and need something quieter if at all possible.

HVACNUT

Sealed combustion bringing in outside combustion air. 

markrb

I am not sure what you mean.
I cannot modify my building in any way. It's against the HOA rules.
I could put a pipe into my large attic space, but nothing out of the building.
What companies sell 80% furnaces that do this? What models?

EBEBRATT-Ed

Has the Amana been checked for proper combustion? Most 80% furnaces are pretty quiet. Is this induced draft?

mattmia2

Isn't Amana and Goodman the same appliance and weren't a number of people complaining about how loud a Goodman was a few weeks ago?

Kickstand55

Did you do the installation yourself? I see where you mentioned "I recently..."
If a contractor installed the system do you know if they checked the gas manifold pressure? Is the unit set up for the correct gas, IE: Natural or LP?
If you don't have this information it would be in your best interest to contact the installer. If no result contact another HVAC contractor to check the operation. This could be all that it needs and well worth a service call.
Keep us posted!

mattmia2

Another thought, is an 80% furnace legal to install in your jurisdiction? Is what the hoa is forcing you to do legal? In michigan the energy code prohibits installing 80% equipment if I recall.

markrb

Amana and Goodman are the same company owned by Daikin with mainly warranty differences.
It was contractor installed and they did check all the pressures.
The burner is not sealed and has an inducer, but the inducer is pretty quiet.
I was reading about the 80% law and according to the information I found that the DOE made 80% illegal for parts of the country in 2013, but was sued by the gas companies and in an agreement decided not to enforce the law.
On another forum the American Standard Gold 80V was recommended as being very quiet for an 80 and I was wondering what people here thought of it. I was looking at a Rheem as well, but they don't make a 2 stage 80% less then 75K.

bburd

Does the furnace closet have a louvered door? This was often done to provide combustion air from the main living space in older buildings.

If your attic is well ventilated and that ventilation does not rely on a fan, you can probably cut high and low openings (the low via ductwork) for combustion air in the closet ceiling and put a solid gasketed door on the closet to isolate the burner noise from the rest of your house. Check your local mechanical code’s combustion air provisions.

Unfortunately by the time you get done with all of that, putting in a quieter furnace might be less expensive.