The heating and cooling technician we have used on our residential building wall furnaces, furnaces and space-heaters for many years has recommended installing Maytag M120 Series 80 Single Stage Gas furnaces for several apartments with older hot forced air furnaces that vent into clay-tile lined chimneys. How reliable and well-made is this Maytag furnace? Also, would it be a good idea to pay an extra $300 for a 12 year labor warranty (to match the 12-year parts warranty that comes with this furnace)?

Thank for the information!

installing Maytag M120 Series 80 Single Stage Gas furnaces for several apartments with older hot forced air furnaces that vent into clay-tile lined chimneys

When you mix different efficiency units it can be a problem unless the installer really knows his business. The old units I believe are gravity vented the new units are power vented I believe. Great care needs to be taken when mixing different category units in the same chimney. The new units might have to be piped directly into the existing chimeny and then up the chimny to the outside to isloate them from the old units. Then the next problem is chimney sizing for all these combined units. I cannot stress how much of a problem this can be so for safety sake make sure it is done correctly.

How reliable and well-made is this Maytag furnace?

Maytag is just a brand name. They come under the Nordyne roof of products which include Tapan,Westinghouse,Gibson,Kelvinator,Frigidaire,et c. They work OK but the most important thing is the install. You can take good equipment and a bad install and it will be junk in no time or you can take less expensive equipment with a good install and they will last for a long time.

Also, would it be a good idea to pay an extra $300 for a 12 year labor warranty (to match the 12-year parts warranty that comes with this furnace)?

Yes and no. If the labor warranty is directly from the factory it is a good deal BUT if the warranty is from the selling dealer it is a bad deal. Who says he will be in business for 12 more years? Once he is out of business or dies your warranty goes with him if you know what I mean.

Your unit is below see link.


http://www.nordyne.com/literature/745c.pdf