Goodman GMH8/GDH8 Furnace Overview

Had my local heat & AC company install a new furnace and the draft inducer keeps having issues. There are two electrical connections on it and somehow the connection broke inside the block on the side of the motor. The company who installed it said they’d never seen anything like it. I contacted Goodman and for some reason they’ve superseded the one on mine. The part number is 0131F00006S which, before it was superseeded, didn’t have the S on the end. $100 to buy from a local Goodman authorized dealer, easy to install. AC/heating company Freedom Heating & Cooling wouldn’t warranty it.

Two inducer motors in two years. The unit is eight years old. Total junk.

Installed this unit in April 2013 and have had no problems. We have had one of the coldest winters on record and the unit has worked great. I have seen on some reviews that Goodman is not a good brand. I don’t feel this is the case. I think it is important that the installation be done by someone competent. I was however concerned that utility power fluctuations could damage the electronics so I installed a voltage monitoring relay, the icm 492. This unit monitors incoming voltage and if it goes higher or lower than the setting you program in, it will cut power to the furnace control board. Got it for $50 online. This furnace has the capability of low fire and high fire utilizing the single stage thermastat that most homes have. Didn’t have to buy a two stage thermastat. The one problem I see with the system set in two-stage auto, is the control board is supposed to calculate the amount of time to delay until it goes from low fire to high fire. This delay supposedly can range fron 1-12 minutes. I have found it always waits the entire 12 minutes. Possibly this is because I keep the house cool at 66-67 degrees. Based on the performance so far, I would purchase another Goodman furnace.

Goodman control boards have a know fault in that they have the wrong rated relays built on to the boards. You’d be lucky if the board lasts 5 years. Even the replacement boards have this same issue. The motor mfg for the blower motor make a junk product period. Its hit or miss you might get get a good one or not. The inducer motors had a design change to help increase longevity. They are still junk. And still suffer high rate of failures. Heat exchangers should last life of unit assuming your contract did not put in the wrong size furnace cause the bigger model was on sale. Seen that every day. Goodman cuts cost where they can to deliver a value priced product . While if all I installed correctly and size accordingly your rolling the dice. If you do decide to buy ask contractor about assure warranty. If you catch it while on sale this is an extended warranty from Goodman mfg. That will pay all labor costs for 10 years. They make a decent AC unit but all units require hard start kits. Its in the installer book. And the txv valve that they use is 100% junk. Some swear by it while others bash it till no end. Would I buy it? Yes, but I’d look at other off brands that are say clones of some other brand. Like Payne which is carrier budget brand, or heck thermal zone which is made by by rheem. No name brand less money but not issues like good junk.

I had a gmh80704bx installed last summer to replace a 30-year-old 90k btu furnace. We live in coastal Southern California in a 1700 Sq Ft. home so requirements are modest. The furnace has been perfect except that it is noisier than the furnace it replaced. The burner sounds like a blow-torch in the hall closet. I installed weather striping and additional (tight) latches on the furnace closet door and it’s tolerable. The good news is that, despite heavy usage this winter, our gas bills have been about 15% lower than the same months last year.