Genz-Ryan installed a new furnace that is too small
Genz-Ryan installed a furnace that is too small for our house and poor Central A.C. installation in the middle of the winter. Genz-Ryan Project Number 536316324. Installation date: 19 JAN 2026.Our house was built the winter 2001 with an 80,000 BTU single stage high efficiency gas furnace. Genz-Ryan installed a 60,000 BTU modulating high-efficiency gas furnace, but have never given us an explanation why they down-sized it from the existing 80,000 BTU high-efficiency furnace. We noticed that our brand new AMANA furnace did not heat our home nearly as well as our old furnace. Several days the furnace ran almost constantly. On-line research, (Chat GPT, Consumer Reports, Google, etc.), shows that our house, (age, condition, insulation, window type, square-footage, etc.), requires at least an 80,000 BTU high-efficiency furnace. Genz-Ryan has provided several versions of a Manual J-Load Calculation to justify installing an under-sized furnace- none of which are correct. The only way a Manual J-Load Calculation would recommend a 60,000 BTU high-efficiency furnace for our 2,400 plus square foot house would be if incorrect inputs were intentionally or inadvertently entered or omitted. A Manual J-Load Calculation was not done, (as required in the permit application), prior to installing the furnace and central AC. It has become obvious that Genz-Ryan is trying to provide a Manual J-Load Calculation to match a 60,000 BTU furnace, but many months and several versions later, the still haven’t produced an accurate and transparent version. They said that they can't share the input information for the calculations because it is proprietary. The Genz-Ryan Management Team still won't provide an answer to why they replaced an 80,000 BTU furnace that operated flawlessly for over 24 years with a 60,000 BTU furnace. I asked that question to Josh Brewers- Operations Manager when he was at our house, (to confirm Manual J-Load Calculation room measurements for the second time), and just received a blank stare. I told him that all of the research agrees that in Minnesota, (Climate Zone 5/6), that it takes 40-60 BTU's per square feet to properly heat a house. Our new Genz-Ryan, AMANA 60,000 BTU furnace supplies less than 25 BTU's per square foot. Another blank stare, and a comment that he was only there to get some required measurements for the City of Forest Lake, and would not comment on the problems of trying to get an "accurate" Manual J-Load Calculation. How could a Manual J-Load Calculation account for their furnace that only provides 25 BTU 's per square foot of heat for a house that requires at least 40 BTU's of heat per square foot ? I was unable during many requests to talk to the owner Jon Ryan. I can understand that the company wouldn't want to give out Jon Ryan's phone number or e-mail address, but any requests to contact him have been ignored. I explained to Genz-Ryan customer service that I didn’t need an immediate solution to their mistake, but would like a few minutes to see if he was aware of the problems that I was having with his company. Jon Ryan says that he cares about his customers in his advertising, but the actions of his company couldn't be further from that truth. Jeffery Dehler, another member of the Genz-Ryan management team, told me that he has closed my case and that Genz-Ryan stands behind their calculations for our new under-sized furnace. For that to be true, all of the available information for furnace sizing must not be true. The attached photos shows the poor installation of our A.C. that was done in -4 degrees F temperature, with 20-30 degrees below zero wind chill. The bags of leveling sand that they poured on the frozen ground is leaking from under the plastic pad. Part of the pad is resting on an edger block, which was probably hidden by ice, and allowing a gap to form. GENZ-RYAN's dishonesty, lack of transparency, and refusal to correct their mistakes, makes me wish that I had never contacted them for service. Please learn from my misfortune.
By Kurt K.