How much more expensive will it be to replace a failed gas furnace with a condensing one, assuming the house has had absolutely no upgrades to the HVAC install since like the '70s?
I guess a condensate line could be routed into a basement wash sink or something, but it just seems like a way for water damage to happen. Every place I've lived at with a furnace, the heat exchanger wouldn't pass because it was leaking combustion gases, causing the whole unit to need replacement soon after.
There's a several hundred dollar difference between an 80% furnace and a condensing furnace. It will depend on the contractor what that means to you. There will likely be duct transitions necessary regardless because most modern furnaces are shorter and wider than older units. As far as condensate there are external pumps for less than $100 that have plenty of lift to get your condensate to a drain. Get one with a safety float that shuts off the unit if it gets too full, Little Giant brand is the go to. As far as total cost it depends on location and the site but it's probably going to run roughly 5k to 8k
>There will likely be duct transitions necessary regardless because most modern furnaces are shorter and wider than older units.
>Your ductwork will NEED to be addressed. Modern furnaces (even new 80% ones) will run like shit with the filtration and blowers we have now.
If that's the case, I can't see why anyone stuck replacing one of these wouldn't just say "frick it", and put baseboards in for a couple hundred a room.
You gonna install a boiler and all the pipework? You aren't just going to put electric fricking baseboard down are you?
>You aren't just going to put electric fricking baseboard down are you?
No, that's literally what I meant.
If installing a new unit isn't a drop in replacement under the new regs, the most cost-effective thing to do would be to just leave the old furnace in place with sticker saying "Do not operate", tell the gas company to shut off service at the street, and run electric baseboards to the areas that need heat.
Why not rip it out and sell it for scrap?
Electric heaters cost 4-8x what a gas heater does.
Embrace pellet stove.
>Embrace pellet stove.
I had one of those, and insert style one, and it always jammed in the feed. Everyone in the house just wanted the fireplace back by the end of it.
How strange. I used one for 3 years at a pretty mid tier rental and never had a problem or needed to service it. I think it might have jammed once and I just needed to poke it to get it going kept the whole house warm for like $100 in pellets a season.
Who makes your pellets? Hardware stores charge $8 per bag it's barely cheaper than natural gas
Keeping bags and bags of pellets inside is a pain
The metal flue is swapped with a PVC one and can run basically anywhere instead of up a chimmney. The drain can either go in a pump or plumbed into some kiind of drain.
Your ductwork will NEED to be addressed. Modern furnaces (even new 80% ones) will run like shit with the filtration and blowers we have now. They're likely starving your furnaces for air (and cracking your heat exchangers).
>Your ductwork will NEED to be addressed. Modern furnaces (even new 80% ones) will run like shit with the filtration and blowers we have now.
When I replaced mine, the filtration and blower was a part of the package. A good HVAC company will size the new furnace CFM to fit your ductwork.
Unless your home is insulated insanely well and you plan on living there for decades, it makes no sense to spend 15k replace a whole-home heating system. In fact, even if you have a brand new "efficient" heating/cooling system, it's usually not cost effective to use a whole-home system.
Far cheaper is to get window ACs for every room in the summer, space heaters for every room in the winter, keep doors closed, and control the temperature in whatever room(s) you're in. In the winter you can also get a couple of big buddy portable propane heaters to release a huge amount of heat quickly (equivalent to eight 1500 watt electric space heaters running on high) if you're moving to a new room that hasn't been heated.
This equipment will cost about 2k total and will cost about 2k per year to operate.
you also won't be giving the israelites a pound of flesh to finance your expensive gas furnace replacement cuz I know all of you are broke Black folk that can't pay for shit up front, but for the rare anon that does have 15k in the bank, you can invest that shit and pay for your yearly space heater/ window AC operating costs from the dividends.
So instead of losing 60k over 10 years (cost of replacement plus operating costs plus depreciation of equipment plus interest or lost time value of money) you'd be losing either 20k or 0k depending on if you started out with 15k or not
You are moronic. There is no way that running a dozen space heaters on expensive electricity is cheaper than a natural gas furnace. Not only do you risk a horrible fire, but you also risk your pipes freezing if you don't micromanage all your space heaters
>There is no way that running a dozen space heaters on expensive electricity is cheaper than a natural gas furnace
The cool thing is, it doesn't matter if running gas for winter heat is technically cheaper as a utility. Most Americans don't have multiple grand on hand, and landlords will usually go with the cheapest route on their "investment properties". If the only option to replace those requires extensive work and cost, people will pick the shittier cheaper option.
You're the moron with no reading comprehension. Yes the amount of money you give to the utility company is more to heat with electricity, but if you include the massive investment of money for the replacement of the gas boiler/ductwork, then it's not cheaper.
The natural gas here is on a well. So I don't have to frick with it. Access is included in the deed.
Solar panels that use recirculated antifreeze through a buried loop, only require a recirculation pump. Your radiant heaters have a loop - additional circulation pumps. Those can economically flow heat from underground storage to the radiant baseboard heat. An unpressurized system in both cases, is the safest set-up. Your reservoir for the panels would be on the roof, but not likely something you'd visit often.
The pumps can be further driven by electrical energy generated by electrical solar. But if you already have grid, the least cost investment is doing what I outlined in the first paragraph. Recirculation pumps require very little power.
Check for rebates if you are upgrading to high efficiency units. Contrary to what these guys are saying the furnace may be able to be direct swapped, get model & serial number from tag and call supply houses and find as direct replacement as you can get. You will probably need an acid neutralizer pump to drain furnace condensate into plumbing, it will destroy any cast iron drains but if you have all pvc it should be okay. Your exhaust will have to be 100% replaced with PVC or ipex piping, and if you don’t pipe in a combustion air intake you will need to consider makeup air for where your furnace is. You really should figure out the rebate situation, here in MA you can get pretty good money but mass save is no longer doing rebates starting April 2024. So move quickly if you are having a company install it. If you’re installing yourself it’s pretty easy, you will need at least a manometer and multimeter. Make sure to follow installation instructions because you will destroy the new furnace if set up wrong. Once you install it spend like ~$150 to have a company come do a PM on it and ensure they will perform a combustion analysis on it… ask the receptionist because some companies do not take combustion measurements.