OK, I want to clarify the title, the job was not challeging to me as far as skill is concerned by anymeans. I enjoyed this project because it went south and I saved it, let me explain. The customer was in the middle of a remodel and lost her job, at times it appeared she really didn’t know what she wanted, but she really needed a new furnace and her HWT vented correctly. And I admit I almost gave up on this project from the point of sale, but I could see she really needed my help. The installer clashed with her personality causing even more issues. So I decided to redirect my installer to another project and take over. After a few hours on Saturday I have a very happy customer.
Before The Install
Above is a side picture of where the furnace eventually ended up.
Front view before
Above is a front picture before the furnace. Keep in mind I really did not know where the furnace would end up when I took these pictures.
New furnace/ HWT moved
As you can see above we moved the HWT over to the right making space for the furnace, re-vented the HWT up through the roof. We installed the new 95% American Standard furnace just under an existing supply duct and rerouted the RA over.
Alpine Heating And Cooling
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? Or a complete heating system? We install them and all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
There becomes a time in a furnaces life that you need to way the repair cost versus a new furnace.. In this case it was time to replace. We replaced this 90% Trane(American Standard) with a new 95% American Standard.
Older Trane Unit.
I want to point out in the picture above the Electronic Air Cleaner (EAC), grey thing in the middle. If a service tech where to take out the instructions and actually read how these need to be installed he would be amazed. Almost every EAC I see is installed incorrectly. The air MUST be evenly distributed across the EAC cells and sized for the furnace CFM. In most cases this requires 24″ of straight ducting ahead and behind the EAC.
New 95% furnace
In this case the customer would be better served in my opinion with a 4″ pleated installed in the EAC box.
Alpine Heating And Cooling
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? Or a complete heating system? We install them and all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
Here I swapped out an older RHEEM gas furnace for a new American Standard 80%. This was probably the most common type of furnace changeout up to 2 years ago, now I am seeing more upgrades than anything.
Older RHEEM Gas Furnace
And as you can see we added a Honeywell True Steam 6 gal Humidifier below the new American Standard gas furnace.
New American Standard 80%
By adding the humidifier they will be able to maintain a minimum setting of humidity in the home. This is good for their health as well as energy cost. We also added the Honeywell 4″ pleated filter above.
Alpine Heating And Cooling
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? Or a complete heating system? We install them and all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
Carbon Monoxide is by far one of the most dangerous by products produced in the majority of homes by gas appliances. I have decided to built an informational page on CO and have it link over from my furnace maintenance page.
http://www.alpineheat.com/Carbon_Mono.html
Alpine Heating And Cooling
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? Or a complete heating system? We install them and all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
Im slowing building and adding information to my site, I thought it was about time to build a furnace maintenace page, explaining a few things. Its alot of reading … but I feel worth it.
http://www.alpineheat.com/FurnaceMaint.html
Alpine Heating And Cooling
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? Or a complete heating system? We install them and all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
From time to time I get a phone call to do equipment inspections, usually at a buyers request. I do these at a lower cost because (A) I get to put my sticker on the equipment (B) There is a good chance the equipment is on its last legs anyway and it gives me the opportunity to quote the new equipment.
Older furnace
The picture above is of a older forced air furnace, the house was a repo so the gas was turned off. So testing the equipment was impossible. The first thing that hit me was the lack of return ducting. Notice the filter on top? Now notice that the furnace actually pulls its combustion air from the same space it pulls its return air from? Not only is this HIGHLY against code … its very dangerous to the people living in the home. The 2nd thing that hit me was the age of the equipment, I am guessing around 36 years old based on the style and the serial number. I do not need to see this thing fire off to tell you its in very poor condition and the gas company will not re-establish gas service to this home without the return air/combustion air being repaired.
Alpine Heating And Cooling
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? Or a complete heating system? We install them and all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.