If you actually have read any of my blog you will notice I have a dislike for RHEEM furnaces. I actually dislike a lot of brands of equipment but because of the sure numbers installed in this area I get to pick on RHEEM the most.
This customer had some major issues going on in their home, the huge $350 Nat gas heating bill got my attention as well as the customer thinking it simply might be the older 90% RHEEM furnace.
Older RHEEM furnace
After talking alittle with the customer about the history of the heating system and the recent repairs done by another company we both concluded there must be some damaged ducting that got overlooked in the last repair.
Supply Plenum
After removing the RHEEM 90% I sealed up the take offs from inside the plenum, at this time I had no idea the extend of damage I was to encounter.
New American Standard 95% Furnace
As you can see the new American Standard 95% furnace slipped right into place. I recommended the standard 95% because of the past ducting issues. If you have a poor duct system out side of the heated space including improperly insulated or sealed you should stay away from a multi stage piece of equipment. A multi-stage could actually make your bills go up not down.
Now that the new American Standard 95% gas furnace was installed I moved on to the ducting. Because of the length of this entry I decided to break it up in to 2. You will have to read the next entry. “Animal Damaged Ducting.”
Heating And Cooling Skagit County
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In all the years I have been in this trade I have never experienced the amount of damaged caused by animals to a heating system like I encountered on this last system. In fact if it wasn’t for the amount of frustration the customer had from dealing with another heating company I may have turned this job down. When you have a customer with a home under 2000 sq ft and a heating bill (Nat gas) of $350 a month you have a serious problem.
Damaged Ducting
The picture above is of the 3 main trunks coming off the supply plenum, the reason for 3 mains instead of 1 is because of clearance issues, there simply wasn’t room. These 3 main ducts where covered in small prey remains and from the looks of it the bedding area for what ever lived here.
Damaged Ducting
Here I took a picture from inside the plenum looking down one of the mains, all 3 main ducts had similar openings. At a recent coarse I took on duct sealing I was told that a opening of 1 sq inch in a heating duct is equivalent to a 2′ sq opening in a wall. All together I encountered 5 serious openings such as this 1 and 3 minor openings, this is following another heating contractor who was here less than a year ago!
So even though you see what kind of damage can occur with flexible ducting I am still a big fan of its use, but when you have openings into your crawl space you will eventually have duct damage. So either use hard metal ducting or protect your crawl space and do annual inspections.
Heating And Cooling Skagit County
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
I can remember when Quatro furnaces hit the market. I believe they where one of the first 80% universal furnaces, meaning they could be installed in any direction and they where very compact and inexpensive. The problem was they where cheaply made and soon went out of business because of lawsuits.
Older Quatro Furnace.
The new American Standard 95% Variable Speed 2 stage Furnace had to be adapted to the existing base can, as well as a small transition for the return. New PVC venting installed as well as a drain system.
New American Standard 95% Variable Speed 2 Stage
Thanks to American Standards 95% furnace my customer is going to enjoy energy savings and a more comfortable home.
Heating And Cooling Skagit County
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
At first I thought this job was not going to go very smooth, the existing flex connector did not want to flex, the carpet was cut around the furnace making it difficult to move and the 30 year old duct tape was like cement.
Existing gas furnace
But after removing all the screws and the 30 year old duct tape that was suppose to fail years ago but yet somehow ignored the laws of physics that duct tape fails and should no longer be used (according to WSU) we where able to remove the furnace and get the new one installed.
New American Standard 80% Gas Furnace
The new American Standard 80% Furnace slipped right into place, now the customer can once again start heating her home, and even though this was only an 80% furnace she will surely enjoy some cost savings over that older model.
Heating And Cooling Skagit County
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
This customer had remodeled his commercial property and turned 2 zones into 3. Obviously there is going to be issues with the heating system. We ended up deviding the largest zone and replacing the fuel eating inline duct heater with 2 American Standard 80% Gas Furnaces.
Heating Location 1
The picture above shows where I believe 1 of the American Standard furnaces would be located.
American Standard 80%
We build sleepers under the unit to raise it up for easier servicing and added a Honeywell 4″ pleated filter into the return system.
Heating Location 2
The 2nd location for a furnace was within the same mechanical room, besides adding sleepers we had to add a new return air duct into the space with a Honeywell 4″ pleated filter system.
American Standard 80% Furnace
The Existing supply ducting was turned and tied into the new American Standard 80% furnace.
Heating And Cooling Skagit County
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
I was recently introduced to a product that I think will be very useful to my customers, especially my customers that want to monitor not only their heat/cooling system but also every appliance in their home from anywhere … ANYWHERE. This product is very easy to use and for what it does fairly inexpensive. EMME is not just a fancy thermostat… you need to check out their web site.
emme
I’m dieing to install this product in someones home or business, for a limited time I will install this product virtually at my cost just to see how it works and get feed back and I am willing to give a 30 day trial. If you do not like the product I will give your money back.
Give me a call if interested.
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
The heating and cooling industry is constantly adapting to changes, the equipment is getting more and more efficient but the systems have not always kept up to the equipment. Case in point is duct work. It wasn’t until the energy code hit the HVAC market here in 1992 that we started to take the sealing of ductwork seriously and even then it was more on commercial projects rather than residentialy.
Sealed Duct
The new codes coming are getting a lot more serious about duct sealing and proving that it is sealed by pressurizing the system. Im not a big fan of making it mandatory because of the added cost to the consumer, especially in the change out market. But never the less these codes are coming.
Duct sealed
I typically seal the over lapping joints with duct tape then go back and seal all the fitting joints with Hardcast Duct Seal Its very easy to apply but does take some time and can be very messy.
Duct Sealed
I really enjoy running hard pipe versus flexible duct, flexible duct is 6 times more restrictive and rodents can get into them. But flexible duct is labor friendly, is already insulated and you don’t have to worry about sealing all those joints.
Heating And Cooling Skagit County
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
This little 14 Seer American Standard 2.0 ton air conditioner couldnt have been easier to do. The weather was perfect, the existing furnace was the same foot print and the crawl space was more like a walk space.
Existing Lennox Furnace
The existing Lennox furnace was exactly the same width as the new coil and we had plenty of headrrom above the furnace, making it so much easier to install. In most cases we remove the furnace and set it aside, we then install the new Air Conditioning coil on to the existing base can, we then re-install the existing furnace on to the new Air Conditioning coil and then make all the changes to the duct work above.
New American Standard Air Conditioner Coil Installed
Here you see the American Standard Air Conditioner coil installed under the existing Lennox furnace. Perfect fit.
New American Standard Air Conditioner
The American Standard Air Conditioner blended right in, at first I was not to sure about the location the customer picked out but said and done it turned out great and it is a very quiet Air conditioner.
Heating And Cooling Skagit County
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.