Despite the suggestion of my consultant friend to keep the oil burning furnace with its basement bound oil tank, I decided to change my heating system from oil to gas. The primary motivation for this was to eliminate the chimney, making that space available to a powder room on the main floor. Secondary motivations include my perception that it is nice to cook with gas, so having a natural gas stove is a benefit. Plus, my perception is that people looking to buy a house perceive gas appliance as a “luxury” which might make selling easier.
Step 1: Get the furnace
Get help from Vinje and Son Do it yourself heating and cooling These guys walk you through all of the steps and show you how its done. Really great folks to work with. I tried to break the work into manageable pieces. This resulted in multiple trips to the furnace store, but gave me the time to figure out what I was doing.
Step 2: locate the furnace
Final location was determined by existing ductwork, and by the addition of a really nice media filter on the return air side. What is interesting about this is that you end up having to cut a hole in the side of a perfectly good furnace to allow return air. (There are some stampings on the bottom for different applications, but for a side mount return air, you literally cut a square hole in the side of a brand new manufactured box.)
Step 3: Gas Plumbing, Electric Wiring and Venting
Location determined, I could now plumb the gas line and move the existing electrical. Because Gas is under pressure, plumb refers to putting in black iron piping, not necessarily level.
The electricity used the same 15 amp circuit as the previous furnace, but had to be moved to the other side of the furnace. Additionally, to bring the furnace up to code, I added a switch and a gfci outlet to the side of the furnace. The outlet provides power to the water pump (95% efficient furnace produce condensation in their vent lines, the pump is my means of removal) and the switch turns the furnace on and off.
95% efficient furnaces are also know as direct vent, so the exhaust and air supply for burning can go right out through the side wall in the basement.
Finally, I measured the offset for the transition from furnace to main trunk line, went back to the duct store and ordered the transition.
And now after waiting until it got warm, I’ll have heat on Monday. (At Least its not summer yet!)
