Our house smelled like gas when we came home. It turns out our chimney had deteriorated and blocked off the furnace vent it then burnt out the furnace. Any one know anything about buying a new one? How big do I need? Our house is 1600' not includingthe basement. It's also 1 1/2 story and old and drafty. At least I have money saved, but it was supposed to be for a new DD. I guess that will have to wait.
I just replaced my furnace too - an expense I really didn't need since I had to put a new motor in my winter beater and pay my taxes all in the same month. Had a really good bit of advice from a friend with a lot of contacts in the green building trade. A lot of folks up here are getting big rebates for making their homes more efficient. One of the first things they do is replace the furnace with one of those super-efficient models, sometimes yanking out furnaces that are scarcely a year or two old. Many of these end up on Kijiji and Craigslist for under a grand. I did a search and found pages of them in the $500 - $1,000 range.
I got lucky - she did me a special favour and put me in touch with someone who was doing over an entire house for some really wealthy folks... and I got their under-2-year-old $8,000 furnace (with exchanger and central air) for the price of some kids-on-pony artwork (I supplied the pony too). Paid $700 for it to be professionally installed and to have a licensed gas guy turn it on.
Sure beat paying $4000 for another one like the one that crapped out on me last year during a winter deep freeze while I was away... killing all my fish and totally pissing off my cats.
Up here the heating and air conditioning business is a total racket. Furnaces and air conditioners are not expensive, but somehow the installed prices end up being 3-4 times the cost of the units, and practically everybody has the same price. Take Leslie's advice, and also shop around.
It's a racket down here too. It's possible to buy a new unit and install it yourself, but if you do: no warranty for you!
I would suggest being careful about one thing: if you are replacing an A/C unit at the same time or installing a heat pump, R22 has been phased out in favor of R410 (Puron). The two are not compatible and R22 is no longer in production. So if you get an older unit it will probably be an R22 and in 3-4 years it could get real pricey to recharge if needed. So if it's an R22 system, make sure it's dirt cheap.
As far as installation went, I asked around, and found someone who was willing to come in and do it off-hours, for cash. Total cost to me, $700 plus a couple of rounds of coffee and donuts.
DIY install is not as easy as it sounds unless you have a buddy in the biz to coach and help you. Sure, you can tear out the old unit and set up the new(er) unit, yur gonna need a sheetmetal guy to measure up the supply and return plenums correctly and them make 'em. Traditional sheetmetal plenums will require a brake and lockformer to make it look professional and then ya gotta adapt to the present ductwork... blah, blah. If you have AC yur gonna need a refrigerant licensed mechanic to evacuate the system and recharge the new system to be legal (rolls eyes).
Might be better if you should score a deal on a new or used unit to have a experienced buddy/ installer do it if that's possible before hiring a contractor (that might rack you). Not to say it can't be done DIY, just know how involved it can be.
I don't think it's legal to DIY it here. I'm also pretty sure my insurance company would drop me or refuse coverage if they ever found out. I only have one friend who's a licensed gas fitter and he's out of town for the next week
How bad an idea is it to bring my radiant propane heater in from the garage?
Lesley wrote: ... killing all my fish and totally pissing off my cats.
why pissed off ? couldn't they get to the fish ...??
sorry ... sometimes I'm not such a nice person 
I think it had something to do with the fact that their little asses were frozen...
This is the shop heater in question: http://www.mrheater.com/upload/newsletter/MH_35_LP_may_19.pdf
The manual does state that it should only be used in well ventilated areas, so I guess I'll be a little cold rather than kill my whole family.
yeah, I'd figured that ... trying to make a funny .... like I wrote..sorry 
20 Bucks (10 Toonies) for a CO detector.
Lesley wrote: I think it had something to do with the fact that their little asses were frozen...
I've got one, I may buy a second one and then try the heater while I'm awake and my daughter is out of the house. If only I had a canary...
Well, you know the canary DIES when it's bad in there. No squawking, just a quiet thud.
I have one, and I would use it in emergencies as long as I was awake. Fire it up and bring the house up to temp. Then shut it down and go to bed. I wouldn't sleep with one of them running. Then CO detector is a good idea too I wouldn't run any kind of gas or oil furnace without one. Heat exchangers have been known to fail.
cwh wrote: Well, you know the canary DIES when it's bad in there. No squawking, just a quiet thud.
Might not be a loud enough thud to wake you up, though. Unless it's a damn big canary, in which case you might better watch the kids REAL close.
Move everybody into the same room, and use an electric heater if you can. Find the nearest 24 hr Walmart, and you're good to go.
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