Gravity Furnace (aka) Sea Creature

[Marcel R. Cyr]

Same principals of a hot air balloon huh Mike. And it also explains why some people with a lot of hot air always seem to rise above the rest of the crowd.

[David P. Valley]

Homeowners simply don't understand that if they upgrade to a more efficient furnace, half their heating costs can easily pay for their upgrade.

Even more so with today's high efficiency upgrade incentives on the state and federal levels.

[Wayne B. Wilson]

well it has worked for 50 years or more do you not think thats being kinda picky?

[Jeffrey R. Jonas]

Originally Posted by dvalley

Homeowners simply don't understand that if they upgrade to a more efficient furnace, half their heating costs can easily pay for their upgrade.

Even more so with today's high efficiency upgrade incentives on the state and federal levels.

Around here, it's not the cost of the furnace, it's the expense of "properly" installing the 'return ducts' that costs the big bucks if the home is two story or higher, which is usually the case.

[David P. Valley]

Originally Posted by jjonas

Around here, it's not the cost of the furnace, it's the expense of "properly" installing the 'return ducts' that costs the big bucks if the home is two story or higher, which is usually the case.

It's not that hard to breach closets, which is quite typical.

[Jeffrey R. Jonas]

Originally Posted by dvalley

It's not that hard to breach closets, which is quite typical.

We should keep in mind that we operate in differing areas, with different construction styles partly due to age of the homes, and a different culture mindset.

About the only time I see breached closets, is by flippers trying to save a buck, and it is usually a major hack job. Many of these older homes do not even have closets. These people do not take pride in their work. Faster and cheaper is the name of the game. On the flip-side, most homeowners take pride, and respect the older homes for what they are. A piece of our culture and history. They normally will not hack-up their home to save a few bucks.

Therefore, returns are normally installed in the exterior walls, using the stud bays, without ducting, as these homes rarely have any insulation in the lathe & plaster walls. In most cases, this method is inadequate.

[Brian A. MacNeish]

Originally Posted by jjonas

We should keep in mind that we operate in differing areas, with different construction styles partly due to age of the homes, and a different culture mindset.

About the only time I see breached closets, is by flippers trying to save a buck, and it is usually a major hack job. Many of these older homes do not even have closets. These people do not take pride in their work. Faster and cheaper is the name of the game. On the flip-side, most homeowners take pride, and respect the older homes for what they are. A piece of our culture and history. They normally will not hack-up their home to save a few bucks.

Therefore, returns are normally installed in the exterior walls, using the stud bays, without ducting, as these homes rarely have any insulation in the lathe & plaster walls. In most cases, this method is inadequate.

If the unit is still safely installed, get a proper furnace efficiency test done before considering a change out. Chances are very strong that a new furnace will pay for itself quickly but an economic analysis should be done.

In 1977, I was part of a program that offered free furnace efficiency testing for homeowners. In 2 houses on the same street, we saw coal to oil burner conversions on the same model furnace from the 1930/40's: from memory, one was in the high 50% range and the other was in the low 70% range......there was 15-17% difference.

[Bob Elliott]

Originally Posted by wwilson3

Possible asbestos tape, and most likely the mud around the door.

Yep,that's what it looked like.

[Bob Elliott]

It is going to be replaced.(flip)

Also it is not easily seen in these pictures but it is knob and tube wiring across the floor joists.
By the way ,that is not dirt on the walls.

[Bob Elliott]

Here is a closer look at the high efficiency of the flame mix.

not.

[David A. Andersen]

Water heater is not raised off the floor!?

Oh, we're talking about the furnace?

[Bob Elliott]

I said tell me what you see.
The place is a gut job if you could see the rest.