hightech
Jan 31st, 2009, 05:20 PM
Here is a good article in the Toronto Star about installations with High Efficiency Furnaces and venting.
http://www.thestar.com/article/578833
http://media.thestar.topscms.com/images/58/e8/ee5119994b87ac5df5721161ad85.jpeg
When I think of our new high-efficiency gas furnace, I picture the Ricola cough drop commercial. You know, the ad with two Swiss mountaineers, one of them blowing an enormous alphorn, while the other calls, "Ricola!"
I could have had similar trumpets at the front of my house. I came close to getting them – albeit smaller eyesores. It was a choice between freezing over the winter or swallowing my vanity over a pair of in-your-face furnace-venting pipes. But as the saying goes, you've got to shop around. Was I ever glad I did.
It began when A1 Air Conditioning & Heating arrived at our Oakville home (built in 1971) to clean our 20-year-old high-efficiency gas furnace. Although they replaced the heat sensor, they said the furnace was on its last legs. It was rusted inside and would kick in at about 15C, heat a bit, and cut out. My husband, Frank, doubted it would last the winter once the temperature went into deep freeze. So we looked into a high-efficiency furnace and decided to get another estimate.
The newer high-efficiency gas furnaces, as one furnace expert explained to me, are more energy efficient. They don't vent out the chimney like our old one or like mid-efficiency gas furnaces. Instead, two white PVC pipes, about two inches in diameter, come out of the house at grade level – side by side – and elbow up so that they're three feet above the estimated snow line. One vent takes the air to the furnace for combustion, while the other vents the furnace's exhaust.
We phoned another company (call it company B) and a sales rep came by. He examined the outside of our house for a place to mount the two pipes, but needed a one-foot clearance from the windows or doors and three feet from a gas metre. The only place he found was at the front.
I had suspicions about the pipes' appearance, so I asked Frank what they looked like. He took a flashlight, we put on our ski jackets and went vent hunting.
"Here," he said, flashing the light at the side of one house, "I think our neighbours have one." We were stumbling around in the dark. What if the neighbour was home and thought we were burglars? Geez. Shouldn't we just ring the doorbell? We went to the side and peered through the fence and bushes, but saw nothing.
Riding the bus home the next day, I passed a house with vent pipes at the side. They reminded me of those Ricola alphorns. Just smaller. More like a couple of periscopes or snorkels. I walked through the park moping, and then stood looking at our house , imagining how ugly the pipes would look once they sat plastered against my Georgian-style brick house.
I called A1 the next day and spoke with sales manager Jeff Smith.
"The sales rep at company B says that the only place the vent pipes can go is in the front," I told him, throwing down the gauntlet.
"Well, most of the time I can find somewhere to put them," he said, confidently. Smith mentioned another type of vent, a six-inch concentric model that resembles a stereo speaker. It's more aesthetically pleasing, but is more limiting to where it can be installed, he said.
When I arrived home the next day, my husband had good news: Smith had been by and was fairly confident that his team could install a concentric vent to the right of our garage door at the front or even at the back if they went through the garage. But he needed an engineering technician to confirm this.
We had made an appointment with one more company for an estimate. I mentioned the concentric vent to the representative at company C and yes, he said, they supplied it. He could come over to check out the placement.
Sunday morning he met with my husband. I returned from an appointment and asked Frank for the verdict.
"Oh, yeah. The concentric one won't do – although he didn't give a reason. They'll have to use the traditional vent pipes. The only place is in the front, although he'll double check for us."
Back to calling A1 on Monday .
"Jeff, the guy at company C says the furnace can't be vented with concentric vents so we'll have to use the pipes and they'll have to go at the front!"
"Well," he again stressed, "we can usually find some spot, but I need to bring a tech over."
That evening a car pulled into our driveway and I met Smith. "You have some good news for me?" I asked. His face looked a bit sullen – guilty, even. Oh dear.
He explained that he couldn't use the concentric vent, since the tech would have trouble installing it through the garage to the back. This would prove costly, since roofers would have to be called in. Plus the roof's slope near the garage didn't allow the disc to be mounted to the right of the garage at front.
But they did find one unobtrusive spot after combing every inch of the exterior – at the left side of our house and to the right of our side door, near the mailbox. Our cedar bush would help hide it. They would have to use vent pipes, since the concentric vent needed to exit the building at least at the snow line. The only adjustment might require moving the water metre line over a bit, said Smith.
Okay. Hallelujah. Mission accomplished.
Our new high-efficiency gas furnace is now humming away. It has an ultraviolet germicidal air purifier, which inhibits the growth of contaminants on the furnace coil, plus we added a humidifier and an electronic air cleaner, to help filter dust, mites and mould. The price for the package wasn't cheap, but reasonable as appliances go – $7,255.50, including taxes. Plus, we had an eco-ENERGY Retrofit assessment done prior. Under this program, homeowners can claim up to $5,000 in federal grants for making their homes more energy efficient.
Our heating package was cheaper than the alternative we considered – tearing up the front lawn to install a ground-source heating system we estimated would cost at least $16,000, or building an addition over our garage to incorporate the vent and shouldering another mortgage.
Sometimes vanity does pay off.
Janice Bradbeer is an editor at the Star who loves her home but finds it a pain sometimes.
http://www.thestar.com/article/578833
http://media.thestar.topscms.com/images/58/e8/ee5119994b87ac5df5721161ad85.jpeg
When I think of our new high-efficiency gas furnace, I picture the Ricola cough drop commercial. You know, the ad with two Swiss mountaineers, one of them blowing an enormous alphorn, while the other calls, "Ricola!"
I could have had similar trumpets at the front of my house. I came close to getting them – albeit smaller eyesores. It was a choice between freezing over the winter or swallowing my vanity over a pair of in-your-face furnace-venting pipes. But as the saying goes, you've got to shop around. Was I ever glad I did.
It began when A1 Air Conditioning & Heating arrived at our Oakville home (built in 1971) to clean our 20-year-old high-efficiency gas furnace. Although they replaced the heat sensor, they said the furnace was on its last legs. It was rusted inside and would kick in at about 15C, heat a bit, and cut out. My husband, Frank, doubted it would last the winter once the temperature went into deep freeze. So we looked into a high-efficiency furnace and decided to get another estimate.
The newer high-efficiency gas furnaces, as one furnace expert explained to me, are more energy efficient. They don't vent out the chimney like our old one or like mid-efficiency gas furnaces. Instead, two white PVC pipes, about two inches in diameter, come out of the house at grade level – side by side – and elbow up so that they're three feet above the estimated snow line. One vent takes the air to the furnace for combustion, while the other vents the furnace's exhaust.
We phoned another company (call it company B) and a sales rep came by. He examined the outside of our house for a place to mount the two pipes, but needed a one-foot clearance from the windows or doors and three feet from a gas metre. The only place he found was at the front.
I had suspicions about the pipes' appearance, so I asked Frank what they looked like. He took a flashlight, we put on our ski jackets and went vent hunting.
"Here," he said, flashing the light at the side of one house, "I think our neighbours have one." We were stumbling around in the dark. What if the neighbour was home and thought we were burglars? Geez. Shouldn't we just ring the doorbell? We went to the side and peered through the fence and bushes, but saw nothing.
Riding the bus home the next day, I passed a house with vent pipes at the side. They reminded me of those Ricola alphorns. Just smaller. More like a couple of periscopes or snorkels. I walked through the park moping, and then stood looking at our house , imagining how ugly the pipes would look once they sat plastered against my Georgian-style brick house.
I called A1 the next day and spoke with sales manager Jeff Smith.
"The sales rep at company B says that the only place the vent pipes can go is in the front," I told him, throwing down the gauntlet.
"Well, most of the time I can find somewhere to put them," he said, confidently. Smith mentioned another type of vent, a six-inch concentric model that resembles a stereo speaker. It's more aesthetically pleasing, but is more limiting to where it can be installed, he said.
When I arrived home the next day, my husband had good news: Smith had been by and was fairly confident that his team could install a concentric vent to the right of our garage door at the front or even at the back if they went through the garage. But he needed an engineering technician to confirm this.
We had made an appointment with one more company for an estimate. I mentioned the concentric vent to the representative at company C and yes, he said, they supplied it. He could come over to check out the placement.
Sunday morning he met with my husband. I returned from an appointment and asked Frank for the verdict.
"Oh, yeah. The concentric one won't do – although he didn't give a reason. They'll have to use the traditional vent pipes. The only place is in the front, although he'll double check for us."
Back to calling A1 on Monday .
"Jeff, the guy at company C says the furnace can't be vented with concentric vents so we'll have to use the pipes and they'll have to go at the front!"
"Well," he again stressed, "we can usually find some spot, but I need to bring a tech over."
That evening a car pulled into our driveway and I met Smith. "You have some good news for me?" I asked. His face looked a bit sullen – guilty, even. Oh dear.
He explained that he couldn't use the concentric vent, since the tech would have trouble installing it through the garage to the back. This would prove costly, since roofers would have to be called in. Plus the roof's slope near the garage didn't allow the disc to be mounted to the right of the garage at front.
But they did find one unobtrusive spot after combing every inch of the exterior – at the left side of our house and to the right of our side door, near the mailbox. Our cedar bush would help hide it. They would have to use vent pipes, since the concentric vent needed to exit the building at least at the snow line. The only adjustment might require moving the water metre line over a bit, said Smith.
Okay. Hallelujah. Mission accomplished.
Our new high-efficiency gas furnace is now humming away. It has an ultraviolet germicidal air purifier, which inhibits the growth of contaminants on the furnace coil, plus we added a humidifier and an electronic air cleaner, to help filter dust, mites and mould. The price for the package wasn't cheap, but reasonable as appliances go – $7,255.50, including taxes. Plus, we had an eco-ENERGY Retrofit assessment done prior. Under this program, homeowners can claim up to $5,000 in federal grants for making their homes more energy efficient.
Our heating package was cheaper than the alternative we considered – tearing up the front lawn to install a ground-source heating system we estimated would cost at least $16,000, or building an addition over our garage to incorporate the vent and shouldering another mortgage.
Sometimes vanity does pay off.
Janice Bradbeer is an editor at the Star who loves her home but finds it a pain sometimes.