Replacing an Ancient Gas Furnace
We finally have to replace our 100 year old furnace. It originally burned coal and was converted at some point to gas heat. We have forced air with registers in most rooms. The furnace resembles a giant octopus with arms coming out going into various ducts to heat different parts of the house. Some parts…
We finally have to replace our 100 year old furnace. It originally burned coal and was converted at some point to gas heat. We have forced air with registers in most rooms. The furnace resembles a giant octopus with arms coming out going into various ducts to heat different parts of the house. Some parts of it are covered with asbestos.
Has anyone replaced such a relic? How did you dispose of it? Can you recommend an HVAC dealer? We’ve had bad luck in the past trying to find one to repair the furnace as they either did not show up at all or refused to work on the furnace.
We need to heat a 4-story house, about 4,000 sq. feet. Furnace is in the cellar.
Thanks,
Pat
Ray from Victory Brothers removed my old furnace and installed a new system (gas)for me in a day. Very good service. Experts on hot air systems.
I’ll add a rec for Sessa Plumbing. A bit pricey but Richie is a plumbing and heating perfectionist.
http://plumberswhocare.com/
Thanks so much everyone for your recommendations and advice.
Pat
We used Ray from Victory and they were very good – took out the old furnace too. I researched the companies and found them. They do a great deal of the work for ‘big box’ stores but contacting them directly $aved us.
Put in hot air system. Haven’t had to be in touch w/ them since but would definitely recommend Ray-straight shooter, trustworthy, older workers with a lot of experience.
-Lincoln Rd. PLG
OP, I hope you don’t listen to 8:01, who is offering you some truly dangerous advice re the asbestos. Sure, you can live with asbestos that’s in place for centuries, but once you start ripping it out, it’s in the air.
I’ll be the first the tell you that asbestos _can_ be removed by a homeowner who knows what they are doing, but be aware it is illegal to do so. Technically, you can remove a limited amount, I think it’s 50 linear feet. However, with Fresh Kills closed, you can no longer legally dispose of it in NYC.
Don’t even think you can just rip off the stuff with no masks and put it outside for the DOS to pick up. You’re taking serious health risks, and asking others to take them as well.
I replaced the exact same one in my brownstone about 8 years ago for around 1600. About the Asbestos you can go through the expense to have someone come in and remove it or get a bunch of contractor bags and do it yourself ,after all the old man who I bought the house from was living with it for nearly 100 years. Anyway I went to A&F plumbing supply on Lafayette ave in Bed-Stuy and Ordered a Dornbeck 24000 but (I think ) hot air furnace with the built in humidifier for 999.00 . They delivered it to my house and I took it apart in 4 easy sections set it back up in the basement in under 2 hours. I then called Acom air and duct ( I THINK THATS THE NAME ) they came and did all the duct work for 500.00 It hen called my electrician to do the electrical for 100.00. If you call A&F they will tell you the exact size you need, I stuck wit the forced air so I din not have to put in ugly radiators and glad I did . You can also have someone put it in for you for about 6 or 7 thousand or more or you can do it yourself.
Yeah, you need an abatement done first, as no contractor these days will work around the stuff. THere are reputable boiler contractors that advertise on this site. They;ll be happy to cart away the old furnace; the price of scrap metal is thru the roof.
I was in the exact situation last year. Octupus furnace, asbestos, the whole nine. I hired a gentleman named John Rodriguez to remove asbestos. He did a great job. His number is 347-996-6148. Tell him Chris Montgomery from Decatur street referred you.
Then I called Ray Victory at Victory Brothers to replace the system. They dismantled and carted out the old system within 5-6 hours. They showed up the next day to install the new vents, and the new system. Again an amazing, timely, job. Their number is 718-526-4718. I went with a new oil system. With the hike in oil prices, gas may have served better. Although my friends on gas had pretty high costs this year too.
Hope this helps.
We had one of those – it was a coal to oil conversion. We were able to replace it with a new gas furnace under a Keyspan program a few years ago. I think we used Metropolitan Heating and they took care of disposing of the old furnace and oil tank. However….the furnace was covered in asbestos so we first had to have an asbestos abatement done.