Forced Air Gas Furnace and Hot Water Heater
We have a forced air system with a gas furnace which is at least 40 years old and we are thinking of replacing now before it breaks one cold winter weekend night. We imagine this might also lower monthly gas bills a bit and we can pay it back slowly that way. Lots of plumber/HVAC…
We have a forced air system with a gas furnace which is at least 40 years old and we are thinking of replacing now before it breaks one cold winter weekend night. We imagine this might also lower monthly gas bills a bit and we can pay it back slowly that way.
Lots of plumber/HVAC people we’ve called don’t do forced air systems, so we’ve gotten two estimates, each for $6,000 each for the new furnace. Anyone know someone great they recommend?
We’re also considering a new hot water heater at the same time… right now we have 40 gallons for 3 apartments and it’s not quite enough some mornings. Our furnace room isn’t big enough for a 75 gallon tank, one plumber told us, so we can either get two 40 gallon tanks, or one big water heater and keep it outside the furnace room. The estimate we’ve gotten for hot water heater was $1500…
Anyone done similar project and know if these prices are proper?
Advice on what kind of furnace to ask for, water heater too, very welcome.
thanks in advance all
thanks! info on the water heaters is very helpful. We’ll try HVAC this week for another bid too, thank you.
The problem with most 40-gallon water heaters in a multi-family is they only use 40,000 BTU/hour.
A 50-gallon water heater will use 50,000 and only take up an inch or two more floor space.
Even better than that, many manufacturers also offer a 50-gallon, high-recovery model (like the A.O. Smith GCVX-50) that uses the same floor space as the standard 50-gallon, but have a larger burner. They use 65,000 BTU/hr. So you get the performance of many residential 75-gallon water heaters without having to pay to maintain the extra volume of water. That has to save you some gas dollars.
Of course, I rarely ever recommend installing a 75-gallon water heater, but people that heat their homes with boilers have several other options for making hot water that you don’t. Sorry.
I recommend All HVAC Service Co. (718-833-0148) for your furnace replacement. Tell them John from Gateway Plumbing said so. They have an ad to the right on this page———>