Heating....gas furnace advice...need your help please

I’m gut renovating a 3600 sq ft brownstone….everything brand new…windows, electric, plumbing etc. 1)approx 900 sq ft per floor. 2)Garden floor…1 bedroom apt 3)Floors..2,3,4…my triplex Builder is installing a 75,000 btu gas furnace for the garden apt and 175,000 btu furnace for floors 2,3,4. Is this adequate? Brand he bought is Slant Finn which I have not heard positive reviews. Weil McLain is a much better unit…..is this true? Appreciate your advice ASAP please. Thank you.

mykonos

in Roofers 11 years and 2 months ago

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steam_man | 11 years and 2 months ago

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What is bought is bought. It is obvious from the type of unit (not from the brand) that the decision was made based on cost. I run into this often, most people want cheap and functional rather than quality which is more expensive. Based on the rationale I would say the Slant-Fin is just as good as any equipment listed at this price point. I can’t figure out why anyone would install 2 atmospheric, cast-iron boilers. SMH…

mykonos | 11 years and 2 months ago

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Sorry everyone…these are the units in question.Thanks again very much…. Slant Fin Sentinel SE-70EDP Natural Gas Boiler SE70EDP Electronic Ignition…will handle 1 zone…garden floor apt… Slant/Fin Sentinel Residential Hot Water Gas Boiler SE-175..will handle 3 zones…one for each floor Anyone have and favorable or bad experiences with this brand? There are several fireplaces in house.

anotherposter | 11 years and 2 months ago

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Besides sqft, consider ceiling height. We have one furnace for 4 floors (including the cellar) with two vents per floor and I really wish we had it zoned. This is how we bought the house and we don’t plan to stay long enough to deal with fixing the duct issues, but here’s how I might fix it otherwise. If we had two units, I’d zone the parlor floor (much higher ceilings and where we spend most awake hours) separately from the floors below and above it, which have lower ceilings (and other aspects that make them heat up much faster/more than the parlor level). If I want to the parlor floor to X degrees, the floors above and below (even with closing vents that can be closed), will be easily 5 degrees warmer or much more if I’m in the kitchen cooking. Granted, if you’re starting from scratch and putting better ductwork than we got, that could change things but is worth considering.

ellenlourie | 11 years and 2 months ago

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The person installing the system should have done a heat loss survey and provided you with the pros and cons of each brand. Based on this question I can only assume that he is not a heating professional. Your first step should be to hire a heating professional who will do all this for you and make you confident in your installation. On a side note, without doing any heat loss calculations I would say that it’s over kill on the BTUs. I am very much against the installation of a separate boiler per unit. Typically the space does not have enough of a heat loss for these boilers to operate efficiently which will lead to short cycling, high bills, and the eventual untimely death of your boilers. Also, a proper installation of two boilers vs one is extremely expensive. Regarding the brands, every brand is a good brand if it’s installed by a good installer. Each have their pros and cons but in general if you install it properly it will work properly. The common theme in all bad reviews is that the installer was unqualified.

Master Plvmber | 11 years and 2 months ago

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Re this: “As for second guessing your plumber, assuming he/she will be maintaining it…..do not piss them off by insulting them….assuming you are using someone that has been doing this in Brownstones for a while.” While I fully agree in principle and appreciate the sentiment here, the reality is there are lots of different types of plumbers in this city. The majority of them make just fine “kitchens and bathrooms plumbers” as I like to call them, but there are far fewer who know what to do with a boiler/heating system. Just like “heating and air conditioning”, how those two things, plumbing and heating, got lumped into one category years ago, I have no idea. They are two very different skill sets. The plumber you love, is very likely not an equally great heating guy. My brother is an outstanding plumber. He knows the Code inside out, he makes practical decisions based on many years experience in the field (both of us worked over 20 years for our father), and he’s done it all. But! I’m the heating guy. And I don’t know plumbing Codes like he does, and he never questions my choices and abilities when it comes to heating a building, troubleshooting, or anything else about converting fire-and-water to warm rooms. That’s how we get by as well as we do here.

BobMarvin | 11 years and 2 months ago

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While hot water (and steam) heating systems have many advantages over forced hot air maintenance is NOT one of them. II’ve lived with a forced hot air furnace for 39 years and even though it wouldn’t have been my choice if it hadn’t already been there, I live it because maintancw is so simple. I just oil thw motor, grease thw bearings, and change the filter annually. I’ve also had to replace the belt once Nothing more.

resident2 | 11 years and 2 months ago

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Furnace? Are you installing a forced hot air system? If you are BIG Mistake! Put in a circulating hot water heat system. Costs a bit more to install but is far easier to live with both breathing and maintenance and economics going forward. As for second guessing your plumber, assuming he/she will be maintaining it…..do not piss them off by insulting them….assuming you are using someone that has been doing this in Brownstones for a while.

nalusurf | 11 years and 2 months ago

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Hopefully the usual suspects will reply to you (masterplumber, steamman, etc…). they have posted tirelessly on this site regarding issues/questions just like this. I am not a professional by any means in this area, but have learned a great deal from their insightful and helpful replies and have gone through a conversion of my own. I can tell you one important thing that you will need to consider is the BTU output of your units and whether your chimney can handle it. You make no mention of hot water heaters, which I assume you will have in some capacity or another, which will also likely add to your total BTU output. In short, you will need to consider your chimney into this equation (lining, capacity, etc…) and will likely need a professional for this aspect.

bk1lnite | 11 years and 2 months ago

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Surely you don’t mean furnace. If gut renovating you must mean hot water boilers. I don’t think plumbing/heating folks are going to answer “is this adequate?” based on square footage alone. Too many other factors.