Be grateful if the home or condo that you recently purchased has of a central heating system type . Overall when it comes to renovation or retrofit times these can be easily upgraded whenever you wish. Yet before you forge ahead take both the time and energy to do a full and comprehensive workup. By going through the paces properly , you will find at the end of the project , that indeed this is the best and wisest.
Sometimes upgrades and renovations are complex sometimes they are not. The story is told of a homeowner who was upgrading an office from a previously unfinished "exercise" room in the back corner of his Winnipeg basement. He had called polished and professional contractors who announced that this was major project . Words were thrown around such as "complex " and a detailed as well as expensive estimate was given. Somehow a handyman , with many years in the trades was also called for a second estimate. He walked in to the small room and laughed "Laddie he said .... by the way you described this ... it was a major project. You are just building a wee room so lets not get carried away." The estimate for the room upgrade was much less costly and the one major technical concern of the highly trained heating trades was overcome with a simple sheet metal duct extension , which was handily had at the local Beaver Lumber big box store. Hence the recommendation is to get more than one estimate and viewpoint for your project. While its only fair not to "waste people's ( i.e. tradesperson's) time, if you are seriously considering doing the work and awarding the work to be done - then its not unreasonable to both ask for different proposals on the layout but also seek different bids. The general rule in the trades is to ask for 3 building quotes from differing contractors. Yet be aware although most people like to live in an upgraded style a major retrofit or upgrade to your home or real estate can result in a substantially increased property tax bill arriving in your mailbox or in our modern times of 2014, by email.
In addition it is important to know the location of the new duct before tapping it into the current system. This must be carefully measured to retain airflow from the furnace on every duct in the system. Take a 600 square room or greater and you must begin from the furnace to create a new duct run. The new duct run will tapped into the furnace plenum that distributes air into the other duct runs to maintain high air volume. The basic rule and maxims are that you may always stay within "The Code" - that is your local and federal building and safety codes. That is the law.
Always normalize the air-flows on your house during heating system upgrade. It will help you to know the diameter of the duct system, amount of airflow produced at the furnace and heated location, and lastly, the total length of the duct runs. The upgraded heating system will not work properly if it has not been accurately computed.
Remember always that safety around the home is everybody's concern. Fires can happen in a flash of an instant. It is not as if you have an hour or two when fire begins to rage and time to take action. Prevention when it comes to home fire prevention is key. Simple as that.
Sometimes upgrades and renovations are complex sometimes they are not. The story is told of a homeowner who was upgrading an office from a previously unfinished "exercise" room in the back corner of his Winnipeg basement. He had called polished and professional contractors who announced that this was major project . Words were thrown around such as "complex " and a detailed as well as expensive estimate was given. Somehow a handyman , with many years in the trades was also called for a second estimate. He walked in to the small room and laughed "Laddie he said .... by the way you described this ... it was a major project. You are just building a wee room so lets not get carried away." The estimate for the room upgrade was much less costly and the one major technical concern of the highly trained heating trades was overcome with a simple sheet metal duct extension , which was handily had at the local Beaver Lumber big box store. Hence the recommendation is to get more than one estimate and viewpoint for your project. While its only fair not to "waste people's ( i.e. tradesperson's) time, if you are seriously considering doing the work and awarding the work to be done - then its not unreasonable to both ask for different proposals on the layout but also seek different bids. The general rule in the trades is to ask for 3 building quotes from differing contractors. Yet be aware although most people like to live in an upgraded style a major retrofit or upgrade to your home or real estate can result in a substantially increased property tax bill arriving in your mailbox or in our modern times of 2014, by email.
In addition it is important to know the location of the new duct before tapping it into the current system. This must be carefully measured to retain airflow from the furnace on every duct in the system. Take a 600 square room or greater and you must begin from the furnace to create a new duct run. The new duct run will tapped into the furnace plenum that distributes air into the other duct runs to maintain high air volume. The basic rule and maxims are that you may always stay within "The Code" - that is your local and federal building and safety codes. That is the law.
Always normalize the air-flows on your house during heating system upgrade. It will help you to know the diameter of the duct system, amount of airflow produced at the furnace and heated location, and lastly, the total length of the duct runs. The upgraded heating system will not work properly if it has not been accurately computed.
Remember always that safety around the home is everybody's concern. Fires can happen in a flash of an instant. It is not as if you have an hour or two when fire begins to rage and time to take action. Prevention when it comes to home fire prevention is key. Simple as that.
About the Author:
Professional heating trades' determinations for arriving at the AFUE for residential furnaces is the subject of ASHRAE Standard 103. When estimating annual or seasonal energy used by combustion devices, the AFUE is the better efficiency measure to use in the calculations.
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