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Roly Poly
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PostTue Feb 23, 2016 9:36 am 
I have a huge water heater and big fat ugly heating ducts in the basement. Is it possible to replace the huge furnace and water heater and ugly ducts with a system that can be less of an eye sore?

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mike
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PostTue Feb 23, 2016 9:53 am 
Not really practical nor economically feasible. If you are determined prepare to spend some serious treasure.

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Bedivere
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PostTue Feb 23, 2016 9:57 am 
Or, to put it another way - it certainly is possible, how much money do you have?

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Roly Poly
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PostTue Feb 23, 2016 10:51 am 
How much are we talking? Ugh, the basement is so ugly.

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Traildad
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PostTue Feb 23, 2016 11:05 am 
Actually, you do have options. Interesting new "on demand" water heaters these days which do not need the storage capacity. And the newer high efficiency furnaces are almost miniscule compared to the older gas and oil fired furnaces. The heating ducts now are another matter and not so easily eliminated.

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wolffie
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PostTue Feb 23, 2016 11:34 am 
I'm looking at ductless heat pumps (get the expensive quiet kind) but I run the risk of having stagnant places in the house that will stay cool and grow mildew. The ducts serve a purpose. I had a huge cold-air-return duct I had to duck under every time I walked through the basement. After many years, I decided to vacuum it out. Sliding the vacuum down the distal part that ran between the floor joists, I discovered that it was, and always had been, totally obstructed by a 2x6 bracing block. Not a breath of air had ever gone down all that quite elaborate sheet metal work. Oops. [reassuring thought: we, too, make mistakes like this....] The greater problem: why should I invest in my lovely little house when some @#$%^&*! fatcat de-veloper is going to bulldoze it and replace with a sixplex of tickytacky doghouse-sized cells or a McMansion for some 1-percenter? Getting gentrified: they just bulldozed a fine house and replaced it with $1,400,000 thing with 3x the footprint in a neighborhood whose median value is maybe $4000,000. BTW get a good water heater (not an oxymoron). The one that came with the house lasted 35+ years. I replacd it with one that lasted 10.5 years (they have it figured to the nearest month past the warranty)(The first heating element lasted 13 months; guaranteed for 12). I got a lifetime water heater for twice the cost of the throways. On-demand oint-of-use heaters are the latest tech.

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Schroder
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PostTue Feb 23, 2016 11:48 am 
wolffie wrote:
ductless heat pumps (get the expensive quiet kind)
Are there cheap ones, or should I say ones more expensive than the rest? We're looking at these for our remodel since duct work is out of the question and hydronic floor heating is a fortune. I've looked at all the major brand for ductless - Mitsubishi, LG, Fujitsu, Carrier, Trane and they all seem to be close in price.

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mike
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PostTue Feb 23, 2016 12:45 pm 
Keep Calm wrote:
How much are we talking? Ugh, the basement is so ugly.
Could easily go 10k+. Depends upon how far you want to go and what you actually have to start with. Easiest would be to upgrade the furnace if it's old and inefficient but that doesn't gain much space. Also determine if the duct work is a quality job and properly sized. Clean it out!! I don't really recommend getting rid of it as it performs an important function even when not supplying heat. Even new houses with a heat pump, in-floor heat/hot H2O boiler need an air system. You may cause yourself more grief down the road without it. Bottom line, figure out the cost/sq' of the space you are hoping to gain and see if you think it is worth it.

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Roly Poly
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PostTue Feb 23, 2016 1:58 pm 
Anyone got any recommendations for a good heating company? I'm in N Seattle and Greenwood Heating pops up. So does Brennan heating. Anyone used either of them?

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HitTheTrail
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PostTue Feb 23, 2016 2:17 pm 
We considered putting sub-floor heating in our basement. They sort of snap together as panels and can go under wood, tile, and I think carpet or linoleum and be put throughout the house. Then you just rip the furnace and ducts out and take it all to the landfill or recycle yard. Chelan County has some of the cheapest power in the nation. West coast power cost more but still much less than most other places in the nation.

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Hulksmash
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PostWed Feb 24, 2016 2:12 am 
I bought a house in January that has electric baseboards. I only needed to see the kilowatt hour usage of one bill to realize i could not afford to NOT put in a ductless heat pump. The heat pump went in yesterday. The circuit breaker panel had five 30 amp 240 volt brakers to run the baseboards. The heat pump uses one 20 amp 240 volt breaker. The house has a 7 degree temperature swing using the base boards. The heat pump keeps the house within a half of a degree of the set temperature. The wall mounted air handlers have an infared sensor that detects heat loss and throttles the compressor to match the heating load. It also doubles as a motion detector. It has an economy setting which uses the motion sensor to detect movement. If there is no movement, it will automatically set back the temperature 3 degrees. Then ramp up the temp if there is movement. Is quiet! The refrigerator make more noise than the heat pump.

"Bears couldn't care less about us....we smell bad and don't taste too good. Bugs on the other hand see us as vending machines." - WetDog Albuterol! it's the 11th essential
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Schroder
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PostWed Feb 24, 2016 10:18 am 
What brand did you go with Brian?

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Nancyann
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PostWed Feb 24, 2016 11:40 am 
Check the fine print carefully before you buy. I purchased a Daikin three years ago and it works fine until the temperature drops below 30 degrees. It really does not put out enough heat on a very cold day to comfortably heat my 1700sqft rambler. The fine print in the manual does mention that it doesn't perform at its optimum on a very cold day. Fortunately, I have a big Lopi wood stove that takes care of us very well, no matter how cold it gets.

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Slugman
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PostWed Feb 24, 2016 11:57 am 
I pay $100 per month year round, for electric heat, hot water, and all other electric usage. This in a 1400 sq foot home. I cannot imagine that any other system could pay for itself in my lifetime. It's all about good insulation and good windows. I'm curious why wolffie is upset with a 1.4 million dollar home when he says the median in his neighborhood is 4 million? Typo perhaps? Proofread twice, post once. suuure.gif

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iron
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PostWed Feb 24, 2016 5:38 pm 
if you go with a ductless minisplit, they are now good for <0* temps. same goes for more modern, properly spec'd heat pumps. here's a thread that's helpful: http://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/mini-split-12-000btu-vs-18-000btu.153327/ you can search that website for countless other articles on heat pump/ductless/etc if you want to get rid of the ducts, you have two choices: radiant floor heat ductless mini split ductless will be far easier.

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