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Thinking about Installing 2 Furnaces onstead of 1

3K views 5 replies 5 participants last post by  beenthere 
#1 ·
Hi guys.
I have a 2200 sq" home and I need to install a new furnace.
I am on a tight budget and apparently i need a 120,000BTU
I dont have a lot of cash and i am finding it hard to find a used 120,000BTU furnace, So I was thinking of buying 2 smaller 70,000BTU or something used furnaces and installing ductwork for upstairs and downstairs separately and having them on seperate thermostats

Would this work? I thought it would be beneficial from a money point of view that if the family is downstairs in the day time we could just run 1 furnace for the ground floor and turn the second one on at night to warm the upstairs before we go to bed,....
would it work?
:wink:
 
#4 ·
Not sure what you are heating, but have to agree with Marty, you really need to do a heat loss calculation to know what you are looking at.

There is plenty of info you there to do it, in fact I believ for a small fee, you can download a "Manual J" program, for home use, to figure out exactly what is needed.

And when you do (2) systems you will end up with 2 x the duct work, how's that going to be cheaper?

Mark
 
#5 · (Edited)
Not sure what you are heating, but have to agree with Marty, you really need to do a heat loss calculation to know what you are looking at.

There is plenty of info you there to do it, in fact I believ for a small fee, you can download a "Manual J" program, for home use, to figure out exactly what is needed.

And when you do (2) systems you will end up with 2 x the duct work, how's that going to be cheaper?

Mark
Hi thanks for the replies.
Agh i see your point Jack. Actually the ground floor duct work is allready installed with the ductwork running across the basement and venting through the floors , but the upstairs is not installed yet and has no ductwork so i need to buy that run of ducting no matter what.
The heater is missing, so i need to buy a new one anyway. (or 2 )
And the thing is, the house has beautiful hard wood antique floors that I dont want to cut through to install the new vents for the ductwork on the upstairs. ..So i was thinking of installing the ducting through the roof space and venting in the heated air through the ceilings or above the door jams in the upstairs rooms... if it would be effective. So i have to install that run anyway, no matter what...if you get my drift..
i'm going to insulate the roof space to take it up to R49 value. The house is in the mid west.
If i was to do it, do you think 2X 50's or 60's would do it with 90% efficiency?
or do you think i should just go for the one big heater that runs flat out all the time heating the whole house?

thanks again guys for all your input
 
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