[Kathleen Rae]

Greetings I am installing a new Payne 95.5 in a Side by Side Duplex and am tossing around the idea of combining the units into one furnace using a zone damper.

I can place the furnace midway between the units in a 4 1/2+ foot crawl.

1: Do I need 2 zone dampers one for each unit in the main heat run.
2: Can the control panel give any indication of usage for each zone damper.

Thank you for all answers and suggestions.
Kathleen Rae

 

[roughneck]

Are these two individually occupied houses?

 

[HVACDave]

Are you planning to bill the tenants separately for usage?

 

[Kathleen Rae]

Thanks for responding I plan to pay the heat in both units and raise the rent, the tenants are all for it, the places are well insulated and already have low heat bills with old wall furnaces, the reason I want to know if I can see how much heat is used or how long zone is open is so I will know who is wasting heat because at the end of the year I would give a percentage back on their rent if it's below a certain amount. that would be an incentive to keep heat down and windows closed.

 

[roughneck]

I don't consider this a good idea, as odors, dust, pet hair and other airborne contaminates can be transferred from one unit to the other. Plus your area may have fire codes in place to prevent the transfer of fire/smoke from one unit to the other.
I'd strongly recommend two separate systems.

 

[Kathleen Rae]

Thank you I wondered about that,and it probably would cost me the same as a new furnace (family Discount) to do all the zoning the more I look at the prices.

 

[BayouRunner]

I don't consider this a good idea, as odors, dust, pet hair and other airborne contaminates can be transferred from one unit to the other. Plus your area may have fire codes in place to prevent the transfer of fire/smoke from one unit to the other.
I'd strongly recommend two separate systems.

He is spot on with this, this is good advice. Imagine a smoker on one side and a non smoker on the other side. Guess whos phone will be ringing lol

 

[roughneck]

What kind of equipment is in place now?

 

[supers05]

It wouldn't be allowed here for fire and building code reasons.

Do a proper sizing of the furnaces, and they will be just as efficient as one unit.

On the flip side, when one breaks down, the other will help keep the suite warm until it's fixed.

Cheers!

 

[Kathleen Rae]

What kind of equipment is in place now?

They have 2 junky wall furnaces and one is about to break down, I am putting forced air in because it increases the value of the property tremendously. It's hard to get financing with wall units.
The place was well built in the nineties with lots of insulation so i am going with 40,000 BTU 95.5 I am always tossing around ideas for the place. I do not allow dogs or smoking but I can see the problem with combining.

 

[roughneck]

Be sure a proper manual j and manual s is done before the install, to show what size equipment is needed. This will also show what kind of airflow and duct sizes will be required for the job.
Some thermostats allow for limit restrictions on temperature, and remote monitoring, so they might be of interest to you.