any HVAC professionals?

[kf4anm]

Anyone in the Hvac industry? Our new home has a gas Goodman furnace that I have a question about. We have always had electric in the past so this is new to us. I used my infra red thermo and took a reading of the stove pipe from the furnace. It reads about 92 degrees. Is it normal for this to be this hot while the unit is running?



the furnace is a

http://www.alpinehomeair.com/viewpro...man_GDS80453AX

Everything seems to be fine. The house seems a little cool at 70 but not to bad.

Thanks
Daryl

[Bob Falter]

I'm no expert but it seems OK to me. Old natural draft furnace vents would run so hot you couldn't keep your hand on them (about 130 degrees).

Bob

[TADracer]

Code would probably require that to be a double wall stack. So the inside tube is probably alot hotter when the heater is burning. 92 deg is really pretty cool.

[kf4anm]

great thanks for the info. We bought this joint in April. The furnace/ ac was replaced by the va right before we bought it so its essentially brand new. Our place is pretty small and I have checked the wal thermostat against a regular thermometer throughout the house and it seems accurate. It just seems cold. Maybe its just an illusion since we transitioned this year from summer to cold with no extended fall, or possibly I should stop being a tight ass and turn it up to 72.

[mro]

gas furnace

I've been thinking about replacing my old furnace.

I've yet to fire up my old furnace as the temps have not got down very low yet and my gas bill will jump up $100.00 to $150.00 month when I do. (has a pilot light as big as your burner)
My house is only 2,000 sq feet built in the late fifties with a few mods (double pane windows, blown insulation etc.)

Question: what kinda gas/electric bills you guys paying?


mro

[kf4anm]

our little shanty is only 956 sf. I had new energy star window put in when I bought it and purchased all energy star appliances. I converted to an electric stove. the water heater and furnace are new gas and all the bulbs in the house are 13w mini f's. my summer power averaged about 55$ and the gas 35$ I suspect the power will stay steady since the heater blower is still electric but I expcect my gas to jump. Soon I will open the fireplace to suppliment the gas heat.

[mro]

open the fireplace

I've got a fireplace "insert" which I've not used in years. Does a nice job heating the living room.
Hope the chiminey is clean cause think I'm going to use it this winter.
Last month combined gas/electric was $124.00, this month $110.00. Usually start the furnace this month. Utility bill will go to $200.00 to $260.00
If it was just me here would not use the furnace at all.

mro

[tinman905]

Here in Canada I only have to use "C" vent which is what you have .You can go to "B" vent if you are worried about your kids or someone touching it while it is hot but it's not required by code until it passes through the floor or wall.

[79XS11F]

Re: gas furnace

Originally posted by mro
I've been thinking about replacing my old furnace.

I've yet to fire up my old furnace as the temps have not got down very low yet and my gas bill will jump up $100.00 to $150.00 month when I do. (has a pilot light as big as your burner)
My house is only 2,000 sq feet built in the late fifties with a few mods (double pane windows, blown insulation etc.)

Question: what kinda gas/electric bills you guys paying?


mro

I'm heating about 1700 sq. ft. of living space in a 50 year old 1/2 double.
I'm on OIL here and my "plan" includes price protection, yearly cleaning / tune-up, Oil Manager system and emergency repair oil fill-up at 140.00 per month. That is cheaper then the guy next door who is on GAS. My oil man told me when I replaced my furnace that the high efficiency gas furnaces have a life expectancy of about 10 years and it takes 10 years to pay for them when you look at what they say you will save by going to high efficiency gas. The life expectancy of my high efficiency oil furnace is 20 years so I should be ahead in the long run. If gas prices go up even slightly you "may" be replacing the high efficiency gas furnace before it has even payed for itself. High efficiency oil by the way is only at about 80% efficient when I got furnace about 4 years ago.
Rob

[mro]

I'm on OIL

Last oil fired furnace I had was in Florida,
pretty much unheard of here in CA CA land.

Off and on....been checking out solar cells.
New ones "efficiency " has about doubled in last few years.
Still too costly to be reasonable tho.


mro

[FL4x4offroad]

Hey there, that's a good temperature for the outside metal.
The actual exhaust is going up and out the center through a 3" or 4" pipe. the fresh air from outside is traveling down the space between the inner and outer pipe (6"-8") and circulated into the chamber by a blower. The stack size may vary depending on the btu output of the furnace, manufacturer and efficency %. Hope this helps.

Vince