Originally Posted By: pdacey This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Just for kicks:
I had an inspection on Friday. 23 year old house. Had two heating/A/C units. One upstairs, one downstairs. The upstairs unit was gas the downstairs unit was electric. What I don't understand is why the downstairs unit was electric? The closet had gas run to it and an exhaust vent already in place. It was the original unit and not a replacement.
Originally Posted By: kluce This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
pdacey wrote:
Just for kicks:
I had an inspection on Friday. 23 year old house. Had two heating/A/C units. One upstairs, one downstairs. The upstairs unit was gas the downstairs unit was electric. What I don't understand is why the downstairs unit was electric? The closet had gas run to it and an exhaust vent already in place. It was the original unit and not a replacement.
Any thoughts?
Just making sure I understand you right. The closet down stairs had gas run to it and an exhaust vent already in place. This was the electric unit.
If this is right. 23 years ago there were no 90 plus furnace. They might have wanted to go electric to prevent a luver door being installed for fresh air. LOOKS.
Not the first time I seen the home owner want something differant after the house started to be built.
Originally Posted By: pdacey This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Quote:
Just making sure I understand you right. The closet down stairs had gas run to it and an exhaust vent already in place. This was the electric unit.
That is correct.
Quote:
If this is right. 23 years ago there were no 90 plus furnace. They might have wanted to go electric to prevent a luver door being installed for fresh air. LOOKS.
I agree, that is good possibility. The area of the house where the electric unit exists is only one story. They could easily have run pipes for combustion and draft air. They had to do that at the upstairs unit anyway because it was also in a closet with a solid door.
Originally Posted By: kluce This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Was the unit upstairs a replacement. Never seen fresh air pipes in houses built that long ago. Every area is different. Only lived in three states over the years.
Originally Posted By: pdacey This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Kevin,
As far as I can tell the upstairs unit is original. The fresh air openings looked to be original but it was obvious that the duct work attached to the openings was added at a later time.
Originally Posted By: dbush This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Truck load sale of electric heating units as low as $199. They have them here quite often and people go get the units and just swap them out. Some even remember to cap off the existing gas lines.
Originally Posted By: psabados This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Lets try this
Back in 1978 the country was going through a major supply shortage of natural gas. This lead to the Natural Gas policy Act of 1978. This created all sorts of new rules and regs that I am not really familiar with, however if anyone is interested go to NaturalGas.org and look at the history.
As I recalled many cities and area's were not allowed to install new gas hook-ups at this time. Alternate heating was required (electric). However, many developers designed and built dwellings on the assumption that this would eventually change. Gas lines were run to the streets and never hooked up. Some developments were built with the whole gas loop installed but never connected off property.
As the shortages eased the connections were made. This may be the reason for what you observed on the inspection. Just my 2 cents worth Pat.
Of course this could have been a bad nightmare that I had or a flashback caused by to many disco visits in the late 70's. Does anybody else recall the shortages, OOOOhhhhhhh! Look at the lights
Originally Posted By: Blaine Wiley This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Paul that is a very good hallucination, er , uh, memory. I was in High School at that time. my parents were building a house in Northern VA and my cousins in Kansas City. I can remember them talking about how they had to either choose electric baseboard heat :-& or electric forced air. I just remember that I could fill up my 1967 Buick LeSabre for less than $10.
Originally Posted By: kluce This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
psadados wrote:
As I recalled many cities and area's were not allowed to install new gas hook-ups at this time. Alternate heating was required (electric).
I asked before if the gas furnace was original and pdacey thought it was. Wouldn't you think that both units would be electric? It would be interesting if there were signs of 220V anywhere around the gas furnace. Or if they converted the 220v into 110v and left the wires the same.
Originally Posted By: psabados This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Kevin
Pat made reference that he could see a difference in the ductwork. Im betting that it was an add-on maybe a couple of years later. Got permission for gas hook-up and installed a second furnace.
What we don't have is the KW rating on the electric, BTU on the gas and what kind of square footage. Is the system really split or somehow inter-connected. Serial numbers and model numbers would bear the age thing out. I agree on the electrical wiring also.
