tony1969
Dec 10, 2008, 10:52 AM
My furnace is located on the main floor, center of the house - it is a down force furnace on a crawl space. The house is app. 1500 sq. ft. 50'long 30'ft wide. I want to move the furnace to the attached garage, at one end of the house. The trunk line and return line are down the middle of the house below and above... moving the furnace to the end of the house, will it push the air to the other end, about 45ft, to reach the back bedrooms? The furnace is recently updated within the last 4 years. At 110,000 btu's it is adequate in heating my house now centered in the middle. If not, what can be done to make it work? Booster fans? Thanks! Tony.
hvac1000
Dec 10, 2008, 11:12 AM
First of all the furnace has to work within the design it was intended for. It also depends upon what type of furnace exactly. If you are going to put a gas or oil furnace into a attached garage you could create some major potential problems for yourself. There are minimum heights off the floor requirements to prevent explosions from vapors and protection from physical damage requirements etc.
Many people with modular homes especially try to play this game and end up in big trouble all because the noise of the furnace blower bothers them. The information here applys both to modular and stick built homes.
The furnace blower might not be able to handle the additional resistance of the extended duct and that you would need to calculate. Many furnaces are also not designed to be placed in a nonconditioned space like a garage also.
I suggest you contact your local building department for further advise since many code compliance issues vary from area to area and if not done properly your homeowners insurance might not cover your home if the reinstall is not done to code. I have seen this happen before and it is sad when after the fire or other problems the insurance company does the escape clause due to non code compliance issues with the home furnace or electric.