HVAC, out with the old and in with the???

[pappster85]

Hello there all,
I have hopes that a few of you may have some sense of direction for me in respect to my up and coming need to replace my HVAC system. I live in a 1100 square foot ranch with a finished basement. The home was built in 1948. It has new windows, restored exterior doors, R-30 batts in the attic, no insulation in the exterior walls, and it resides in the suburbs of Detroit. Right now I have a 1973 Bryant forced air NG furnace which replaced the gravity furnace which the home was built with. Thankfully that is over and done with. Anyways, I also have a chimney that is not in the best of shape and needs to be rebuilt. Here is the issue, code states that if any item that ties to the chimney is removed or modified in any way that I must have a liner installed. I am all about having a new direct vent furnace and a power vent water heater to allow me to totally do away with the chimney. What I can not understand is how anyone will be able to run the direct vent lines to the outside and comply with the requirements for spacing around windows and such. Not any one window outside of the house is more then 6' apart. From my understanding in the U.S. the requirement is 4' from the outside edge or bellow any window. The joys of a small home, right? So my question is, what does a contractor do in this situation? I would like to have some feed back from some one other then the sales men who is sitting at my table. Thoughts any one?

[George2]

I do not know what your budget is or if you're able to do some of the dirty work, but you might think about running the PVC pipes out thru the roof. It may require the removal of the chimney.

[ebierley]

If the furnace is direct vented (2 pipes) the distance is usually 12 inches. The distance is Also straight line so you can pick up additional space from the diagonal if it is below window level.