Furnace in crawl space

[cwlo]

I have a 10 unit apartment building with hydro coil/air handlers in the crawl space. Crawl space has a height of about 4'. Is it possible to install hi efficiency furnaces down there? Any issues to be concerned with?

Thanks,

Chris

[karsthuntr]

You can install a gas furnace in a crawl very easily, but why would you want to.


The set-up you have now is a very good system, low maintence and good eff.

What problems are you having?

[cwlo]

While I agree the hydro air is a better set-up, my main goal is to move from one boiler to separate units for each apartment. Using furnaces instead of boilers would be much cheaper. Piping, and venting would also be less, and the existing air handlers are old and need to be replaced as well.....getting tired of the upkeep of the belt driven blowers, and hammock filters.

Chris

[hvac-tech-lane]

Do they have their own hot water heaters or a common system. Venting 90+ should be easy and many can be mounted horizontal

[cwlo]

There is only one water heater, and common piping for the apartments.

Chris

[gasman]

is the awh big enough to supply all units? how old is the awh? yes, 90+ furnace would be ideal.

[cwlo]

The central water heater is plenty big (199k 100 gallon), and fairly recent. More to the point, why are you asking about the hot water? Seperate indirects would be too expensive by my estimation....tankless coil too troublesome?

Thanks,

Chris

[geoexchangeman]

Chris, You need to install heatpumps and use the hydro as backup. They use less energy and better on enviroment.

[gasman]

I don't know what part of the U.S. you live in. if you have cold weather, your best bet is to install 90+. most brand are multi-positions. if your climate is not severe cold than you can go with heatpump.

[lonnirat]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by geoexchangeman
Chris, You need to install heatpumps and use the hydro as backup. They use less energy and better on enviroment. [

This depends on what part of the country you are in and what your electric rates are. It sure wouldn't be a good choice for my part of the northeast.

[hvac-tech-lane]

Originally posted by cwlo
The central water heater is plenty big (199k 100 gallon), and fairly recent. More to the point, why are you asking about the hot water? Seperate indirects would be too expensive by my estimation....tankless coil too troublesome?

Thanks,

Chris

If they had teir own AWH I would have sugested new hydro heat units from their own water heaters. Maybe it would make sense to make that conversion as part of a mechanical system upgrade. You stated: "air handlers are old and need to be replaced as well.....getting tired of the upkeep of the belt driven blowers, and hammock filters." While hammock filters are a pain and belts do require some maintenance new 90+ or even 80+ units are much more complex and will require maintenance and parts are rather pricy when needed compared to what you are used to .

[cwlo]

Thanks everyone. The idea of water heaters for heat sounds interesting, and simple...might be a good option. I'm in the midwest, so heatpumps are not a good option. The furnace approach has a benefit, in that it would allow upgrading to seperate ac units more easily, than just putting a coil in the existing ductwork/air handler. (current a/c is central chiller)

Thanks,

Chris

[hvac-tech-lane]

Chris are you the service tech for the owner, or the owner of the building?