Suspend furnace from rafters?

[Walter R.]

May furnace is over 20 years old and I would like to replace it. It is located in the attic of my single story house. Because the old furnace sits on the floor joists, a lot of noise and vibration penetrates into the living areas below.

I keep the fan lubricated and have put rubber-matting underneath the furnace, but it is still noisy.

Is it approved practice to suspend the furnace from the rafters rather than having it sit on the joists? This would probably avoid most noise and vibration.

Thanks for any input

[cm]

Mine is suspended from the rafters and is very quiet.

cm

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, Furnace at my cabin is suspended from floor joist in the crawl space. Only thing I feel is warm air when it's on. Tony

[Art]

Add another layer of plywood and insulatate underneath. If it just rattles at startup, look for a pipe that touches it and hits at startup.

[ADC]

[steve]

You can, but done wrong and it will make more noise than it does now. Make sure you do it right, and not with metal strap...what will you do if a strap breaks? LOL..its interesting to have one hit from a couple of feet up...

Build a platform, use a min of 1/2 or larger threaded rod, and have at it. We have hung many this way, and it works fine, however, if you have metal duct, you will need to add flex to the unit to do two things: Isolate the vibration of the unit, and to reconnect your ducting. Also, make sure your clearances are still within code and to what the unit is rated at.

[David Martel]

Walter,

I'm not sure that your rafters are designed for such a load. A heavy snow fall could collapse your roof. Try to do a good job of isolating the new furnace during the installation and be sure it is level.

Good luck, Dave M.

[redneck69]

Why not just put it outdoors on da lawn and hook a garden hose to it so da heat comes in da house thru da hose. You can stick da hose in any window in your trailer house, and stuff your old underwear in da window to fill da hole next to da hose.

Most of us in da trailer park do this and we all use da same furnace to save munny 4 beer.

Redneck69 !!! My Car 69 is King at the demo derby !!!

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[default]

Why not just clean and balance the fan(s)? Oiling the bearings isn't going to solve vibration problems.

[David Martel]

default,

It's not clear whether you're responding to my post or the original post. Since the OP is contemplating a new furnace cleaning, lubricating, and balancing the fans should be unnecessary. The actual question under discussion is whether suspending the new furnace from the rafters is a good idea and will decrease the perceived vibration/noise in his living spaces. I'm not happy with this idea since roof rafters usually aren't meant to support this weight. 2 courses of shingles and a couple of snow storms could cause the roof to collapse.

Dave M.

[Robert Rolleston]