Bricks under the furnace?

[Ricky]

1) I'm getting a new oil furnace in the basement, and the installer wants to put a brick under each corner. ?? Is this something old- timers do? Is it a good idea?

Are the bricks to prevent rusting? There has been water in the basement on several occasions but it only made it to the furnace when the furnace itself was leaking, that is, condensate from the AC was overflowing. And when the water heater leaked, but that's in a pan now. I've learned all the ways water can get on the floor and I don't make the same mistakes anymore. The current furnace about 25 years old only has a little bit of rust at the floor. Why would bricks help?

2) I also read somewhere, "NOTE: If you live in the South, you must seal all joints, and insulate all the new ductwork leaving the furnace." Why just the south? Are joints in hvac ductwork normally sealed with caulk?

For that matter, what about joints in the 6" round metal flue pipes?

TIA

[Ricky]

Also, what do you call those things in the main ductwork that are mostly vinyl, 6 inches high, that clamp on to the ducts at each end?

Are they there to keep noise from getting into the ducts, or are they there to make up for misalignment of the furnace and the ducts.

Thanks aga>1) I'm getting a new oil furnace in the basement, and the installer

[Colbyt]

Elevating the bottom of the furnace off the basement floor is a sound practice. Mine sits on 4 8" high concrete blocks. It is not an "old-timer" thing.

All supply side air ducts should be sealed at the joints. Metal tape is the better method. Cheap installers will use duct tape. Never heard of using any kind of caulk.

Better installs will include insulated supply side ducts. This prevents heat loss in the winter and sweating in the summer. Most local codes require insulated duct at this time.

Supply side means the part of the unit that is delivering the warm/cool air and that includes the round ducts.

[Ed Pawlowski]

"Ricky" wrote

If you had water before, you'll have water again. Maybe next week or next year or next decade. The bricks buy you a few inches of time. The also promote good air circulation around it to prevent rusting. In some cases, it makes it higher, thus easier to service.

[HeyBub]

But a "few" inches means a LOT of safety. Assume 1,800 sq ft of basement and

6" of support. That's 900 cubic feet of water before the flood hits the furnace gunwales. That 900 cubic feet is almost 7,000 gallons!

Usual faucet flow is in the neighborhood of 0.5 gallons/minute. For the above calculations, an open faucet in the basement would take 14,000 minutes (or almost ten days) before the water level reached the furnace.

[jw]

There are bricks under my furnace. If not, it will rust in short order is there's any dampness on the floor.

I never heard abotu caulk on ducts. Just use that metallic tape, or duct tape, but use the REAL duct tape sold by heating suppliers, not the cheap stuff sold at Walmart.

[Jim Elbrecht]

-snip-

Mine is on 8" block, too. Not only gets it up where it is drier- it also makes it easier to work on.

Jim

[Steve Barker]

if my faucet was that slow, i'd kill myself. I can fill a five gallon bucket in about 30 seconds with mine.

[ransley]

Restricted sink faucets with airators are 0.4-.1.5 gpm, my code is

0.50, but piping and unrestricted slop sink facets, outdoor hose, 3-6 pgm is normal. 5 gpm should be considered. On a flood this summer with sewer backup in maybe 90 minutes I had 4". A smaller basement of 600sq ft would flood, at 5gpm you could awake the next day to 3000 gallons.

[ransley]

An incomming main of about 65lb 3/4" pipe is about 17gpm. A 1" at 65lb is about 34 gpm, 2000 gallons per hour if it breaks, you could swim in a small basement by morning.

[Ned Flanders]

I seem to remember seeing something on Holmes on Homes or his new inspection show where the heating people were painting on some type of sealant around the seams on the duct work instead of the foil tape. It was grey in colour and appeared to be very thick.

[Ned Flanders]

I seem to remember seeing something on Holmes on Homes or his new inspection show where the heating people were painting on some type of sealant around the seams on the duct work instead of the foil tape. It was grey in colour and appeared to be very thick.

[Ned Flanders]

I seem to remember seeing something on Holmes on Homes or his new inspection show where the heating people were painting on some type of sealant around the seams on the duct work instead of the foil tape. It was grey in colour and appeared to be very thick.

[jw]

Fix your newsreader, you posted this 3 times.....

I'd hate to have to work on ducts that were sealed in that manner. Tape can be removed when needed.

[DerbyDad03]

e:

re: "Fix your newsreader, you posted this 3 times..... "

Wouldn't that be "newswriter"? ;-)

[ransley]

:

It might be called Duct Sealing Mastic, i used it on my ducks

[Oren]

I bet the "ducks" were mad!

[krw]

Yeah, they hate it when they're stuck to the sealing. ;-)

[Ned Flanders]

It wasn't my news reader alone it was also my Usenet Server. My connection to the server drops from time to time (ever since my provider outsourced it). The Usenet program popped up a message that told me the post failed so I resent it.

Its not Like I make a habit of triple posting...

[Colbyt]

Ned it happens every now and then. A couple of others had the same problem, at least they did here.

No big deal!

Colbyt