A HVAC guy came today and said with my oil furnace, I need a chimney liner, because oil furnaces burn so hot.
Everything I find online about chimney liners say the corrosive effects of the unburned carbon and sulfur, that is, soot, eat away at the mortar (in a brick chimney).
I have a double-wall metal chimney. Is there an advantage to getting a chimney liner with a metal chimney?
He also said a chimney liner will make an oil furnace work more efficiently. How would it do that?
One caution you have to take is that some of these guys are just looking for extra work.
I had to have my chimney lined as ceramic was decaying. I guess metal could too. I saw it happen on a pipe from a wood burner.
The main purposes of a chimney liner are if the integrity of the chimney is in doubt or if a chimney was sized to an furnace and water heater and the furnace is replaced with a direct vent. That leaves a chimney that's too large, the water vapor from the gas furnace will condense in the winter, it's acidic and over time it can damage the chimney. IDK what you're doing, but I suppose if you're replacing an old oil burner with a new, smaller one, it's possible that the chimney may be oversized for that and a liner would be beneficial. But the guy may just be selling BS too.
About the only way it would make it more efficient by helping the draft.
This last claim came from a furnace company website.
But the salesman who was here today looked at my breaker box from the far side of the room and told me for a heat pump I'd need a new breaker box. I have 30amp breakers going to the current AC. It's 2.5 ton AC unit which was fully adequate for the h ouse. .
Do heat pumps use much more than AC units for the same house?
He was also trying to sell me a furnace and AC even though I'd told the woman on the phone, and she had told him, AC only. He said it was his job to tell me all my options. OK, but first tell me the answer to my question, about the AC.
He was also, just for the AC, no chimney liner, $6330, 1500 more than the guy who came Friday, who was 800 more than the guy who came Thursday.
Do the math. With AC the heat delta is 95f outside, 75 inside. With heat it's 15f outside, 75f inside. And that's if a heat pump could provide enough heat at 15f without resistance backup. A circuit with a 30a breaker isn't going to support much of a heat pump. Sounds like the panel won't either.
It probably doesn't make sense to put a new ac into an old furnace.
If it gets cold enough whee you are, the heat pump would require an additional heat source. This is often electric. Could that explain the need for a new breaker box?
Maybe. He didn't say. He was a very confusing guy.
I have 30 amps to the AC compressor, and 60 amps total.
When I lived in Brooklyn for 12 years, with 3 roommates, in a 6-room
3-bath apartment, I had two 15-amp fuses for the whole apartment upstairs, and they both went through one 20-amp fuse in the basement.And I used a room heater some times, 10 amps iirc, and some times in the summer a small room AC.
We blew a fuse once or twice a year. Most years not at all but I think the AC blew a few.
Now I have an electric stove, that I use for an hour every 2 days or so.
And a water heater.
And I have a computer, but I also have 40 more amps.
(Before I had a gas stove and the building provided the hot water.)
The current AC is 2.5 tons and it's definitely the right size.
If i were to switch to a heat pump, I don't know how big it should be.
Fon't know about the USA but up here they won't allow electric heat or a heat pump on less than 100 amp service - prefer 150 or 200. A couldn't get more than 125 amps without HUUUGE expense (over $8000 to get the heavier line installed)
When our service was installed it was a temp on a pole - a common setup for camping trailers around here . It was a 100 amp transformer and appropriate wire to the meter base . That transformer blew up a while back , the new one is for a 200 amp service , as is the power panel . They left the 100 amp wire in place because we agreed there was no need to upgrade yet . Told me when I needed more amps to call and they'd come out and install the 200 amp wire . For free . I love our service provider . Entergy Arkansas has great rates , is very reliable (especially considering the terrain around here) and takes care of problems quickly .
Mine is all underground - - - - -
Bedrock . Need I say more ?
Make that the vapor from the orphaned water heater will condense.....
IDK what you're doing, but I suppose if you're
M
You might be right. I hope not. The annoying guy was about to look at the breaker box but didn't.
Then today I had called a different company and they were standing right in the room with the breakers and the furnace, and talking about a heat pump and they didn't say anthing. But tomorrow they may call and ask.
The start- up amperage is pretty high, but if it would trip a breaker, I can change the pair of 30 amp breakers to 40 amp breakers, can't I, as long as the wiring to the compressor is changed. That's under 50 feet away, as the wire travels, counting everything.
(The only way I could see how much the main breaker was was by taking a picture of it. No room for my head where the camera was.)
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