Alternative heat, or, old gas fireplaces

[americanvenus]

Hi there... we own a 19th century rowhouse - three stories - with ineffecient forced air gas heat. It takes too long to heat the home and hot air doesn't reach the third floor. There are many smaller rooms in the house.

We are looking for an alternative to this, as we would like to get rid of the ductwork and are considering using the original gas fireplaces as zone heating/primary heat source. Is this a possibility? What would other options be? Is it best to just get a new furnace? Please advise. Thank you!

Jennifer

 

[jtp10181]

Based on the info you gave about the house, three stories and many small rooms, I don't think a single gas fireplace would be a very good way to heat it. Your best bet might be to get a new gas furnace. Maybe you need to do some testing on the house as well to determine where you are loosing heat, bad insulation areas, leaky windows, etc. I think once you get that stuff worked out then you could think about using the gas fireplace as a zone heater. What I usually propose to customer is to use the fireplace to heat up the main living space and keep the bedrooms at a slightly colder (good for sleeping) temp using the furnace if needed. If there is more than one or a very large living area then maybe you could add another gas fireplace, or a pellet or wood stove.

 

[begreen]

Hi Jennifer and welcome. Almost anything is possible if you have the funds. What region is the house located? How well insulated is the building? What shape are the windows in?

Has the furnace been serviced recently or at all? It should be looked at first, sometimes this is just a matter of clogged burners or jets. Or a leaky plenum. I've seen cases where an elbow has fallen apart and the hot air is just pumping into the open crawlspace. If the furnace is fine and in good shape, it could also just be that there is no ducting to the third floor and the furnace is undersized. Insulating the ductwork might help a lot in this circumstance.

If you do install some area heaters, I wouldn't get rid of the central system. For resale purposes some buyers and banks will expect or require this. If you can post pictures of the current furnace, we can provide a bit more advice. So far this is just generic heating suggestions.

Another thought is that this might be an old coal conversion gravity air furnace. If so, the ductwork is likely all wrong. Are the ductwork outlets in the center of the house or are they on the outside walls under windows and near doors?

 

[americanvenus]

Thanks to both of you for your advice. I should have been more specific about the gas fireplaces - they are in every room in the house. This home was originally build with no electricity - only gas. The lines are still visible in the house. We are also restoring, rather than replacing the windows. We're trying to keep it as historically accurate as possible.

The ductwork was added in the last twenty years or so, and lines the basement ceiling. We are hoping to make the basement a liveable space, and it is difficult to do with the ducting.

I'll post some photos in the next few days.

thanks again!
Jennifer

 

[begreen]

How well is the house insulated? Will all of the windows have storm windows? The point being is that you may have an adequately sized system, but are essentially heating outdoors due to heat loss. Where is the house located, what climate zone? In summer do you aircondition at all? If yes, how?

As to the fireplaces, I suspect if you want to run them on gas again, they may need to be replumbed with new lines. Speak to your gas company about this. There are some lovely period style gas fireplaces made by Valor that would look stunning in the house.

If you have a good sized budget, I would consider the following, in this order:

1) totally insulating the house, you will benefit from this immediately, even with the old heating system.
2) storm windows or replacement windows of appropriate architectural style with true-divided lights. Look at the Marvin Cottage style line for example.
3) replacing the forced air heating with a high-efficiency hot water system that is zoned, 1 thermostat per floor, and sized to accommodate your future basement remodel.
4) investigating options for replacing gas piping to the fireplaces

 

[jtp10181]

Did she say someplace the fireplaces were disconnected?

Anyway... would be nice to see some pictures of these fireplaces. If they are in every room I have this sinking feeling they are Vent Free (aka Room Vented). Unless you have a whole lot of chimneys sticking out of the house. If the house is very loose (which it probably is due to its age) this might not be too bad of a thing. But before you use any of them I would have a QUALIFIED fireplace professions come and service all of them. How many fireplaces are we talking exactly?

 

[begreen]

Good point jtp. I didn't mean resurecting the old gas burners, but rather check out what it would take to get gas flowing safely. I edited my last suggestion from restoring gas fireplaces to replacing the gas piping. There is a lot more information needed before recommending what should be installed in the fireplaces and the cost of safely getting gas to them could be high. I was assuming new fireplaces to be installed, but if they have no flue, then this could be a dead end.

 

[jtp10181]

Is there something wrong with having some of the gas lines exposed in the living space, as opposed to in the walls? I have seen a few customers homes with a iron pipe gas line running up along the side of thier masonary fireplace to get to a second story gas fireplace. Even saw a hotel I stayed at with a gas log (in dire need of a service call, and its about 5 minutes from our MFG plant, heh) that had the gas line stubbed in through one of the grills on the side and it was brazed copper. If I smacked it good it prob would have busted right in half. This was in the lobby. Not saying the copper is safe, but I don't see anything wrong with iron pipe. (If she has iron pipe lines)