Moving Furnace Over

[Lovealicia]

Hi there,

I have a bunkhouse in my TT that I am in the process of removing. Both the hot water heater and the furnace are under the bottom bunk, and my original goal was to remove part of the bottom bunk completely so I could stand on the actual floor and step up onto the remaining half of the bottom bunk that will be turned into storage. In order for it to work seamlessly, I would need to move the entire furnace over about six inches, and there is a gap between the water heater and the furnace so it might be feasible.

My question is, how complicated is it to move the furnace? It is flush with the outside wall for the vent, and the copper propane pipes are already bent at ridiculous angles to accommodate for the placement and I would have to figure out how to bend them the other way.

Should I hire someone to help me with this? Has anyone ever moved their furnace?

I can do the remodel without moving the furnace, but it leaves me with an awkward space and I'm willing to go the extra mile to get a better space.

[trail-explorer]

mobeewan wrote:
You also need to make sure there is no framing in the wall where you need to relocate the furnace intake and exhaust. An electronic stud finder may come in handy for that.

DItto.

Chances are good that the opening for the furance vent has framing around it.

[westend]

goducks10 wrote:
I'd leave the original exhaust and just block it off on the inside. No use making extra work. Just copy how the OEM exhaust is and repeat in a different location for the moved furnace.

The OP would still have to have the duct mounting plate that is OEM with the furnace. I'd assume this is the doubled vertical duct arrangement that is typical for circa 1994. This mounting plate has extruded pipe on the inside that accepts both the fresh air intake and exhaust pipe of the furnace.

Typical Suburban vent cap

[Lovealicia]

I GOOGLED THIS. Apparently, I can put the furnace higher. That actually fixes everything and gives me so much more space.

Here is a question. Does the furnace have to be on the floor? Because I could build a very sturdy shelf above the hot water heater and put it in there, easily create the new vent, and extend the duct work and copper tubing to reach. I would then have a ton of space to work with, as I would be freeing up almost all of the bunkhouse to convert into whatever I wanted.

[goducks10]

I'd leave the original exhaust and just block it off on the inside. No use making extra work. Just copy how the OEM exhaust is and repeat in a different location for the moved furnace.

[westend]

The most elegant way to treat the exterior, if only moving the furnace 6", would be to fashion an aluminum plate that would both cover the original exhaust and intake holes and afford a mounting flange for the new exhaust and intake duct locations.

If you were close to me, I'd have this done for you in an hour, as I do some metal working with aluminum and have the needed plate on hand. A metal worker would view this project as fairly minimal.

Beyond the duct work, you might have wire stretching and copper propane piping to deal with, neither of which is terribly hard.

Good luck with the rearrangement.

[mobeewan]

You also need to make sure there is no framing in the wall where you need to relocate the furnace intake and exhaust. An electronic stud finder may come in handy for that.

[Lovealicia]

The outside. I didn't even get that far in my line of thinking. That will probably be really difficult. I wonder if I might be able to hire somebody, or even maybe just get a smaller furnace with the same exhaust? I'm sure the newer ones are more compact, mine is from 1994. Maybe. Thoughts?

[haddy1]

Trackrig wrote:
The ducting and propane lines should be fairly easy to take care of. I see the bigger problem as it making it look decent on the outside where you have to move intake and exhaust in the outside siding.

Bill

I agree. The outside is where you are going to run into MAJOR PROBLEMS.

[Trackrig]

The ducting and propane lines should be fairly easy to take care of. I see the bigger problem as it making it look decent on the outside where you have to move intake and exhaust in the outside siding.

Bill

[midnightsadie]

no problem, look at the space it now sits in and copy that. sounds like your capable to handle this , take pics some times they come in handy.they put it where it was easy for them ,

[K_Charles]

do the installation instructions say to leave space on eat her side of the furnace? If yes do you have room for that?