Heater mods

[Christ]

I have a 90% efficient home forced air heater, and I wanted to do a few things to it not only to get more of the heat into the house, but to use also some of the waste heat (from clearing combustion gases) for something else.

An idea I had for the duct work was taping all the seams, then using some cardboard corner/edge spacers and wrapping the duct with shrink wrap, leaving an air gap between the plastic and the metal of the piping.

The air coming upstairs isn't terrible hot, I think as long as I don't get too close to the actual heating unit, this will be OK. Anyone has any other suggestions? Keep in mind, its not my
house (yet), so I cant modify the heater in any extreme way.

[Daox]

Taping your furnace ducts is a no brainer. A roll of tape is a few bucks and you can loose a lot of heat, especially if your ducts run through unconditioned space. Also, if the ducts go through unconditioned space they really should be insulated. The shrink wrap idea would probably work okay if you got free materials. Duct insulation would work better though.

Check out EcoRenovator's 60+ Home Energy Saving Tips You can do Right Now. Its the equivalent of the hypermiling tips and mods list here, but for your house.

[Christ]

I'm over there too, just not certain I remember my login anymore lol.

For as often as this heater has run with the poorly insulated house and the bitter cold we've been having, period 8hrs or more where it just doesn't even turn off, and the gas bill still hasn't bee over $200 for any billing cycle in the last year. Not bad, but if we buy the place, woods free and sun is cheap. Or something like that.

[yoyoyoda]

Originally Posted by Christ

Not bad, but if we buy the place, woods free and sun is cheap. Or something like that.

Have you heard about Edison Nickel Iron batteries? They are supposed to last a lot longer than ordinary SLA/Flooded LA, batteries.