Welcome to a new blog series focused on how you can add value to your home! This time, we’re looking at some of the major systems - heating, air conditioning, and ducting.
BEFORE: Our big green monster (note the asbestos-wrapped ducts at the top).
BEFORE:
Our 1942 ranch had a beast of a furnace - a gravity type furnace, made by Atlas Heating and Ventilating Company. It was a model 100, but I couldn’t figure out when it was actually made. Was it original to the house? If you have any thoughts on this, let me know! I’m including close-ups of the manufacturer’s panel, as well as the cast iron cover.
Gravity furnaces, also called octopus furnaces thanks to the multiple ducts that come out of the top, work simply by warm air rising. Air is heated in the combustion chamber (in our case, by natural gas, but in past eras, coal, and as my husband liked to joke, whale oil). The warm air then rises through the many ducts and enters the rooms through vents.
Atlas Model 100.
Where we loaded in the whale oil! 😉
PROS:
Unlike forced air systems, gravity furnaces do not have blowers - so they run very quietly, and don’t circulate as much dust.
Very few moving parts! However old ours might have been (at the oldest, 80 years), it never broke. Sometimes we had to jiggle some wires to get it to fire up, and we’ve had to clean the thermocouple/pilot light a few times - but all in all, very few issues.
CONS (there are a lot more of these):
Gravity furnaces are inefficient, running at only about 50% efficiency (vs. modern furnaces at up to 95%). This also means it costs more to heat your house.
ASBESTOS 😱 If you have a gravity furnace, you are pretty much guaranteed to have asbestos in your duct wrapping. Asbestos is toxic; it was used as insulation and fireproofing before humankind knew better. Look for ducts that are white and shiny - that’s asbestos (you can see a few of those ducts at the very top of the furnace in the first picture). Don’t disturb it - as long as it is undisturbed, it remains safe! You’ll need to have an asbestos abatement company handle the removal, and you’ll likely need to be gone while that work is done.
No air conditioning. Because gravity furnaces do not have blowers, they can’t be paired with an AC system.
All of those octopus arm ducts take up a ton of space!
These cons can cause a potential buyer to not want to take a chance on moving forward with your home. There are so many concerns (asbestos, efficiency) and convenience factors (AC, space), as well as the difficulty and costs that could be incurred if the furnace needed to be repaired or replaced, that it could be a big dealbreaker.
Even with all of those cons, we kept our gravity furnace for 6.5 years after we bought our house. Was it inefficient? Yes. Were we hot as hell in the summer with no AC? For sure. Did it continue to work? Yep. It’s only now, that we’re considering selling soon, that we decided it was an important piece of the puzzle for a future buyer.
It’s gone!
So how did it go down? The first challenge was finding a company that would take on the work. With so many pieces - asbestos abatement, removal of the green monster, replacement of some ducts, replacement of the electrical panel (necessary to bear the load of an air conditioner, and another blog post - stay tuned!), and install of the air conditioner, some of the folks that I reached out to flat out said no thanks. Tipping Hat Plumbing Heating & Electric was one of the only companies that was willing to do it!
It took 4 days: Day 1 was devoted to asbestos abatement; the remaining days to removing the hulking beast of a furnace, replacing the panel, installing the new furnace, creating some new (up to code) venting, and installing the AC. It was quite the intensive process!
*** Angels singing ***
AFTER:
Here is our brand new furnace, in the place where the old one used to live. It’s taking a bit of time for us to get used to the blower running, but overall we are nice and toasty - and can’t wait for our first opportunity to use the air conditioner!!
So what’s the value add? This is one that is a little more nebulous than something like adding a garage door. Buyers have the reasonable expectation that the systems of a home will work - so replacing a functioning furnace with a new, also-functioning furnace isn’t directly adding any value to an appraisal. But look at it from the perspective of “how many potential buyers would be deterred by a gravity furnace?” Taking care of something big like this is a reassurance to a potential buyer - even if the kitchen may need some cosmetic work, the HVAC is completely updated, alleviating concerns about such an expensive liability. The addition of air conditioning may also put the property in front of more potential buyers, including those for whom AC is a must-have.
If you have a very old HVAC system (especially if it’s a gravity system!), it may be worth your while to have it replaced, or at least serviced and repaired if needed, in conjunction with offering a homeowner’s warranty to a potential buyer. If that’s not something you can or want to do, be prepared to list your property conservatively and potentially respond to a buyer’s inspection objection about the HVAC.
If you have questions about your HVAC system, contact your favorite HVAC company, or I’m happy to connect you with the folks who did ours! Another great resource is Alpine Building Performance - my favorite inspectors and a wealth of knowledge about building systems!
For more about gravity furnaces, check out these articles: InterNACHI: Gravity Furnace Inspection | Historic Homes of Minnesota: The Monster in Your Basement