AboutBill Brainard Expertise I can solve most heating related problems with furnaces and air conditioners(natural gas,propane, electric)(no oil or heat pumps) & some boilers and most control problems. Iam a heating & air cond contractor with 30 some years behind me. I spent 12 years working for Sears doing this type of work.
Experience I have graduated from 10 or 12 factory schools on gas furnaces ( 70%, 80%, 90%+ AFUE), basic air conditioning, air conditioning service, advanced air conditioning, oil furnaces, wall furnaces, floor furnaces, air handlers, coils, compressors, multi-speed (1 speed to 12 speed) furnaces, mobile home furnaces and air conditioners etc...
Question Hello and thanks for reading, my question is rather simple. I live in Canada and my question is related to my wood burning furnace. It is about 25 years old RIVIERA brand and I live in a bungalow, so my insurance agent came on a routine inspection and told me all of a sudden my plenum was too close to my floor joists. I've been insured with these people since 2000 and this is the first I hear of this. Since this is a basement installation, i was wondering if I installed some 1/2 inch cement board in the proper areas would that be acceptable, since my only other option would be to dramatically shorten my plenums...or buy a new heating system. If you can answer this...GREAT, but since I am from Canada and our building codes may differ from yours, do you know of anyone in Canada, or anywhere i could go for an answer.
Answer I am in Montana & do not know your codes. But I have delt with insurance companies a lot. Here is the secret. Code calls for single wall pipe to be 6" from combustable products (wood). If the pipe is double or triple wall it only has to be 1" from wood. If you can get all wood 1" away from the metal, that should be good enough. Plenums need to be 1" from wood for the first 5 feet from the furnace. If you put the cement board on stand off spacers that may work. It is possible to cut some out of the plenium, all the way around (like 1" or 2"). Then put in an "Esse" to rejoin the metal. That is not hard to do. Usually the metal will give a bit (adjust). "S"'s (esse)cost about $1 a foot. Do that & ask for a re-inspection. or send pictures. Hope this helps.
