Took me 6 hours to switch my old gas furnace to a heat pump

I thought swapping out my 1990s gas furnace for a modern heat pump would be a weekend job. Three Saturdays later and I was still fighting with the old ductwork in my 1920s house in Portland. The original installers had used this weird nonstandard size that no adapter kit fit. I had to custom cut every single piece of sheet metal with tin snips because my reciprocating saw kept binding. After 18 hours total across three weekends I finally got it sealed and running. The worst part was finding out the electrical panel needed a 60 amp breaker upgrade too. Has anyone else dealt with hidden old house problems when trying to go electric?

3 comments

3 Comments

fionafoster2d ago

OH MAN do I feel your pain. I spent a whole week just trying to get the old gas line capped off in my 1940s bungalow - the shutoff valve was literally buried behind a wall they'd added later. And don't even get me started on the ductwork. Mine was all wrapped in this ancient asbestos tape that took forever to deal with safely. The 60 amp breaker thing hit me too, I had to run a whole new line from the panel across the attic. It's ALWAYS the hidden stuff nobody warns you about.

karen_carter2d ago

Respectfully gotta disagree with you on this one @fionafoster. Yeah the hidden stuff is a pain but honestly I'd rather deal with old asbestos tape and buried valves than the new crap they put in these days. My buddy's brand new build had those flex gas lines that kink if you look at em wrong and the plastic ductwork that melted when his furnace had a hiccup. Old houses have problems you can actually fix with basic tools and some elbow grease. New houses have problems that need a specialist and a second mortgage.

charles7202d ago

Tbh @karen_carter you're both right - old houses just hide their problems better than new ones.