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Correct Size (BTU OUT) For This Home?

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2014 4:23 am
by justplumducky
Southwest Ohio... Cincinnati
1995 Redman Mobile Home
56' x 27'
Insulation barrier under the floor structure is intact.
80% efficiency propane furnace, standing pilot, 56K BTU Output. (don't know if this the correct size furnace for this home?)
100 Amp service to her circuit breaker panel.

Pictures of the home:
http://microlightstore.com/46DoubleWidePics.htm

Owner's complaint is having filled two 125 gal propane tanks, @ $600.00, this past winter that lasted only a little longer than one month. They're aware that this year was the coldest winter here for a long time, but had similar complaint for the previous winter.

A couple people have told her electric is going to be expensive also. She wants an estmate for an electric furnace to replace the propane burner, but is open to other suggestions, because the first estimate I have gotten for the upgraded service to 200 Amps, including upgrading her circuit breaker panel, is $3,000, but doesn't include two new DP breakers in her panel. That, plus new cable from panel to furnace (for electric if they go that way), is not included. Short distance, however, from panel to furnace... both are in the laundry room, which is the door door (smaller deck) in the last pic at bottom of page (the online pics).

Duke Energy's pole is right next to the meter pedestal for this home, but it's a long run from the meter to the home... 185 feet. Another estimate for 200A service (hopefully less) is on the way.... tomorrow or Monday.

Can anyone tell me what the proper size of electric furnace would be for this home?

Re: Correct Size (BTU OUT) For This Home?

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2014 4:22 pm
by jpingram5
I replaced one for a neighbor around here and his double wide is roughly similar to this one. I believe it was a 25kw furnace which puts out around 82,000 btu or more if I remember. They have calculators you can use to convert kW to BTU. But just to give you an idea if it is worth it or not. Our electric rates around here are going .0865 per kWh. And he was getting electric bills for $500+ during the winter months. So is investing $3,000+ really worth it to pay about the same or maybe a little less given your electric rates close to ours? Now some areas are pretty cheap for electric so it depends. There are other options. For instance, do they own the propane tanks? Most companies will rent you the tank or they claim they don't charge a rental fee but you just have to buy gas from them only. I was renting tanks from a company paying $3.50+ per gallon. Last year before this winter I bought my own tanks and pre filled my tanks in July at $1.73 per gallon. Even in this dead of winter I found propane for $2.19 per gallon if I bought at least 150 gallons. Owning your own tanks gives you better buying power. You can shop around now instead of being stuck with one company.

Re: Correct Size (BTU OUT) For This Home?

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2014 8:24 pm
by justplumducky
jpingram5 wrote:I replaced one for a neighbor around here and his double wide is roughly similar to this one. I believe it was a 25kw furnace which puts out around 82,000 btu or more if I remember. They have calculators you can use to convert kW to BTU. But just to give you an idea if it is worth it or not. Our electric rates around here are going .0865 per kWh. And he was getting electric bills for $500+ during the winter months. So is investing $3,000+ really worth it to pay about the same or maybe a little less given your electric rates close to ours? Now some areas are pretty cheap for electric so it depends. There are other options. For instance, do they own the propane tanks? Most companies will rent you the tank or they claim they don't charge a rental fee but you just have to buy gas from them only. I was renting tanks from a company paying $3.50+ per gallon. Last year before this winter I bought my own tanks and pre filled my tanks in July at $1.73 per gallon. Even in this dead of winter I found propane for $2.19 per gallon if I bought at least 150 gallons. Owning your own tanks gives you better buying power. You can shop around now instead of being stuck with one company.
Thx much jp~, very helpful indeed!

Re: Correct Size (BTU OUT) For This Home?

Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 12:13 am
by DaleM
Check the duct connections going from one half of the home to the other. Might be losing heat there.

Also consider Nordyne's M7 furnace. Rated at 95+ efficiency it's a pretty good unit. I replaced my 25 year old Colemen 7995, a 95,000 BTU pilot model furnace, with Nordyne's largest M7 rated at 72,000 BTU. Cut my heating bill to 1/3 what it was last year.

This winter was even colder and I had serious concerns as my old furnace could barely keep up in years past. I was switching from 95,000 to 72,000 BTUs. I did make some changes when putting in the new furnace. I rotated the furnace 90 degrees to it's original position to help with return air flow. Also made a better plenum assembly since it looked like the factory installation was off duct by about 6". All they did was add a couple pieces of metal and tape them in place. I widened the duct where the furnace sat and made that wider duct transition smoothly into the main trunk. Way better air flow in all my rooms.

Re: Correct Size (BTU OUT) For This Home?

Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 7:30 am
by justplumducky
DaleM wrote:Check the duct connections going from one half of the home to the other. Might be losing heat there.

Also consider Nordyne's M7 furnace. Rated at 95+ efficiency it's a pretty good unit. I replaced my 25 year old Colemen 7995, a 95,000 BTU pilot model furnace, with Nordyne's largest M7 rated at 72,000 BTU. Cut my heating bill to 1/3 what it was last year.

This winter was even colder and I had serious concerns as my old furnace could barely keep up in years past. I was switching from 95,000 to 72,000 BTUs. I did make some changes when putting in the new furnace. I rotated the furnace 90 degrees to it's original position to help with return air flow. Also made a better plenum assembly since it looked like the factory installation was off duct by about 6". All they did was add a couple pieces of metal and tape them in place. I widened the duct where the furnace sat and made that wider duct transition smoothly into the main trunk. Way better air flow in all my rooms.
Thank you Dale.