Avoiding Open Flames

December 21, 2006 12:03 PM

Is there any where I can buy a furnace in the DC area and pick it up today? It needs to be all electric, and not a heat pump.

I know this is not going to be an efficient system, but I need something I can actually install myself, this weekend, so anything with a compressor and compressor lines is out. I want a plain old, all resistance heat furnace. No a/c. The ducts are there and I can do the work to get them attached. You don't really want to know the back-story, believe me.

posted by juggler to home & garden (9 comments total)

I wanna know the back-story!! Other than that, I couldn't find anything . . . could you do space heaters? Just don't catch your place on fire.
posted by Sassyfras at 12:16 PM on December 21, 2006

You could try Sears.
posted by cerebus19 at 12:31 PM on December 21, 2006

Whoops. Sent a link to water heaters, not furnaces. I thought they carried furnaces, but I can't find them. Sorry 'bout that.
posted by cerebus19 at 12:32 PM on December 21, 2006

i was in your position a few years ago. sears does have what you need, but they will be really reluctant to allow you to install it on your own, unless you are a trained installer of that kind of equipment. it took three weeks to get mine. check in the yellow pages under furnace installation and start calling.

sears was right about DIY--it's really easy to mess up the air circulation part and end up with carbon monoxide poisioning.
posted by lester's sock puppet at 12:57 PM on December 21, 2006

Is electric baseboard out of the question for some reason?
posted by malp at 12:59 PM on December 21, 2006

check in the yellow pages under furnace installation and start calling.

If you do this, make sure you skip right past the listing for Harvey Hottel; one of the worst experiences I've ever had with any contractor.
posted by and hosted from Uranus at 1:24 PM on December 21, 2006

Best place would be a local electrical or HVAC supply with a retail counter. Look in the Yellow pages under HVAC wholesalers. They'll often deal with you if you have cash, many trades people are on a cash basis.

lester's sock puppet writes "sears was right about DIY--it's really easy to mess up the air circulation part and end up with carbon monoxide poisoning."

Pretty tough to get CO poisoning from an electric furnace. Most jurisdictions will require you to pull a permit but allow homeowners to do this kind of work.
posted by Mitheral at 1:44 PM on December 21, 2006

yeah i want the back story too!
posted by thilmony at 2:57 PM on December 21, 2006

Installing this yourself sounds like it's going to be a bitch. (I'm currently lacking heating at my parents' house due to the furnace blowing up several years ago. There is a new one, but no ducts to run the heat.)

Space heaters will get you through and keep you from freezing. The kinds with thermostats (letting you pick a temperature that's comfortable and the heater will turn itself on and off to maintain that) and a tip over/kick over sensor are the best. You can pick them up pretty cheaply at Home Depot/Lowes/Kmart/Walmart but if it snows or threatens to snow in this area, you're going to be fucked.
As far as setting them up goes, in our house (consists of main floor and an unfinished basement) we have 2 heaters in the basement running all the time in order to keep the pipes from freezing, one heater in the kitchen, one in the two bedrooms (mine and my parents'), and one in the living room.

Also, trying to find an installer around now is probably going to be difficult and expensive.
posted by sperose at 1:21 AM on December 22, 2006