Exaggerated Plenum Transition- Sheet Metal Hack

In the modern day of finished basements, it's becoming more and more normal to find it necessary to replace furnaces blocked in on three sides and in many cases, all four. Those are some of the most difficult jobs to perform. Back in the 70's the majority of basements were wide open with the monstrous gas devouring dinosaurs of the 20, 30's, 40's and 50's boldly stand in the middle of the space. Those situations still exist but it is by no means the norm any longer. The way we approach furnace change outs has HAD to morph along with the homeowners desire for more 'finished' real estate within the confines of their domicile. I have had to stretch tarps across carpeted and tiles floors to eliminate the possibility of damage to the home owners property. I have had to disassemble the much larger and inefficient 'gas-hogs' to ease the lifting and carrying of the remnants of the old heating plant up finished stairways and through the home to the nearest door to the outside. I sure miss the days of just blindly knocking the devil out of the old furnace with no concern of dirt, dust or flying debris. Add to that the benefits of working in wide open spaces... Ahhh...waxing nostalgic again.
You will learn the fine art of demolition in tight spaces and the tools required. To reach screws in the back of the furnace plenum, I've removed the front or accessible side and used a sharpened Vaughn flat bar to shear off screws....I've added multiple sections of 'extend-a-bits' together to reach otherwise inaccessible screws and I have just plain cussed screws out !! So goes the 'fine art' of modern day furnace demolition.
While removing, you must keep in mind just what you need to incorporate in to the replacement sheet metal to ease the installation to the best of your ability. No two jobs go together exactly alike. There are similarities, but almost never the same. Beyond the obvious sheet metal fitting fabricated in the video a bit of emphasis is given to what to think about before fabrication begins.
I seem to get lucky once again, because the odd freshly fabricated sheet metal plenum adaption slips in almost as though it is fitted with a zipper. I didn't have permission to set up the camera to document the whole installation, so that's why there's just short snippets of the install captured with the smart phone at the end of the video.
I do hope though, that this helps you remember to think about what you need to do to make the job the best you can for the customer and at the same time, convenient for yourself....I mean, you don't want to make your self go prematurely grey over a little bit of sheet metal !! It's too late for me, so save yourself the head aches.
#sheetmetalhack, #plenumadaption, #furnacereplacement