The salesman at Purcella made it sound like a great idea to my husband: let's do a retro fit in an old building by tapping into the existing duct work for a swamp cooler and create a trap that moves based on the season so that both the existing swamp cooler and new furnace share the same duct work.
Well, the trap concept did not work and left a 2"" gap running along 2 sides of a 24"" trap. The result was that heat flying out through the large gaps and into the sky. Heating bills actually increased after install. Worst part was that the installers, whom were basically good guys, knew of the problem but did not advise us, likely on the advice of their boss. Just an awful result of an expensive purchase and install. We ultimately had to remove the swamp cooler from the roof to seal the gap. Had we left the swamp cooler and gap then moisture would be forced into furnace all summer long and likely destroyed by crystalizing the fine elements of the furnace.
So, now we have no swamp cooler and no proper duct work for the furnace. It's basically a screwed up situation that we'll have to redo when we can afford to redo it. The work was not to code, it was expensive, and simply was a failed idea that we were convinced to buy into. No permits were pulled for the job. Always make sure that a permit is pulled for a job like this done so that you have recourse if the work is done improperly.
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