On Mon, 7 Jan 2008 17:50:03 -0800 (PST), wrote:

I have a small utility closet whith louvered doors which houses the
hot water heater and the gas forced air furnace. My issue is that this
closet is just off to the side of the living room and the return is
one large vent facing directly into the room. When the furnace kicks
on the sound of the motor, fan, and rushing air through the ducts is
extremly loud and anoying. This issue is holding me up from upgrading
the system to include central air. I could not immagine having to put
up with this all year.

To help reduce the noise as much as possible I would like to insulate
the walls in the closet, wrap the furnace and exposed duct whith
insulation, and install a solid door. If possible maybe even duct the
air return in from the attic. The previous owner has a 6' x 5'
circular foil vent that runs into the attic. I think this should be
sufficient for ventalation and pilot lights after I make the changes
above.

Am I on the right track here or am i going to creeate a series of
code violations?

Welcome all ideas and suggestions.

Is it possible to relocate the furnace upstairs on downstairs? It
would be more appealing, and you may have more space to use off the
living room.

Or change the cold air intakes to a different wall, to a different
room, maybe a hall or something. May take some custom tin work, but
it suprisingly not that expensive or hard.

If you go for the noise reduction, be sure to use good noise reduction
insulation.

samurai.

I had exactly this same problem in a condo I owned once. Instead of
having the fitting go directly into the room, I re-routed it inside
the closet through about 6' of flexible hose. I did get a little
pressure/flow drop, but not enough to present a problem. The noise
level reduction was amazing. Before I did that, it sounded like a 747
in heat. I had to cut a hole in the side of the plennum, block up the
old hole, etc. Parts at Lowes, and about an hour's work. Cost $50,
maybe.