Dealing with plumbing in a small laundry room

[lkirill]

I'm in a bit of a bind with my current plumbing setup. My townhouse (NJ) is built on slab and all my major HVAC/water appliances are sitting in a small laundry room on the ground floor level (see the image). Now came the time to replace my furnace but it’s completely blocked by the pipes coming in and out of a water softener and also lots of space on the right side is taken by a water heater. Bottom line, it’s not really possible to replace the furnace w/o removing either the water softener’s pipes or the heater or both. Water heater is quite old and I don’t mind replacing it at the same time. My question is, how do I coordinate the whole effort? Should I call the plumber and ask him to remove the softener with its pipes and let the HVAC guys install the furnace? Also is it realistic to clear the area from both water softener and old heater, install furnace and then put back the new heater and softener. I don’t mind dealing with cold and hard water for a couple of days but I need to know if it all can be completed within that period.

 

[Stuff]

This is one of those times you might be best served by a plumber who does HVAC. One stop shop and let them coordinate things. Do you need multiple permits for this work? Most guys can do a simple furnace swap out in a day.

Otherwise yes, you will be the middle man. Pay a plumber for three visits: 1-remove old, 2-work with HVAC guy as to what space is needed for what, 3-install new. Also see if the softener's piping can be re-routed out of the way.