Fresh Air Intake Into Furnace Room

Fresh air is brought in from an outside intake hood and dispensed in the return air duct.

Fresh air intake into furnace room.

So when you remove the filter from a return plenum in a gas furnace installation in a new home and look closely you ll likely note some kind of system that allows fresh air to be drawn directly from the outside and delivered into the return of the furnace cabinet. In these cases an air intake will also be used. The air passes through the filter of the unit and quickly passes over the supercooled coils inside. This reduces the amount of cold dry air that is pulled into the home.

There s also a separate fresh air intake which is currently covered with dry wall. With today s homes being built increasingly airtight it is becoming essential to bring fresh air into the home mechanically. The indoor portion of your unit has an air conditioner return air intake usually located on the ceiling. Also with the increasing concern of radon infiltration fresh air becomes an even greater need.

In many homes the fresh air intake is simply an open duct ran from an outside vent into a basement or any room housing the home s furnace. Its function is to provide air for the furnace burner and chimney. The gap is big enough to allow a lot of air to get in i ve never seen a open fresh air intake for combustion air in newer houses. The purpose of it is with the new homes and energy efficiency of the homes they are sealed so tight that it allows no fresh air to come into the furnace room area to allow fresh air to flow into.

Some modern furnaces actually draw air from outside directly into the unit. Unfortunately the fresh air intake you have described is the second type and does not provide direct combustion air to the furnace room as it is directly connected to the return air plenum for. Without fresh air the home becomes stuffy and deadly combustion gases may build up. The grill allows air from the rest of the basement into the furnace room.

If you re simply concerned about the quality of the air entering the home it s possible that you could install a filter on the intake. Fresh air intakes can be in multiple locations throughout your home especially in newer homes built to modern building codes requiring homes to be much tighter than older homes. Many people erroneously close this one off because it freezes out the basement. This return air intake grille typically includes some type of filter to keep dust and debris out while allowing air to pass through.