We often get questions from our customers about whether or not the furnace location matters and what places in the home a furnace can be installed.
Furnace located in the attic problems.
These furnaces are typically located in a basement attic garage or utility closet.
Even when furnaces are put on the main floor floodwaters often overrun the first floor causing severe damage to the unit.
Ductwork goes through open ceiling into the attic then into the house.
Most of the issues that furnace might experience in an attic are due to extremely cold weather in this poorly insulated space.
Turn off the furnace s power at the circuit breaker on the main electrical panel.
And condensate drain the problem is that if you keep the attic cold enough to prevent.
Apply a non contact circuit tester to the furnace to verify.
Seeing as that anyone who works on the unit repair or maintenance will be charging you by the hour these additions will save you money in the long run even if you have to pay extra.
High efficiency furnaces aren t usually recommended for an attic.
Other option was to build an insulated room around the unit in the attic.
This is how my own home is set up.
I didn t build the house but if it was up to me the furnace would go inside along with most if not all of the.
Ice dams the condensate will freeze in the furnace rendering it inoperable.
Typically the water heater is located in the closet also.
This drain removes the excess water that a heating system will generate.
Because the furnace is in a space that most homeowners do not visit frequently it is not unusual for an hvac system in the attic to develop system problems that remain undetected for some time.
Walk specifically on the floor joists to prevent damage to the ceiling below if.
A furnace can suffer from a drop in energy efficiency if it s in an unconditioned space such as an attic.
How to maintain an attic furnace.
The drain must be installed through the core of the house as water will be flowing during the colder months.
If you go with a furnace in the attic not a bad idea if properly carried out the installer should put in a gfi protected outlet and a light near the unit.
Furnaces in closets attached to the garage is the rule in our area.
Throw duct leakage into the mix and the problems are even worse.
Access the attic furnace.
My solution was to remove the furnace from the attic.
In flood prone areas instaling a furnace in the attic provides protection.
The trick to the installation of a gas furnace in an attic space is routing the condensate drain from the attic down through the core of the house to the basement.
Just installing the furnace in the attic crawl way of a single story home gives protection from most flooding.