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Gary Heston Gary Heston is offline
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Default How to avoid ice-clogged furnace air intake pipe?

In article ,
MNRebecca wrote:
Another question. Is it possible the builder/installer (furnace went
in during a major house renovation) made the intake pipe face east
(instead of down) to achieve a 180 degree variance with the exhaust
pipe? They're only a few inches apart.


Unless the horizontal pipes are of significant length (say at least
two feet each), which direction they're pointing is not going to
matter much. In still air, some of the exhaust will get sucked into
the intake. Same if you have a breeze from the west.

If I add some pipe and change
the intake direction from east to straight down, it'll only be 90
degrees different from the exhaust pipe opening. Have I just greatly
increased my likelihood of carbon monoxide poisoning (from the intake
pipe sucking in exhaust) or doesn't it matter much since it's only
going to get burned up in the furnace anyway?


An elbow pointing down shouldn't make much difference; if you're worried
splice in a few feet of pipe to extend the horizontal separation, then
the elbow.

By the way, I double-checked.
1) They really do face east (intake) and west (exhaust). I generally
think of the wind as coming primarily from the NW in my area, but I
guess it does come from E or SE about half the time.
2) The pipes are about 1 foot above the ground, not 2.5. Maybe the
intake doesn't face down for fear of a drift forming beneath it.


There's not much difference if you only add an elbow, and it'd be
easier to clear a drift out from under it than to clean ice out of
the intake.

And, I concur with the recommendation that you should have a carbon
monoxide detector. For that matter, two wouldn't hurt--they're a lot
cheaper than a funeral. I've had them for years (I have gas convection
wall heaters).


Gary

--
Gary Heston http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/

"It's kind of hard to rally 'round a math class."
Paul "Bear" Bryant