Inside Air and your Forced Air Furnace

Post date: Mar 11, 2017 3:32:33 PM

In the Buffalo/Niagara area, a finished basement is a common thing. Who among us has not watched a hockey game in the basement "mancave", or sent the kids down to the finished basement "playroom". Unfortunately, many homeowners don't take into account how the furnace in the home gets air, for combustion. Generally you can pull combustion air either from the interior or exterior. BEST PRACTICE is to pull air from the exterior. Exterior combustion air draw eliminates the furnace getting dirty air from basement and possible chemical traces from the laundry room. If the basement is open it isn't a big deal, there's usually plenty of air. In finished basements, furnace enclosures rarely have enough open air space (wall/door vents) to meet BTU requirements.

For new furnace installations, make sure your contractor isn't taking shortcuts. What was stated in the contract? Did he say he would run it outside or not?

Combustion air pipe is passive.

In the Northeast the vent should be 12 inches above grade (keep in mind snow levels in your area, if your living in south towns snow belt you know what I mean)