What to do if furnace is not venting gas?
If your furnace is not properly venting gas through its flue pipes, give our team of licensed technicians a call by phone at (484) 206-8594 to schedule a fur nace repair appointment.
Why Does a Furnace Need Gas to Operate?
Furnaces are engineered to process natural gas to produce warm air that will be distributed throughout your house. In order for this gas to be hot enough to increase the temperature of the air, it needs to be burned. A set of burners in the furnace are turned on and produce flames, which are then directed towards the heat exchanger. In the heat exchanger, the flames cause combustion of the natural gas, which is what makes it hot.
What is a sidewall vent?
At the end of an exhaust pipe, a fan is integrated to help vent the combustion gases from the furnace to the outdoors. Sidewall vent systems are affordable options for gas furnaces, and they also have high-efficiency ratings and safety.
How does a heat exchanger work?
Heating becomes a two-part process, with the first heat exchanger producing and using heat, and the second heat exchanger using the leftover gas to produce additional warm air for the home. After passing through the first and second heat exchangers, the gas is transformed into a liquid since most of the heat and energy has been stripped away. This liquid drains out of your house through a pipe system that either distributes the water to a floor drain or to the outside of your house.
How does a furnace blower work?
Next, a blower assembly is activated to blow incoming cold air to the heat exchanger. The air flows around the heat exchanger, while the inside of the heat exchanger still contains the noxious gases from combustion. The temperature of the air will start to increase as it makes contact with the heat exchanger. Once the air is warm, it is distributed to each room in your house through a system of air ducts. The leftover byproducts of combustion are vented from the furnace through a flue pipe or drainage system.
How does a furnace prevent gas leaks?
To prevent a gas leak, your furnace is integrated with an exhaust pipe that is engineered to vent natural gas to the outdoor air. To help you protect your family from the negative consequences of carbon monoxide, we will be discussing how a furnace circulates gas and various types of furnace venting systems.
What causes a heat exchanger to be hot?
In the heat exchanger, the flames cause combustion of the natural gas, which is what makes it hot. Next, a blower assembly is activated to blow incoming cold air to the heat exchanger. The air flows around the heat exchanger, while the inside of the heat exchanger still contains the noxious gases from combustion.
Why Furnace Venting is Important
Let’s begin with the importance of furnace venting. Why do you need to vent your furnace? Is it necessary? The answer is yes. Furnace venting is crucial for the following reasons;
What is Through-the-Wall Venting?
Through-the-wall venting simply means removing furnace exhaust gases through the wall. Typically, you bore a hole in an exterior wall and connect the vent pipe from the furnace through it. That way, exhaust gases from the furnace can head out through the wall.
Can I vent My Furnace Through the Wall?
The short answer is – yes. However, it depends on the type of house and property type. Generally, through-the-wall venting is reserved for high-efficiency furnaces that generate denser exhaust gases.
Single Pipe or Two Pipes? Which is Better?
This is a big question when venting a gas furnace. Do you install just one pipe and let the furnace draw combustion air from the room. Or is it better to have two pipes, one to remove exhaust gases and another to draw fresh air for combustion?
How to Vent a Furnace Through the Wall Step-by-Step
Now, let’s discuss how to vent your furnace (direct venting) through the wall. The installation process details often vary depending on the furnace type and vent kit. However, we’ll try to make the process as general as possible.
FAQs
How Do You Vent a High-Efficiency Furnace Through the Wall? High-efficiency furnace wall venting involves installing two separate pipes (exhaust and air inlet) horizontally through the wall to the furnace to vent exhaust gases and draw fresh air for combustion.
Conclusion
Venting is critical even for high-efficiency furnaces. Otherwise, you’d be badly exposed to dangerous combustion gases various health issues. Now you know how to vent a high-efficiency furnace horizontally through the wall.
What type of vent is used for a furnace?
Here are some of the venting types: 1. Natural vent. Also known as Type B, this vent is operating on natural air convection. This structure generally uses the furnace vent pipe through roof because the B venting pipe is designed in a vertical manner. When the vent is withdrawing air from the house, it expels the gas outside through the vent.
Why would people like a gas furnace?
Why would people like the gas furnace? It has been proven to be reliable and also efficient in meeting homeowners’ heating needs. And why would you have to care about gas furnace vent pipe code?
What is the difference between a bigger pipe and a smaller pipe?
This construction uses two different sizes of pipes within one unit. The outer and bigger pipe draws the air for combustion (from outside), while the smaller one is constructed in the inner position to expel the exhaust gas.
How does an induced draft fan work?
Since the exhaust pipe is running on a sidewall, the fan works together with the furnace. It will draw in air for the combustion and then expel the fume outside. This is another affordable option for the heating solution. Not o mention that it is pretty safe and highly efficient.
Do you have to check the vent pipe code for a gas furnace?
Don’t forget to check the gas furnace vent pipe code when you want to install the home’s gas furnace. After all, it has become the favorable and preferred heating appliance for most homeowners.
Can you install a gas furnace at home?
Be sure to understand the concept before you install one at home. Once you know about the system and be familiar with the gas furnace vent pipe code, you can continue installing it.
Do you have to worry about venting toxic gas?
Well, making sure that you choose the right venting style will protect them. Besides the fact that you don’t need to worry about trapped toxic gas, you don’t have to worry about fire.
How does a gas furnace work?
How a Gas Furnace Works: The Heating Cycle 1 After the gas enters your furnace from a storage tank (LPG) or the local gas supply network (natural gas), the burner lights it. 2 Cold air from your house enters the furnace, where the burning gas warms it within the heat exchanger. 3 Exhaust from the combustion is piped out of the furnace through the vent and exits the home via an exhaust pipe. 4 The warm air is directed into various parts of your house by the blower fan, depending on where thermostats detect the need for heat. 5 The internal air temperature gradually increases as the warm air is distributed. Cold air is redirected to the furnace through return ducts. 6 Once the thermostat senses the set temperature has been reached, it switches off the gas valve to prevent the flow of warm air.
How does a furnace igniter work?
Furnace igniters work by creating a spark to cause ignition, or by producing an extremely hot surface that ignites the gas as it passes . Blower fan: A small electric fan and motor that directs warm air from the furnace to various parts of the home according to heat demands.
What is the difference between natural gas and LPG?
A pipe entering your home from the outside connects the source of the gas to the furnace. LPG burning units need an outdoor storage tank, while natural gas models feature underground connections to a natural gas pipe network. After the gas enters your furnace from a storage tank (LPG) or the local gas supply network (natural gas), ...
What is the purpose of a plenum?
Plenums: The supply-air plenum distributes warmed air to the ducts. The return-air plenum carries air from rooms back to the furnace to be heated.
What is a control board?
Control board: A small circuit board designed to interpret various electrical signals from inside and outside the furnace. It sends signals in response, causing various things to happen, like opening the gas valve and turning on the burners and blower fan when the thermostat calls for heat. (Not shown in illustration.)
Why are furnaces called forced air furnaces?
Most furnaces are called forced-air furnaces because they direct heated air into different rooms with a blower. Although some furnaces generate heat through electricity, or by burning wood, coal or oil, they most commonly burn natural gas or liquid propane gas (LPG). If you own a gas-burning forced-air furnace or are thinking of buying one, ...
How does gas enter a furnace?
After the gas enters your furnace from a storage tank (LPG) or the local gas supply network (natural gas), the burner lights it. Cold air from your house enters the furnace, where the burning gas warms it within the heat exchanger. Exhaust from the combustion is piped out of the furnace through the vent and exits the home via an exhaust pipe.
What Type of PVC is Used for Furnace Venting?
Beware, however, that not all plastic is good for furnace venting. Why? Because high-efficiency furnaces produce significant amounts of water and carbon dioxide, which typically mix to form carbonic acid within the vent pipes. Carbonic acid is highly corrosive, thus can quickly eat up certain plastics.
What Size Vent Pipe Do I Need for My Furnace?
Gas furnace vent sizing is a critical matter determined by the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) and National Fuel Gas Code (NFGC). So, we recommend checking out the two resources. Alternatively, check out this valuable guide from Ameri-Vent. It has all the relevant tables to help you determine the ideal vent sizes for all types of gas furnaces.
What is the Pitch Required on a PVC Venting Pipe?
Gas furnace vent pipes must have a minimum of ¼ inch per foot of slope towards the furnace. This is very important, and something many DIYers overlook. More importantly, PVC intake and exhaust vent pipes must be supported all the way from the furnace to the discharge points outside the house to prevent sagging. Sagging can lead to condensate accumulation, airflow restriction, water pooling, and ultimately furnace shutdown.
How does a condensing furnace work?
As explained above, a high-efficiency condensing furnace has special venting and condensate drainage requirements. It also has special heat exchanger technology that is able to extract heat from the fuel combustion process for a longer period of time. It extracts heat even until the point where the combustion exhaust gases have cooled down and condensed. The resulting condensation drips out of the furnace's heat exchanger and runs into a floor drain or special catch basin. The low-temperature residual flue gases vent outside through special plastic pipes.
How does a natural gas furnace work?
A conventional natural gas furnace will vent the dangerous combustion gases through a simple vertical exhaust system that is attached to the furnace. The exhaust system typically uses metal venting, often routed into a chimney stack, to exhaust the combustion gases created in the furnace fire chamber. However, these combustion gases contain ...
Why should ventilation pipes be isolated from the furnace combustion chamber?
These ventilation pipes should be isolated from the furnace combustion chamber and made airtight to eliminate the possibility of combustion gas leakage. They should be constructed so that any condensate in the pipes drains backward without freezing and drains into the floor drain or catch basin.
What type of pipes are used for high efficiency furnace venting?
To avoid this problem, high efficiency furnace venting requires the use of PVC pipes instead of metal pipes to remove the acidic condensate from your home. These PVC pipes are connected to the furnace and expelled outside. This high efficiency venting system must be installed when you install the new furnace. The PVC pipes are used for air intake, exhaust gas, and to remove the corrosive condensation resulting from the combustion process.
What is the most important feature of a gas condensing system?
One of the most important safety features of gas-condensing systems is sidewall venting. Proper sidewall venting requires installing separate vent pipes horizontally so that they vent to the outdoors through a wall of your home.
What is a high efficiency condensing furnace?
It is a hot surface ignition system that uses an electronically controlled resistance heating element, similar to a light bulb filament. The hot surface of the heating element ignites the gas burner. It provides better performance and higher safety than a pilot light. It also provides energy savings due to its superior operating efficiency.
How does heat extraction work?
This heat extraction process cools the exhaust gasses to the point that the water vapor in the exhaust gas condenses into water. Any resulting gas byproducts are cool enough to vent them outside through a PVC pipe. The condensed water is run to a floor drain.
