Furnace In Attic Safe
If you don t have a crawl space or a basement then it can be a challenge to place a furnace on the ground floor of the structure.
Furnace in attic safe. The biggest advantage of having an attic furnace is that it s a space saver. There s usually nothing up in an attic aside from some stored items so a furnace won t take up useful space. 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. Furnaces installed in attics can be vulnerable to breakdowns since they can be largely forgotten when not in.
Keep bathroom fans and window units turned off. You ll also free up a closet. Keep a 90 percent furnace out of an attic if you have cold temperatures. Attics are often ventilated to the outdoors and are not typically part of the air conditioned space in the home.
There are rarely instances when we will advise against an attic installation. With all that said you can generally count on attic placement being a bad idea in part because high efficiency furnaces which dominate the market today just can t function in attic space usually due to both the volume of air necessary for operation and because of safety considerations. If the closet is next to one of the bathrooms as it often is this gives you a nice remodeling opportunity. One point about a 90 in the attic in a cold climate is if the proper steps are not taken you can freeze a condensate line up there.
Even when furnaces are put on the main floor floodwaters often overrun the first floor causing severe damage to the unit. You might not receive the same air movement benefits if the unit is in a garage either. As a result any air leaks here mean the air goes outdoors. If it s less than 90 percent it will be less efficient.
A home s furnace is commonly located in a secluded area from a closet to a basement. That puts a real drag on the efficiency of your unit whether it s an air conditioner or a furnace. A furnace in the attic is a design that works for all homes. Just installing the furnace in the attic crawl way of a single story home gives protection from most flooding.
Typically the fresh air intake will be located in your attic or ducted to the return side of the home s central air handler. It s just as safe for it to be in the attic as it is in the basement.