The Basics Of Furnace Venting Trouble For Homeowners
With winter still deep in the season, your furnace is likely at its peak operating demand right now. Unfortunately, with all of that demand comes wear and tear, as well as the risk of malfunctions. While most furnace problems are obvious from the beginning, like pilot light problems and blower fan issues, some problems are far more subtle. Despite the subtlety of problems like furnace venting issues, they still need to be taken seriously. Here's what you need to know about venting problems and your furnace.
What Does It Mean To Have Furnace Venting Issues?
Your furnace produces exhaust gases, such as those left over after the heat is extracted from the warm air. In an ideal operation, those residual gases are vented out of an exhaust chamber and passed outside your home. When those gases cannot vent out of your home, they end up accumulating indoors, contaminating the air inside your home.
What Can Cause Furnace Venting Issues?
There are a number of things that can interfere with the way your furnace vents. If condensation has built up in the vent tubes, the cold temperatures outside can sometimes cause that condensation to freeze. The ice that results can block the vents, keeping those gases from escaping.
Any other kind of blockage in the vent line can do the same thing. Whether it's caused by animal nesting or other issues, anything that keeps the vent lines from flowing properly will lead to problems with exhaust venting from your furnace.
Finally, insufficient airflow can also cause venting problems. If the furnace isn't getting enough air through the intake, it can create a backdraft situation where it pulls air down the vent line. This reverses the proper flow of air from the vent system, keeping exhaust gases from flowing out.
How Do You Know If Your Furnace Isn't Venting?
There are a couple of primary ways to tell if your furnace is having venting issues. The most subtle, but earliest, sign of an issue is condensation buildup indoors. If you're seeing condensation on your windows and on the metal grate in front of your furnace, that's an indication that those exhaust gases aren't flowing out as they should be. If it's been happening for a while, you may even start to see some rust buildup on the furnace cover.
If left unrecognized, that exhaust buildup will worsen. Since those exhaust gases contain carbon monoxide, the next indicator of a problem will be your carbon monoxide detector. That shows the importance of having these detectors placed near your furnace because carbon monoxide can be fatal if you don't identify its presence early enough with an alarm system.
If you have any reason to believe that your furnace is having problems venting properly, you should contact a furnace repair technician as soon as possible.