I have my furnance in my attic but the attic feeds from the second floor all the way down the roof line to the first floor. The attic gets really hot from the furance and make that area unbarely hot. You can tell alot of heat is excaping because no snow will stay in that area of the roof, it just melts and drips down. I can get to the area to insulate but I think theres a bigger problem with my furnance. Any help would be appreciated.
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Get the furnace out of the attic..... Furnaces *DO NOT* belong in attics. It probably doesn't meet current code anyway.
Is there a light by the furnace? Is there a 120v receptical within 6ft of the furnace? Is the furnace on a platform with 36in service access? Is the furnace correctly vented? Is the furnace even correctly sized? Is there a 24in catwalk to the furnace from the attic access? Is the catwalk lighted? Is the attic access wide enough and long enough to get the old furnace out and a new one in? If the furnace is 90+AFUE, and/or it has A/C, is there an emergency pan under it? Is there a safety float switch in the primary drain? Is the primary drain correctly trapped? Is there a safety float switch in the emergency pan?
There is no reason for furnaces(or *ANY* mechanical equipment) to be in an attic or crawl space, other than to save a dozen or so square feet of floor space. All ofthe places in these parts that have furnaces in attics were "spec" houses that were thrown together and all the sub-contractors were the lowest bidders.
Here's what you need to do....
Get the furnace out of the attic, build a closet if you need to, either run a seperate system for the first floor, or add appropriate zoning in the ductwork and controls. Once everything else is right with the world, then add insulation to the attic. No its not gonna be cheap on the front end, but when its done, you should have a *comfortable* home, with no more than 1 or 1 1/2 degrees temperature difference between any 2 rooms, and much lower utility bills.
The majority of the newer homes here have the a/c in the attic--- real fun to work on this time of year. They do meet all the requirements Steve stated. Other than the temp during the summer, I really don't mind working on them that much. What I really wish they would do is make the closet doors on upflow units go all the way to the ceiling,so you don't have to pull the furnace to get the coil out. The other thing that is common here is putting the water heater in the attic. That, to me, is the craziest thing I have ever heard of. They are in a pan, but you better hope the thing just starts dripping when it fails, and doesn't have a major blowout that either squirts out past the pan, or faster than the pan can drain. Larry
Hi, I wonder why they don't build houses on a basement foundation unless it is in swamp. Where I live all houses have a concrete basement which contains furnace, hot water tank, water softener, etc. in a utility room. No basement to be cheap?
Here, I've only seen furnace in the attic once or twice. And that was a third floor apartment. Never seen a WH in the attic, either. Houses, here, have cellars. Very few houses, here, don't have cellars.
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