I just got a call from one of my relatives. They live quite a distance from me but I am familiar with their house because I once lived in it. Back when I lived there, the house had a traditional natural gas furnace that vented out the chimney. Two years ago they had a High Efficiency furnace installed.
The furnace vents out thru the sillplate, where the two PVC pipes exit outside. I know there are less than two courses of concrete block showing, so that means these pipes are a maximum of 14 inches from the lawn.
They have had extreme snow this winter and the woman has had to call in a furnace repairman 3 times, each call costing her around $150, and each time these pipes were buried under the snow. Each time she has nearly frozen to death because it always happens at night and she believes that she can not call during the night and must wait until morning. The woman is not in good health as it is, and she is unable to go outdoors, much less shovel snow. She has a caregiver come daily to help her, but they dont look at things like this. Besides that, the snow turns to a block of ice from the heat and moisture and requires lots of chipping to clear it.
Anyhow, she knows that I am handy and have done all sorts of home repairs. They told me she is really upset because the repair guy told her she could get carbon monoxide poisoning, and she must dig out the snow. She said she wishes she would have kept the old furnace that vented out the chimney.
While I am handy, I have not dealt with these H.E. furnaces, but I do know how they work and the way they put 2 pipes out the side of the house for intake air and exhaust.
Immediately after the call I got to thinking about extending the pipes higher up the house siding. I think they are too low. It would be easy enough to use a few PVC elbows pointed upware, add 2 or 3 feet of pipe, strap it to the house, and put some traps on top so the pipes dont fill with rain or snow.
The question is: Is this legal and acceptable?
If not, is there another solution? Putting an awning of sorts over the pipes might help keep some of the snow off the pipes, but there are limits on that due to blowing and drifting.
I'm sure this happens regularly, what are the solutions?