# The neighbor's high efficiency furnace went down



## EatenByLimestone (Dec 15, 2013)

It actually froze, or the exhaust did.  That's a bit scary.  Has anybody else heard of this happening with the high efficiency units?


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## begreen (Dec 15, 2013)

Wow that's cold. Was this a proper installation? Did the exhaust vent point down?


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## Frozen Canuck (Dec 15, 2013)

Mine haven't seen -40 yet, however no issues in the -30's. 

Gotta be awful cold to get the condensate from the exhaust (what's left that is) to freeze right at the exhaust. I wasn't aware that it got that cold in NY state. 

Install issues likely, if the are set up wrong & are not condensing the water vapour…..well that's a lot of water in a flue that was intended for the water to be condensed & wind up in a floor drain. Also check the condensate drain tubes to see if they are plugged. If the condensate has no path to the drain it has no choice but to try & run out the flue & that won't work.


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## EatenByLimestone (Dec 15, 2013)

It probably wasn't set up correctly.  It was a flip.  The lowest we've seen this year was 8F.  The exhaust was pointing down.  

It does get to -40 down here, although it's really rare.  I'm in a warm pocket.  An hour or so north it hits -20 a few times each winter.  We hit -20 a couple of years ago.


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## peirhead (Dec 17, 2013)

Seems a bit odd to me..the really high efficiency furnaces are condensing type which condense the vapours and extract the heat before venting to outside..these furnaces have a drain connection to let the water out.


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## EatenByLimestone (Dec 17, 2013)

I mentioned this to her and she said there was a drain.  Maybe it's not working right.  The house was flipped and just about every system in her house has had to be redone since the flip.


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## Jerry_NJ (Dec 19, 2013)

May be I overlooked something in the beginning.... you say: "her house has had to be redone since the flip."  what is the "flip" about?

My high efficiency HP went down a couple of week ago.  A geothermal (ground source) because of a compressor start circuit/capacitor blow out...but the unit celebrates its 20th birthday in February.  How old is the subject furnace? High efficiency what:  gas or oil?  Do you have a number on efficiency, over 95%?.


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## EatenByLimestone (Dec 19, 2013)

The house I live in was my Fathers.  He had lived here all my life.  The house next door had one owner from before I was born up until 5 maybe 6 years ago.  It was pretty run down when the owner decided he wanted to move.  He sold it for about 100K and a contractor that had an addiction to white powder started to renovate it.  The contractor gutted it inside, he took the 2nd floor completely out and got rid of some really nice interior brick walls put in originally for thermal mass.  The house looks pretty now, but the new owners (It has sold 3 times since the contractor got done with it.) have had nothing but issues...  roof leaking, front porch falling off.  Back deck had interior paint applied to it, gable vents didn't have any screening so birds nested in the attic.  Birds also nested in the range hood, etc.   And that's only what I know off the top of my head.  The house has been changing hands for around 275K each time.  I wouldn't be surprised if the furnace the contractor installed was a POS or it was put in improperly, or at some time since the contractor did the work it's been rigged to function so the property could sell quickly.


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## Jerry_NJ (Dec 19, 2013)

Geee.... sounds like some of my DIY work : (   I thought new/remodel construction required approval by a building inspector.. I know this law is mostly to be sure your property taxes are raised, but some of the gross errors you note should have been stopped even my a bureaucratic inspector.


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## EatenByLimestone (Dec 19, 2013)

I don't know how they would have gotten around having an inspector.  The house in question is right on the main road through the town.  When I finished off the attic I pulled a permit.  The electrical inspector was a 3rd party guy.  He didn't work for the town.  He seemed competent though.


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## Highbeam (Dec 19, 2013)

I get lots of work inspected and the inspections have never been thorough. For example, new chimney and the inspector never looked into the attic to verify clearances to wood.


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## laynes69 (Dec 19, 2013)

I've had both of our houses freeze at the exhaust pipe on our high efficiency furnaces. The one here was pointed down, and the vapor would condense at the end of the vent where it would drip and freeze. Eventually the ice caught up to the exhaust. Our other house, the hvac crew installed the exhaust and intake too close. The exhaust air would enter the intake and freeze. After changing the exit, it didn't happen again.


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