Thread: Very large home has 2 furnaces

This was not an inspection. However I was present and took a walk through. It had 2 furnaces: one in the basement and one on the second (not main) floor.

Just asking, in a home like this with 2 furnaces are the anything in particular I should be looking at or for if I was doing an actual inspection?

Thanks,

Originally Posted by michael Rodney

This was not an inspection. However I was present and took a walk through. It had 2 furnaces: one in the basement and one on the second (not main) floor.

Just asking, in a home like this with 2 furnaces are the anything in particular I should be looking at or for if I was doing an actual inspection?

Thanks,

The one in the basement looks like it might be too close to that rear wall, it's kind difficult to tell about the one on the second floor.

Tell client your client verbally and in the report you do not do heat loss calculations, so you don't know if furnaces are adequately sized.

Since there is a furnace on the two levels ensure CO and smoke detectors are in place, which are now the law in Ontario.

We have kept a furnance in our basement and there is no door. I am planning to convert it into a furnance room and put dry walls and a door their which will be closed for most of time. But I am not sure is this go well in terms of ventilation???

Lee,
If you close in the furnace, you will have to make sure you leave adequate room to service the unit (and replace some day). If its a gas or oil furnace, you have to make sure there is adequate combustion air. You can do this a variety of ways, such as a louvered door, or openings in a wall (one high, and one low) of adequate size.
That said, some furnaces bring their combustion air from outside, so you don't have quite the same requirements.

Originally Posted by Jack Feldmann

Lee,
If you close in the furnace, you will have to make sure you leave adequate room to service the unit (and replace some day). If its a gas or oil furnace, you have to make sure there is adequate combustion air. You can do this a variety of ways, such as a louvered door, or openings in a wall (one high, and one low) of adequate size.
That said, some furnaces bring their combustion air from outside, so you don't have quite the same requirements.

Louvered doors are rarely adequate in finished basements. Bringing in outside combustion air is more reliable, but if you try to go with louvered doors, have a HVAC tech determine if that is adequate.

Originally Posted by Lon Henderson

Louvered doors are rarely adequate in finished basements. Bringing in outside combustion air is more reliable, but if you try to go with louvered doors, have a HVAC tech determine if that is adequate.

I guess it depends on how large the basement is.

Originally Posted by Jack Feldmann

I guess it depends on how large the basement is.

Yes and how the finished basement is partitioned. Most finished basements don't leave enough available air to satisfy the needs of a furnace and water heater, if all or most of the room doors are closed.

Originally Posted by Jack Feldmann

I guess it depends on how large the basement is.

And how large the louvered door is. Works fine in my c1976 home but my basement is free flowing to the main and upper levels of the structure.

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Originally Posted by Jack Feldmann

I guess it depends on how large the basement is.

And how large the louvered door is. Works fine in my c1976 home but my basement is free flowing to the main and upper levels of the structure.

Lee,

What other exhausting appliances are in the house?
How old is the house?
Is the furnace high efficiency with combustion air being drawn from outside?

You inspect the second HVAC system the same way you inspect the first one. Same thing only X2. It would be nice if you can tell the buyer which heating system is for which area of the home. Don't automatically assume the upper level furnace is for the upper level. I've seen upper and lower furnaces heating opposite sides of the house.

I inspected a 12,000 square foot house which had 5 furnaces (4 gas and one electric) all in the same room of the basement. Fun time tracking down which areas they were for.