Installing High Efficiency Furnace In Attic

After the installation was done i found out that these high efficiency furnaces are not recommended in the attic because the condensate trap can freeze.

Installing high efficiency furnace in attic.

High efficiency furnaces may be installed in basements ground floor utility rooms garages or attics in open spaces or confined closets. For example a furnace found in most homes is 80 efficient. Yes you can put a high efficiency furnace in an attic hose if allowed by your local code. Even when furnaces are put on the main floor floodwaters often overrun the first floor causing severe damage to the unit.

High efficiency furnaces aren t usually recommended for an attic. The variations in energy efficiency in all of the parts of a home insulation windows air conditioners etc can have a huge effect on energy usage. The trick to the installation of a gas furnace in an attic space is routing the condensate drain from the attic down through the core of the house to the basement. Hello everyone i recently had a new hvac system installed in my attic.

Always read the furnace manual and check local building. If you place the furnace in the attic then you must install the infrastructure in the building to force the warm air to the bottom floor. This drain removes the excess water that a heating system will generate. But that s simply not an issue that we need to worry about in southern california where our winters are mild.

The drain must be installed through the core of the house as water will be flowing during the colder months. I use self regulating heat tape if there is any chance of the condensate line freezing. In our area in southern california it is pretty standard to install the furnace in the attic. Usually this is done after removing the 1950 s original heaters in the lower walls floors.

In flood prone areas instaling a furnace in the attic provides protection. Most of the issues that furnace might experience in an attic are due to extremely cold weather in this poorly insulated space. That means you have higher energy costs and less efficiency since you re blowing the air down instead of allowing it to rise naturally. I had a new high efficiency furnace installed in my unheated attic and had the same problem of the furnace not running because the condensate trap had ice in it.

Just installing the furnace in the attic crawl way of a single story home gives protection from most flooding. It is a carrier heat pump system with a propane furnace backup. Have you considered a mini split system. The furnace is a 58mvb120 120 high efficiency unit.

I didn t get much help from the gc or the hvac contractor he hired so i installed a clamp lamp with a 60 watt bulb to shine on the trap.