High Efficiency Furnaces & Home Inspections

High efficiency furnaces have gained a lot of popularity over the last 15 years or so. Pretty much any home built within the last 8-10 years has come equipped with one, and with efficiency ratings hovering around 95+%, it makes sense to have one installed considering the costs associated with home heating these days. As good as high efficiency furnaces are, they do have some common problems, here are a few common issues observed during a home inspection.

Condensate drain loose, plugged up or leaking. This is actually a very common issue with modern high efficiency furnaces. It’s not uncommon for a home inspector to remove the furnace cover and see a puddle of water inside the furnace or evidence of previous leakage inside the unit, usually a nice rusty patch where the water previously was. In some cases poor or improper drainage of the condensate can just be a simple problem that is easily fixed, in some cases it’s a simple repair that almost any homeowner can deal with. In other more severe cases, the condensate can accumulate inside the furnace, the inducer fan and also leak onto the circuit board, which can lead to costly repairs.

If your home inspector mentions anything about condensate drainage problems in the inspection report, be sure to pop off the furnace cover regularly and check for possible leakage problems. You can also check the drain line and if equipped, the condensate pump to ensure they are working correctly.

Another common issue observed on high efficiency furnaces during home inspections is poor venting. In some cases the venting has too many elbows or isn’t installed with the correct slope back towards the furnace. In some areas, older black ABS vent piping must also be upgraded to newer white PEX piping due to a high risk of glued joints falling apart from heat degradation.

Lastly, another common issue observed during home inspections is the lack of proper fresh air or combustion air for the furnace. Building codes vary however in many places the installation of a fresh air intake is not required on new home builds. The problem with this is the efficiency of the furnace has now been reduced and that fact that some homeowners will finish their own basements and not realize that boxing in the furnace room (which most people do to maximize useful basement space) may now starve the furnace of the combustion air required for the furnace to operate properly.

Hopefully this will help bring awareness to some of the common issues observed with high efficiency furnaces during home inspections.

Above Grade Home Inspections Inc. performs home inspections, WETT inspections, thermal imaging inspections and mould inspections in Barrie and across Simcoe County.