Installing A Furnance In Your Attic

The attic is a sealed space by polyurethane foam and will need a combustion air source.

Installing a furnance in your attic. It is a reflection that your furnace might be old. Installing a furnace can be a difficult home improvement job to undertake. Most updated central air conditioned homes have a new air conditioner split system meaning the ac is broken up into parts. An outdoor unit which houses the fan condenser and compressor and an indoor unit which holds the evaporator and fan.

Ideally you will have room for your furnace in the attic but installation up there can be difficult to manage. The right thing to do is to enclose the attic install insulation along the roof plane and bring the furnace into the conditioned area of your home. So why put an hvac system up in the attic at all. Just installing the furnace in the attic crawl way of a single story home gives protection from most flooding.

Attic furnace installation must comply with you local mechanical code or imc international mechanical code if such was adopted in your area. Space in your home is limited. As long as the attic furnace is professionally installed you can expect a more even heating distribution through your house. A furnace can suffer from a drop in energy efficiency if it s in an unconditioned space such as an attic.

Attic hvac systems save space. Attic furnace access passageway and platform. We re getting proposals to install a new central ac and gas furnace in the attic of our home. The following are attic furnace installation requirements based on 2009 irc and 2009 imc the codes refer to it as appliances in attics.

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. Although it is common for an attic furnace installation to occur in some parts of the united states this design is usually an older one that reflects a lack of knowledge about energy loss. Even when furnaces are put on the main floor floodwaters often overrun the first floor causing severe damage to the unit. Well mainly it s a way to save space.

My plan was to get a high efficiency gas fired furnace in lieu of a heat pump or electric furnace. In flood prone areas instaling a furnace in the attic provides protection. There are rarely instances when we will advise against an attic installation. It s easier for technicians to service a closet furnace although the difference isn t too significant.

To do that you need to buy a new sealed combustion furnace with a ducted source of combustion air.