Keep Your Furnace Air Intake and Exhaust Clear from Snow This Winter
Just like your car, a furnace needs to be maintained and checked regularly to keep running at its very best. We recommend getting a qualified HVAC technician to check and clean your furnace each year. In addition, you should check your furnace’s air intake and exhaust regularly during the winter, especially during and after a major snowfall.
In most cases, your high-efficiency gas furnace will have two pipes: an exhaust pipe and an intake pipe. Look at your furnace and find the intake and exhaust pipes. Examine where they exit the building. They are most likely located through a wall near the furnace. Then, go outside and look for the furnace intake and exhaust pipes, based on where they exited the building when you looked at the furnace. They will most likely be white or black pipes, set in a curved shape near the foundation wall (above grade) of your home.
Examine the air intake and exhaust pipes, look for anything that could be blocking the pipes. Then, remove anything you find that may clog the airflow including snow, leaves, shrubs or dirt. It’s also a good idea to shovel the snow away from the air intake and exhaust pipes so that your system will start when needed.
A furnace needs three things to work: fuel, oxygen and a spark for ignition. If the air intake which supplies the oxygen or exhaust vent gets blocked, your furnace will switch off from the lack of oxygen or not being able to discharge the by-products of combustion because of the built-in safety switch mechanism. It is therefore extremely important to keep these pipes free from snow and debris.
Call 905-844-2949 today. A1 Air Conditioning & Heating is a family-owned and operated business. We’ve been proudly serving homeowners in Mississauga, Milton, Burlington, Oakville, Toronto and surrounding areas since 1967.
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