Attic Furnace Enclosure

That would be a medium sized furnace.

Attic furnace enclosure.

Most of the issues that furnace might experience in an attic are due to extremely cold weather in this poorly insulated space. An outdoor unit which houses the fan condenser and compressor and an indoor unit which holds the evaporator and fan. You might not receive the same air movement benefits if the unit is in a garage either. Most often the attic is sealed by installing spray foam insulation at the roofline thus bringing the attic inside the building enclosure and turning it into conditioned space directly or indirectly.

How to build a furnace enclosure. Air ducts lose a fair amount of heat through leakage so shorter lengths are more efficient. An attic furnace is closer to the upper stories of a multi level home. Attic furnaces take advantage of the closer proximity to use shorter lengths of air.

So why put an hvac system up in the attic at all. High efficiency furnaces aren t usually recommended for an attic. A furnace can suffer from a drop in energy efficiency if it s in an unconditioned space such as an attic. The horizontal furnace may also be suspended from the joists using 3 8 all thread rods with pieces of angle iron underneath the furnace to form a hanging rack at both ends and the midpoint.

Attic hvac systems save space. If the attic has a floor area of 800 square feet and an average height of 4 feet for example the volume would be 3200 cubic feet. When you place a furnace in the attic to take advantage of its. Well mainly it s a way to save space.

Most updated central air conditioned homes have a new air conditioner split system meaning the ac is broken up into parts. A furnace can be installed various places in a house in a basement an attic a garage a ground floor utility room or outside the walls. Furnaces in basements. A while back i wrote about the incompatibility of putting an atmospheric combustion furnace in a sealed attic.

The rods need to be of sufficient length to allow for proper clearances from combustible materials. A furnace in the attic is a design that works for all homes. The good news is that some installers understand this problem and seek to address. If you don t have a crawl space or a basement then it can be a challenge to place a furnace on the ground floor of the structure.