central-airfurnacehvac
I'm trying to determine if I have a leak around my central AC unit. Basically when the unit is on, I feel cool air blowing outside the "furnace plenum" as I believe its called.
If you look at this picture, I think the air is coming from where the drain hose connects to the unit.
So my questions are:
1) Is this normal for air to be blowing out here
2) If not, is there a way I can seal it better?
A blower will only work if you are content with A/C only and no heat. It's probably illegal to have a house with no heat unless you live in the tropics. AFAIK, most A/C units cannot be converted to heat pumps, so it would likely be a complete system replacement.
Also, with conventional heat pumps in all but the most temperate climates, you need a source of backup heat because the heat pump will not work well in very cold weather. So you still pretty much need a furnace with a heat pump. Only heat pumps using alternate heat sources such as ground or ground water do not need backup heat. Such systems are more costly to install than backup heat, but should pay off in the long run with better efficiency.
All right, I found a manual for a nearly-identical unit and cross-referenced what it says with applicable sections of the 2012 International Fuel Gas Code. Now I feel like I have a much better idea of what's going on.
The huge duct is supplying input air for combustion and dilution through the attic, which is code-approved and is sized correctly. There's a hole in the ceiling of the furnace room that I didn't even notice; it's for the output air. It all corresponds perfectly to this illustration in the code:
The alternative is to get the air partially or wholly from inside the conditioned space as long as the building envelope's tightness isn't 0.4 air changes per hour at 50 pascals of pressure or better, which my house most certainly is not (that's Passivehaus-level!). In this case, I would need 50 cubic feet of interior airspace per 1000 BTUs of all interior gas-fired appliances. The furnace draws 125k (waaaay too high), and the gas range is capable of drawing 54k when the oven and all the burners are firing. So the worst-case scenario is that I need 8950 cubic feet (or 1118 square feet) of interior space when all these appliances are in use. I don't have that; the whole interior is only 1100 square feet, and I can't even count bedrooms and bathrooms that have doors, reducing the amount of square footage I can use for combustion air purposes to 650, or 5200 cubic feet, or a maximum of 104,000 BTUs worth of gas drawn by interior gas appliances. Even downsizing the furnace, I will still likely exceed that, and the deficit will get worse as I air-seal the building envelope.
So I have to keep the existing setup, which is all kosher with the code and perfectly safe. And I'll never get carbon monoxide poisoning. So that's good.
The question becomes how to offset the energy penalty of having two huge penetrations into the conditioned space where outside air can flow. I'm thinking that my best option is going to be separating the furnace closet from the rest of the house as much as I can. There are huge holes and thermal bypasses which I'll be sealing up, and if possible, I'm going to add insulation to the stud bays separating the furnace closet from the rest of the house. In essence, I'll turn it into a mini-unconditioned-space within the conditioned space.
Best Answer
That picture is kind of unclear but it certainly looks to me as if the drain (and maybe the whole a/c) was added as a retrofit to a furnace - the hole is uneven looking to me - sloppy. I have something similar myself, in fact.
In answer:
1) No, it's not normal - it' a waste. Air exchangers that are built to do both jobs do not have these kinds of gaps.
2) Yes - cut a piece of plastic to fit over the hole as much as possible. Seal in place using METAL tape (not duct tape), closing up all the remaining gaps.