I have an old oil furnace that is vented to a chimney flue, with a damper.
I live in Maryland in a county where burning yard waste is legal. This can cause me to have an asthma attack when my furnace or air conditioning is on, and now my young son has also started to develop asthma.
I am fine if the furnace or AC are off or if my neighbor is not burning. But as soon as she starts, I have an asthma attack.
I have a little air monitoring device that shows air pollutants going up in my basement room where the furnace is installed as soon as the burning starts – the pollution outside is much higher but I also get some of that pollution inside my basement at the same time it goes up outside when it is full of smoke.
It can only come from the furnace – I only use the dryer on the morning when she is at work and not burning crap.
Currently I am debating between installing an electric furnace which does not require venting outside or moving (but prices have gone through the roof and my options are limited).
Would an electric furnace still draw air from outside (knowing most of my windows are sealed with tape now)?
Best Answer
You should investigate and upgrade the filtration of your air circulation rather than replacing your fuel burning furnace with an electric one. You need air exchange with the outside to get the oxygen you need to live.
Though one upgrade I would investigate in is a dedicated intake for your furnace, that way it gets fresh outside air (which after burning goes straight out the chimney) instead of using the basement's ambient air and pulling it into negative pressure which leads it to suck in air from all around the house.
In a properly functioning furnace the combustion air and the circulating air are kept separated. CO poisoning is way too dangerous to allow for any intentional mixing.
You can add a intake fan in your basement fed from the clean air at the other side of your neighbour to avoid sucking in their soot. You can also add additional filtration to this intake (make sure to regularly replace the filters). If this intake is enough for the basement to be at positive pressure it will prevent the basement from sucking in your neighbour's polluted air.
You could also add a lockout to the furnace to prevent it running while the pollution is too high in your basement.