# Furnace issues, and handy people here?



## Wishful_Aspirations (Apr 3, 2010)

Hi Everyone,

Hoping there's somewhere here who can advise me on what the issue might be with my furnace, and guide me to what part i need to replace:

It's been doing this for a few months now.
Heat and AC work perfectly, however something is leaking somewhere, not sure what... and is dripping onto one of the platforms just under the blower motor, and causing it to rust up.

I'm hoping it's just a gasket or a seal which needs to be changed, and I dont need to shell out a another couple of hundred to call the repair tech...

Below are some pics taken from my phone, it's a Lennox furnace.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us


Let me know if any further pics from diff angles etc would help troubleshoot.

thx.


----------



## OhGreatGuru (May 24, 2009)

1. Some repairs shouldn't be attempted by amateurs.
2. The last photo looks like your water heater, unless you included it only to show the runoff to the floor drain.
3. I can't tell from these photos what kind of furnace you have in the first place. If it is a high-efficiency condensing furnace it will have a condensate drain that may be plugged or leaking. (I think I was able to make out a reference to "condensate trap" on one of the labels in the photos. So that may be your problem.) Condensate from condensing furnaces is quite corrosive, and should be attended to.
4. High efficiency furnaces are sealed-combustion units with outside air piped to the furnace. This air supply piping may be cold enough for condensation to form on it, especially if your indoor humidity is too high. But I would not expect it to be a very large amount.
5. If it is a low-efficiency or mid-efficiency furnace there's no reason to have any condensation, unless it is from an add-on such as airconditioning or a humidifier, or de-humidifier. If it's from A/C, that shouldn't be running when the furnace is heating, so you definitely need a furnace technician. If it's from an add-on humidifier, your best bet is to shut off the water supply to it and have it removed. They aren't really needed in our climate if your house is decently sealed. If it is a de-humidifier, that would be very unusal in our climate. But if for some strange reason you have one, you might have a blocked or leaking drain pipe.
6. Other possibility: excess condensation collecting in the chimney.


----------



## Wishful_Aspirations (Apr 3, 2010)

OhGreatGuru said:


> 1. Some repairs shouldn't be attempted by amateurs.


Agreed.
Just trying to find out whether it's something common, and if perhaps someone else may have experienced the exact same thing.
If it's something like a $5.00 Home-Depot part, then it doesnt hurt to give it a try.
Otherwise, definitely it's another service call.



OhGreatGuru said:


> 2. The last photo looks like your water heater, unless you included it only to show the runoff to the floor drain.


It's from the furnace unit. Yeah just wanted to show the rust colored stains on the ground.



OhGreatGuru said:


> 3. I can't tell from these photos what kind of furnace you have in the first place. If it is a high-efficiency condensing furnace it will have a condensate drain that may be plugged or leaking. (I think I was able to make out a reference to "condensate trap" on one of the labels in the photos. So that may be your problem.) Condensate from condensing furnaces is quite corrosive, and should be attended to.


It's a high efficiency furnace.
As advised by the last 2 techs that serviced it.




OhGreatGuru said:


> 4. High efficiency furnaces are sealed-combustion units with outside air piped to the furnace. This air supply piping may be cold enough for condensation to form on it, especially if your indoor humidity is too high. But I would not expect it to be a very large amount.
> 5. If it is a low-efficiency or mid-efficiency furnace there's no reason to have any condensation, unless it is from an add-on such as airconditioning or a humidifier, or de-humidifier. If it's from A/C, that shouldn't be running when the furnace is heating, so you definitely need a furnace technician. If it's from an add-on humidifier, your best bet is to shut off the water supply to it and have it removed. They aren't really needed in our climate if your house is decently sealed. If it is a de-humidifier, that would be very unusal in our climate. But if for some strange reason you have one, you might have a blocked or leaking drain pipe.
> 6. Other possibility: excess condensation collecting in the chimney



Ok, thanks for all of your input above.
I'm suspecting that it might be the condensate drain that may be plugged or leaking - by the process of elimination from above.
I'll check into it further to see what i can find out.


----------



## Guest (Dec 28, 2010)

That's interesting ... my older condensing furnace drained off into the floor ... through the concrete into the gravel below; the new one has a pump into which the water drains, cause the float swith to activate the pump, and the water is pumped off into the overhead abs. When the new furnace was installed, I asked why no floor drain ... no longer meets standards. And looking at the amount of water that condensates out of the gas these days ... geez this gas must be mostly water ... the pump makes a lot of sense. I suppose you could just pull the tube out of the concrete if that's how it drains, and let it drain off into the floor drain.


----------



## Dana (Nov 17, 2009)

My husband is handy. He tells me he gets lots of good info at www.diychatroom.com

+1 with the other posters who say HVAC is not for the average DIYer.


----------



## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

My husband worked over 20 years in this field,nobody without a license should mess around with the furnace other than change a filter.You also could void your house insurance if there is gas leak ,fire etc that results in a claim.
If you paid for a service call recently for same problem .call the company and ask them to come out again.How old is the furnace?


----------



## Wishful_Aspirations (Apr 3, 2010)

marina628 said:


> My husband worked over 20 years in this field,nobody without a license should mess around with the furnace other than change a filter.You also could void your house insurance if there is gas leak ,fire etc that results in a claim.
> If you paid for a service call recently for same problem .call the company and ask them to come out again.How old is the furnace?


Going on 10 years, the house was constructed in 2001.

I had the blower motor replaced 1 year ago, and the ignitor coils about 6 months ago.

Hopefully this next one will be the last issue for a while.


----------



## OhGreatGuru (May 24, 2009)

Given your replies to my first post, it is most likely leaking condensate from your high-efficiency furnace.

You should not attempt to replace or repair parts inside the furnace yourself. It's most unsafe. And you probably can't buy such parts retail anyway.

If the problem is with the drain line after it exits the furnace you may be able to fix that.


----------



## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

My husband looked at photos and said it can be a few things but definitely all would require a Gas Tech to fix.Does this always happen in winter months?which city are you located?Generally $100+HST is standard hourly rate even if it takes 5 minutes.Company has to pay cost of crew , truck expenses , insurance etc and generally a HVAC/Gas tech earns $36+ per hour .


----------



## MoneyGal (Apr 24, 2009)

This is why I buy the Heating Protection Plan (covers cost of service calls) on my furnace. Or, I did - just replaced the furnace in November and now service calls are provided under warranty.


----------

