We have a house that was built in the early 2000's. It seems to be fairly tightly built for the time - spray foamed, sheathed with foam insulation, etc.
It's always bothered me that the furnace is sucking in combustion air from the inside of the house, vs. an outside air intake like you see in newer houses. We do have a duct to the outside air in the return on the HVAC unit, which I'm assuming helps to provide any make-up air from the combustion. But the furnace is still burning conditioned air, since our basement is finished.
I've not found much online that would indicate whether it's worthwhile to add an air intake for the furnace. It's something I could easily do if it would make sense financially. Well, I'd swallow hard drilling a hole in the side of my house for the pipe. But the rest is simple cutting and gluing of pipe. I can handle that.
Any thoughts? Or is it one of those things that isn't going to make much of a difference either way?
It's always bothered me that the furnace is sucking in combustion air from the inside of the house, vs. an outside air intake like you see in newer houses. We do have a duct to the outside air in the return on the HVAC unit, which I'm assuming helps to provide any make-up air from the combustion. But the furnace is still burning conditioned air, since our basement is finished.
I've not found much online that would indicate whether it's worthwhile to add an air intake for the furnace. It's something I could easily do if it would make sense financially. Well, I'd swallow hard drilling a hole in the side of my house for the pipe. But the rest is simple cutting and gluing of pipe. I can handle that.
Any thoughts? Or is it one of those things that isn't going to make much of a difference either way?