This can’t possibly be normal, idk why it’s happening so I just shut It off for now.

I know you can't really see much in the pics attached, But I replaced the thermocouple in my furnace. Now it seems to be burning like crazy. I don't remember the flames this high, and you can hear the roar all through the house.

Edit:

Thanks for the comments everyone, you people here are fast! I have shut it off. We have mini-splits we use for a/c, never used them for heat before but that will do for us until a pro can look at it. We also have friends and in-laws we can crash with if we get a big freeze.

Thanks again!

Had a fence installed is this minimum clearance?

I have a pretty good idea that it’s not but wanted to get some expert opinions before calling code enforcement.

I’m a renter and wasn’t sure what to tag my post with. We recently had an awful bit of flooding and found that water has been entering the property. Our exterior wall is stucco that goes below grade with water pooling every time it rains. There’s no weep screed and behind it is just cinder blocks.

I’m comfortable with light handy work but HVAC is way outside of my comfort zone. The stand that the water heater and HVAC system are on is just an old door and obviously sagging from just the weight of the water heater and HVAC. There’s water damage from the AC leaking condensation that has caused the door to rot and mold. The wall behind and to the right of the furnace both have mold and the intake area is just exposed concrete that I sealed with Primer T since it’s the only thing I could find that would go over old carpet glue. The piece of wood with a vent is normally blocking the open hole underneath the stand. I don’t think it’s supposed to have air intake in here. There is another air intake on the wall to the left bedroom.

My wife has hypersensitivity pneumonitis and is on oxygen and we haven’t been using the HVAC since the flooding. We have three months left on our lease and we’re trying to find a new place to go but can’t go anywhere now. It’s not pictured, but our washer and dryer are also in this utility closet. The landlord is claiming it’s too big of a fix and is pressuring us to break the lease. He claims that we’re “going to just keep finding problems.” I know that what he’s doing in regard to the lease is illegal and in violation of state and federal law. Just wanted to get some input if I should call codes.

The really dark photo is from the night of flooding that had the outside unit submerged under three inches of water.

About 4 years ago I got a new Air Conditioner - both and outside units, and new furnace. The inside part part of the HVAC is installed in a small hallway closet. I was putting new (sliding) doors on the closet and noticed some things looked “off” wirh the configuration of the unit. Everything works fine. I just wanted to double check what people who know better about this type of thing. Is it just my imagination or do things look a little “off” - also - the furnace runs on gas. Is it safe to have the gas pipe the way it is in this pic??! Ans what are the white tubes that look like they aren’t connected to anything… and - a couple other things that look odd.
Any advice is greatly appreciated !!

Went for interview and crushed it. The service manager and I were about same age and reminisced on common things we did growing up. We sat in his office talking about job but also shared interests for well over an hour. Before leaving he said "Im gonna send you for a drug test, once that comes back I will reach out" well I went and did the drug test, called the testing facility to ensure the results were sent to employer, they informed me my results were all clear and they were sent to employer two weeks ago. Yet ive heard nothing back and cant get in touch with service manager. What sucks too is Ive turned down job offers in these two weeks cause i always thought that if they send you off for drug screen they intend to hire you. After all the drug screen costs the company money. What do you all think?

The furnace had been overheating and had been trying all sorts of things to diagnose it until some oil (or so I assume) leaked from the inducer. He disassembled it and could not see any visible cracks. He suggested that the 3 ton coil might have cause inadequate airflow for the 80k btu furnace causing it to overheat to the point of self-destruction. I believe he checked static pressure between the coil housing as well 0.3 on return, 0.8 between the coil housing, 0.3 on feeder.

He suggested that I should speak with the original ac installers regarding the mismatched coil, wait for the new part covered under warranty (doesn’t know if it would ultimately solve the issue), or would be okay installing a new 60k btu furnace. Would only be paying for the furnace and no installation fees.

Any advice?

Must be from the AZ dust storms. Replaced this 8x8x1 fresh air filter and 6 months later, it looks like this...

Hi folks,

I have an old furnace and I am reluctant to change it.

Recently we had a shutdown at the meter. The service is restored now and the gas water heater just beside my furnace works fine. The share the same gas pipe. So I am sure I should have gas at the furnace.

However, when I push the safety switch in Pilot, there is no gas coming out for my lighter to ignite it.

Here is a picture of the gas valve.

I have tried a bunch of things with no luck.

I have set the valve to off for more than 5 minutes.

In pilot mode, I have kept the safety red button for a couple of minutes.

Again In pilot, I have pushed the safety button a handful of times

It was working fine before the shutdown.

hi! i live in an apartment complex for reference. i have an electric ac/heat unit (not sure on proper name). however, when i run it set to ac, my intake area (air filter indoors) gets completely frozen no matter what i have it set to. when the ac is not running, i hear a constant buzzing/hissing noise, and everything remains frozen. when i turn my ac unit off, it seems like it's turning on my emergency heating panels inside the intake area, bc everything gets very hot, and when the fan is running it blows out hot air. if it's left like this for 1-2 hours, the metal part inside where the air filter is gets too hot to touch. when i turn the heater on, it blows out warmish air, and the temp inside doesn't change month, and i constantly hear that buzzing/hissing noise coming from the intake area.

i've resulted to flipping the breaker for my ac unit bc i'm not sure what to do and emergency maintenance is not returning my calls, which usually means they don't consider this an emergency, however i don't know whether or not to leave the breaker flipped or what.

​

Had furnace tune up last week and tech identified that the furnace is backdrafting through the water heater vent (also gas). Did not see any obstructions and advised to keep the furnace off until he can return to check the roof vent. There is also melting on the water heater. The furnace is behind solid bifold doors on the second story of our house near the bedrooms. There is an attic above this. We have a carbon monoxide alarm and it has never gone off.

He asked if we've had our roof replaced and yes we did back in July of 2024. I recall another tech from the same company did furnace tune up January 2025 and he found the "water heater flu off the diffuser and moved it back in place" per his report. He was visibly startled by that. He also asked if we had had a roof done recently but nothing else. During that visit the furnace was making noises. The furnace was making a loud noise in November of 2025 and had inducer assembly repair done.

When I spoke with the HVAC owner he said that it is okay to turn on the furnace for a short while because there's enough air in my house. However that sets off major alarm bells for me especially with the furnace being so close to the bedrooms?? I said I am not comfortable with that until the tech is back to inspect the roof. He suspects the rain cap was smashed during roofing. However the roofer says they don't replace that vent but rather just roof around it.

SO many questions. I appreciate your Insight.

1) if this venting issue has existed since the new roof in July 2024, why was this not caught by our previous furnace inspections all done by the same company? Venting seems like a standard inspection item

2) I sent pictures of the water heater to the plumber and he said the melting is cosmetic. The HVAC Tech said that the water heater by itself is not back venting and safe to use. Would you get a plumber on site to inspect this? The HVAC company does not do plumbing but recommended someone I could contact

3) what would you do in this situation? I just want to be able to use the furnace safely

We have a 2018 Lennox HE system. Went to use it today for the first time this season and discovered it's not kicking on. The automatic fan works and the a/c worked as recently as last week. Bought a new thermostat but still no luck. We checked the breaker and furnace cover. Filter was changed and reset on 10/01. Anything else we might be missing? Thanks!

This is a very confusing setup, so please bare with me...

HVAC is located in the center of the basement and has 3 plenums that come off of it. Two of the three feed the first floor and one immediately makes a 90 degree turn, to which I assume, vertical and heads to the attic.

Once in the attic, there is one main plenum that feeds 6 rounds that are distributed to the rooms. The house was built in 1999, but all of the rounds are the same size in the attic. A side note is I have flow issues and cooling issues in the upstairs because of lack of pressure.

Today, I wanted to run ethernet up the HVAC into the attic. I drilled a small 1in hole into the 90 degree that comes up from the floor into the attic to feed the rounds.

However, to my surprise, when I look directly down the main feed duct, it appears to be completely capped? There are no dumpers in the basement. This picture was taken with the fan turned on.

I've included a drawing of my issue too. In my crud drawing, the "eye" is the preservative of this picture I took with my phone. You are looking DOWN the central feed duct. The orange box is where I think this is "capped". I can also share a video of the duct work.

It's not like I don't get flow though, I do, just not strong and cooling issues in the summer.

Any thoughts or comments to help me figure out what this is, I'd appreciate it.

I'm in a rental townhouse and the landlord is constantly trying to do the bare minimum, so I'm looking to make sure this is safe for me and my family.

Attached are photos of what I can see from the furnace. There appears to have been a leak from the AC that went on awhile and this is the result. We ran the AC this summer and I noticed a little moisture coming from the vinyl pipe going to a drain, but nothing to account for all this rust, so I assume it was from the last tenant.

If it's unsafe, could you please be specific and help me build a case? I'm worried they'll come out and be "it works" and move on as they have before with other issues. So I need something conclusive and actionable to get changes done.

Furnace is a Ruud from 2021. Model R802TA050314MSA

I just moved into a house that has a 23 year old Trane XL80 furnace. It’s in excellent condition and the duct work is fine. I want to add a condenser/coil/drain to add AC and wondering if I should just replace everything while I am at it given the age. The best price to just add the condenser and coil was $9,800 and the best price to replace everything was $13,500. The condenser for the bid that assumes keeping the furnace is a AC Pro X-Series Condenser Air Conditioning 4-5 Ton 16.5 SEER2 10 EER2 Inverter R32. The full replacement is moving from gas to all electric and is the carrier 4 ton #37mura with air handler #45MUAA. I know for both of these heat pump/condensers I won’t get the efficiency with the existing furnace as it will just act as a single stage set up. That said, I live in SoCal and going from gas to all electric will likely be more expensive even with the efficiency gain. One last thing is the venting on the furnace is pretty tight and doesn’t meet the one inch clearance for the b vents so all techs that came suggested doing a new vent and I don’t love the idea of cutting into the roof (so + 1 for going to air handler). All that said it may be wasteful to get rid of a perfectly fine furnace even if it’s old. Long story short I’m conflicted and curious to get opinions from others.

Just recently bought the house and the inspector told me to keep my eye on it but I’ve also heard this can lead to co2 in the house

PLS HELP! First-time homeowner here, hoping someone with HVAC experience can help me figure out what’s going on.

I recently purchased a townhouse and have been struggling with a lingering cigarette smell that I cannot seem to get rid of. When I initially moved in, the house had a stale cigarette/pet odor, so I did some ozone treatments, which helped tremendously. However, there’s still a distinct cigarette smell throughout the house.

Unfortunately, I live between two neighbors who smoke. One smokes outdoors, while the other smokes inside his townhouse along our shared wall.

Here’s what I’ve noticed:
The cigarette smell is especially strong when I first walk through my front door.

I’ve noticed a pretty strong cigarette smell coming from the area around my HVAC closet, which is located on the main floor.

There’s also an area of older, unpainted wall underneath my bathroom vanity along the shared wall where I can distinctly smell cigarettes. Could be from the unpainted wall from previous owners, or maybe coming through the plumbing fixtures since it’s a shared wall…

The smell is present even when my AC and heat aren’t running.

I’m wondering if there could be gaps around my HVAC system, ductwork, return vents, or other openings that are allowing smoke from my neighbor’s townhouse to enter mine.

A few questions for the HVAC professionals here:
Is it possible for cigarette smoke from a neighboring townhouse to enter through my HVAC closet or ductwork, even though we have separate HVAC systems?

Could negative air pressure or gaps around the HVAC closet be contributing to the smell, even when the system isn’t running?

Would an HVAC professional be able to identify where the smoke is entering, or would I need someone who specializes in air leakage or building diagnostics?

Is there anything else you’d recommend checking before I spend money priming and repainting the house with KILZ?

I’m attaching pictures of my HVAC closet for reference.

As a first-time homeowner, this has honestly been pretty discouraging. I’m just trying to figure out the best way to address the issue without spending a bunch of money on things that won’t actually fix it.
I’d really appreciate any advice or recommendations!

TL;DR: Recently bought a townhouse between two neighbors who smoke, including one who smokes indoors along our shared wall. Cigarette smell persists despite ozone treatments and seems especially noticeable around my HVAC closet, even when the system is off. Could smoke be entering through gaps around the HVAC system or other air leaks? What should I have inspected?

I moved into a 520 sq foot apartment and I did not realize it would have this fan that cannot turn off. It needs to run continuously because of how the building is set up and exhaust something (lol I really don't understand the mechanics). I'm going to attach a picture and a video of the sound. To record the video I went right up next to it bc I wanted to isolate the specific sound that is bothering me. It kind of sounds like a drying machine (the low rumble pulsating sound).

Anyway, because my apartment is so small I constantly hear it. I am very sensitive to sound so I guess I want to know if this is normal and I'm being overly sensitive or if it is not normal. Unfortunately, I am unable to sleep or study or anything really. My noise cancelling headphones don't even work and I'm desperate :(

Maintenance said that that's unfortunately normal and all units sound like that :( I'll post a pic in the comments. Any advice is appreciated !!!

I'm a DIY and love learning how install, build or fix studd. I hate playing a ton of money for contractors unless I absolutely don't have the confidence that I can accomplish something. After months of research, I decided I'm comfortable that I can install a staple up underfloor radiant system at my cabin.

I ordered a prefabricated system and installed it with a Rinnai tankless combi boiler and sweated all the pipes myself. The tankless runs on propane. I installed the boiler and have been using it for domestic hot water for months with no problem but now that the heating system is done but currently only 3 out of 8 zones stapled, I up wanted to give it a test run.

No leaks and everything holds pressure. The problem I'm having is that the hot water is not circulating and the pipes are hot for the first two feet of both central heating hot water out and cold water return and the gas stops firing up. Any ideas?

Sorry the bad picture. My crawlspace has a low ceiling and I don't have much space in front of the boiler.

Electric baseboard heat. I'm assuming those are live wires carrying current and i need to shut off the breaker before attempting this. What's a good replacement thermostat? I dont want a smart one.

Humidity down to 20 in winter.

first floor unit in crawlspace
second and third floor units in third floor crawlspace

I have 2 pans in attic which is not heated as more information.

What are my options?

thanks in advance!

My furnace is flashing the code for a pressure switch error (3 blinks). Checked all the hoses for blockages and cleared out the condensate trap. Pressure switch only works when I disconnect the top hose that goes to the gas valve and combustion chamber. Obviously don’t want to run it with this hose disconnected. I am thinking it may be the switch itself or the gas valve, any advice is appreciated please