[Bruett]

Our neighbor's high efficiency furnace exhaust blows over to our patio. Is this exhaust dangerous to our health if we are standing out on our patio? We are in a townhome and the untishave a common wall. The exhaust vent is about 4 or5 feet on the other side of the chimney.

 

[gregzoll]

You do not happen to be in Canada? And yes, there are gasses like Carbon Monoxide that comes out of that vent.

 

[yuri]

A properly burning furnace gives off CO2 not CO and a lot of water vapor so you are safe. The code says the exhaust can be no closer than 3 ft to a window which opens on your house so you are far enough away anyways. I would not breathe it in for giggles but it is no different than running a forklift in a warehouse as long as you have lots of air to dilute it.

 

[hvac benny]

A properly burning furnace gives off CO2 not CO and a lot of water vapor so you are safe. The code says the exhaust can be no closer than 3 ft to a window which opens on your house so you are far enough away anyways. I would not breathe it in for giggles but it is no different than running a forklift in a warehouse as long as you have lots of air to dilute it.

Unless you're getting stoichiometric combustion, you're going to get some CO in the flue gas. That furnace can legally have up to 200ppm in the undiluted exhaust. I wouldn't be too happy if my neighbour's furnace exhaust was dumping onto my deck, not only because of the fumes, but also because of the condensation. And considering that many installers just hook up the ducts, gas and electric and fire up a newly installed furnace without a proper commissioning, who knows what sort of levels are coming out of it.

 

[SPS-1]

How far is the vent from where you normally stand on your patio, and how much time do you spend on the patio when its cold enough that you need to be running the furnace?

 

[yuri]

A LOT of the time with townhomes there is only 1 location to vent those furnaces due to the way the joists run etc so the neighbor may have no choice but to vent it there. If it meets code there is nothing you can do about it and it is highly unlikely he will drill new holes in his wall and pay to revent it anyway. C'est la Vie.