Furnace-Intake-Pipe
Prevent Furnace Pipe Suffocation
From Snow

If the furnace-intake-pipe is blocked your furnace could be starving for the air it needs for air-combustion.

One of the most common symptoms of this is the furnace sounding like it wants to come on but can't after repeated tries.

Before you panic and call the service repairman, check outside first. The flow of air to the furnace from the outside could be blocked by snow.

I've known a few people that this situation has happened to.

It didn't ocurr to them at all to check the pipe outside and with a huge snowfall, something like this can happen overnight.

Look for furnace pipe coming from the furnace to an outside wall. Look for the corresponding location on the outside of your home. It should be sticking out a few inches, or it may be running up the side wall.

If you should find it buried under heavy snow, start clearing it away also making sure there is no ice or other debris covering the entrance to cause this vent-pipe-blockage.

Your furnace should now start automatically if snow was the culprit.

If it doesn't, and heavy snowfall build-up isn't indicated as the problem, you may have to call a repairman afterall.

Now that the snow has been cleared from around the intake pipe you should certainly want to plan to keep this from happening again.

If you live in an area that experiences especially heavy snowfall, it wouldn't take very long for this problem to ocurr more than once.

Make This Step An Important Part of Your Maintenance Schedule

You could build some kind of an enclosure that is sheltered yet very well ventilated so that air can still circulate around.

This will keep the area clear of further falling accumulation of snow but not interfere with the purpose of the pipe.

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