0% for 25 months on a qualifying new Rheem® heating or cooling system. Installed by November 15.
A high-efficiency furnace pulls so much heat out of the exhaust that the exhaust turns to water. That is what makes it efficient, and it is also what makes the installation unforgiving: the furnace has to be set to drain, vented in sealed PVC, and tested for leaks before anyone calls it finished. Honest Fix installs every one to a written standard. This page is that standard, published in full, so you can hold any contractor to it. Ours included.
Published from our Installation Handbook · Reviewed by Alex Largent · 100% satisfaction, no exceptions
The furnace is set plumb side to side with a slight forward slope toward the drain port, so condensate leaves the secondary heat exchanger instead of standing in it.
PVC venting runs to the manufacturer's diameter and length, slopes back toward the furnace a quarter inch per foot, and every wall and ceiling it passes through is sealed behind it.
All new gas piping, inside the unit and outside it, is soaped and checked for leaks before the job is called finished.
A 90-percent-plus furnace is a condensing appliance. It pulls enough heat out of the combustion gases that the moisture in them turns back into liquid water, which is why it vents in plastic instead of metal and why it needs a drain at all. Nearly everything that goes wrong with one of these installs traces back to that single fact. On a full-system replacement, sizing comes first: Honest Fix runs a Manual J load calculation before any equipment is chosen, as the installation standard lays out. Here is what Honest Fix requires on every one. You are welcome to check yours against it.
The furnace is set plumb side to side and pitched with a slight forward slope, no more than one eighth of an inch, toward the drain port. That slope is not cosmetic. It is what moves condensate out of the secondary heat exchanger instead of letting it stand there. Where the furnace is installed horizontally, the manufacturer's clearances are met and anti-vibration pads go between the unit and the platform it rests on.
The PVC venting is run to the manufacturer's specification for diameter, clearance, and equivalent length, and it slopes back toward the furnace at a quarter inch per foot, so condensate in the pipe drains to the unit rather than pooling in a low spot. Vent runs are level and plumb wherever the building allows, and the pipe is left clean, with no dirt or grease on the outside. Every wall and ceiling the vent passes through is sealed behind it. Where a vent terminates, how far it has to sit from a window, a door, or the gas meter is set by the full venting standard.
The condensate line slopes to the manufacturer's specification and terminates to a safe drain or a condensate pump, per code. Every furnace paired with an evaporator coil gets an overflow safety switch in the secondary drain port, so a frozen or plugged line shuts the system down instead of overflowing the pan. Where a pump is used, it is mounted to the equipment, the hose is clamped to the barbed fitting, horizontal runs are sleeved in three-quarter-inch PVC and clamped every six feet, and the safety switch is wired in, in series where there is more than one. The pump hose terminates at a laundry sink. Where the house does not have one, it goes to the nearest point that will take it for the life of the equipment, and where that is gets written on your paperwork. The full drain standard, slope, trap and switch, is on the condensate standard.
The gas line runs plumb and level into the furnace and carries a minimum three-inch dirt leg with a 90-degree direction change, with the shutoff installed before the union. Gas flex is kept as short as the installation allows and is free of kinks and sharp bends. Then the part that actually proves it: every new gas joint, inside the unit and outside it, is soaped down and tested for leaks.
Thermostat wiring is secured neatly into the furnace and passes through a plastic grommet wherever it enters the cabinet, so no sharp sheet metal ever rests against low-voltage wire. Line-voltage electrical terminates per the manufacturer's requirements and code, using the proper knockouts with conduit fittings in place, and the run from the disconnect switch to the furnace is made in armored cable.
Coils and transitions are sealed to the equipment with silicone or duct sealant, and every seal there is airtight; where a sealant line will be painted, it is taped off first so the finished edge is clean. The transition into the media filter is long and gradual, so air reaches the whole face of the filter and the filter actually filters. How a furnace and a coil of different sizes get matched to each other is the evaporator coil standard. The install closes with an instruction holder mounted where paper cannot catch fire or take on water, an Honest Fix sticker carrying the install date and the technician's name, set level and somewhere you can find it, and the furnace cleaned inside and out.
Our heating season is long, and a lot of homes here put the furnace in a basement that sees water. A condensing furnace makes water the whole time it is firing, in a spot where a small drainage mistake has months to find you.
Condensate that cannot reach the drain port sits inside the secondary heat exchanger. That is corrosion, and it is expensive on a part nobody wants to replace.
Water in a vent run that slopes away from the furnace collects at the low point until it blocks the pipe. Then the pressure switch starts shutting the furnace down on the coldest nights.
A pump has to push its water somewhere that will still take it in ten years. A hose dropped wherever was closest, or run higher than the pump can lift, gives out in the middle of the coldest week of the year, and the water it was carrying comes back to the furnace.
The dirt leg catches scale and debris that would otherwise reach the gas valve. It costs a few minutes to install and it protects the most expensive control on the appliance.
Soap testing is the only step that turns "it should be tight" into "it is tight." There is no version of this that is safe to skip.
Field conditions. Final installation details may vary based on manufacturer requirements, local code, home conditions, equipment model, safety constraints, and the written scope of work. Where the manufacturer's instructions and this standard disagree, the manufacturer's instructions win, and your technician follows them.
It pulls more heat out of the combustion gases before they leave the house. A standard furnace sends fairly hot exhaust up a metal flue. A high-efficiency furnace, usually rated 90 percent or better, extracts so much of that heat that the exhaust cools enough to condense into water. That is where the efficiency comes from, and it is why the venting and the drain look completely different.
Because the exhaust is cool and wet. Metal flue pipe is built for hot, dry combustion gases, and condensing exhaust would corrode it. PVC handles the moisture, which is why a high-efficiency furnace vents in plastic and a standard-efficiency furnace does not.
On purpose, and only slightly. A small forward pitch toward the drain port, no more than an eighth of an inch, keeps condensate moving out of the secondary heat exchanger instead of standing in it. A furnace set dead level or pitched backward holds water where you least want it.
Because a condensing furnace makes water every hour it runs. That water has to leave the appliance through a condensate line, and in the heating season it runs continuously for long stretches. If the drain path is blocked or pitched wrong, the water backs up into the furnace.
It is a short vertical stub with a 90-degree direction change that catches scale, rust, and debris traveling in the gas line before any of it reaches the gas valve. It is a small piece of pipe that protects an expensive control.
Yes, and new piping is exactly when it gets tested. Honest Fix soaps down every new joint, inside the unit and outside it, and watches for bubbles. New does not mean tight, and this is the step that proves it either way.
Read this page and go look. You are checking for a furnace that sits plumb with a slight forward pitch, PVC venting that slopes back toward the unit, sealed penetrations, a dirt leg on the gas line with a shutoff ahead of the union, and a grommet wherever wiring enters the cabinet. If you would rather have someone look with you, that is what a free exact quote visit is for.
Now you know what a correct high-efficiency furnace installation looks like. If yours does not look like this, or you would rather have someone else check, Honest Fix will come out and give you a straight answer. No upsells, no games.
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