Hot air out the side
Hi I was just wondering if the hot exhaust from the furnace was just wasted heat or is it just stale exhaust? It sure seems to be a lot of heat coming out of there!
Forum Discussion
JamesBr wrote:
80% efficiency is not bad for a furnace. I would love to see them get to 85-90% like they have on stick and brick furnaces, but even then you still get heat, vapor and CO emissions that must be sent outside. As for placement, I have found that at least in recent years the builders seem to take placement of the furnace and water heater into a little more consideration then they have in the past. But there are only so many places to mount them without removing from the living space.
The higher the efficiency produced, the less time the furnace will last. A high efficiency furnace requires more space for a second heat exchanger, and that exchanger is prone to corrosive failure. Those two reasons are very important for trailer manufacturers....
-More room required to install higher efficiency
-More weight to add to the dry weight number
-Potential CO leaks much higher when a second heat exchanger is used.
The primary heat exchanger is not exposed to such corrosive vapor as the secondary heat exchanger. In a lower efficiency unit, the corrosive vapor is sent directly to outside and therefore does not pose the high risk of corroding a heat exchanger and leaking CO gas into the trailer.
