While this will affect single family homeowners, this law will have a major effect on mid rise and high rise condominium and apartments owners that have individual furnaces as their source of heating. The problem lies with the new minimum 90% efficient furnaces venting. In a mid rise or highrise building that has multiple units with furnaces, the new 90% furnaces will have pvc piping for venting. Many of these high rise condos and apartments have open ceilings with spiral ducting and there will be no place to run the PVC piping that needs to be done with 90% efficient furnaces and have it look good.
The solution? Most furnaces will last you 12-15 years, so now is the time to purchase a 80% efficient furnace before you can’t! If you have a mid-rise or a high rise apartment or condo, you won’t have to worry about how your are going to run the PVC piping and you can save yourself a few dollars in the process too! By the time you would need a another new furnace, the Department of Energy and HVAC Contractor will have figured out this piping issue. An 80% efficient furnace will cost you less, and you still will have the benefits of a more efficient furnace than the old one you have now.
