This is another one of those posts about why even New Homes need to be inspected (I really don’t know where anyone got the idea that they don’t).
Take a look at the picture below. Note how convoluted the run of the vent pipes are from the water heater and the furnace. There is nothing about the installation of vent pipes from gas appliances that requires them to look like spaghetti, in fact, the shortest runs with the least number of bends is desirable.
It is difficult to see in this picture, but it is not possible to remove the furnace filter because it runs into the vent pipe.
In the inspection report I called to have the venting repaired so that the water heater would vent better and that changing the furnace filter would be possible. In this next picture we can see the “repair,” by the licensed heating contractor, did improve the venting of the water heater by eliminating the long bending run to the point of attachment.
But,—-once again it was not possible to remove the filter without pushing the vent pipe out of the way.
This “solution” just made me want to vent!
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Charles Buell, Real Estate Inspections in Seattle
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