DIY guideFurnace
Clear the outside vent and intake pipes
Keep the pipes your furnace, water heater or boiler breathes through clear of snow, leaves and nests, so it keeps running and its exhaust goes outside.
- 5 to 15 min
- 7 steps
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Find where the furnace's or water heater's plastic pipes come out of the outside wall: often two white pipes, or one round cap.
If a CO alarm sounds, get everyone outside and call 911 from there.Clear snow and ice from both openings with a gloved hand or a soft brush. Never a shovel: it can crack the pipe.
Pull out leaves or a nest at the opening. Don't push anything further into the pipe.
Keep a clear space round them: no snowbank, woodpile, bin or bush close by.
If the furnace had stopped, set the thermostat to Off, wait a minute, then set it back to Heat.
Look again after every snowfall or windstorm, and before you go away.
Ice or a nest inside the pipe, a cracked pipe, or pipes that come out through the roof: leave them and ask Handyman for a heating pro.
What you need
- Gloves
- A soft brush or broom
- A flashlight
Call a pro if
- Ice or a nest is inside the pipe
- A pipe or its cap is cracked or loose
- The pipes come out through the roof
- A CO alarm has sounded: get everyone outside first
Handyman says: Pipe blocked? I'll find a heating pro.
Free for every home. Handyman asks a few questions, then books a pro it trusts.
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