NEW CONSTRUCTION ALERT!
During a remodel or new construction of a home, homeowners should be aware that running a furnace during construction will shorten the life of the furnace.
During new home construction and occasionally remodeling, we are bombarded by contractors who are rushing to install or re-install the furnace so that they can dry out the sheet rock in the home. We would like all future and existing homeowners to beware that your furnace may have put in overtime doing this work. This is extremely hard on equipment, folks. Though there are no studies to accurately predict the damage, heating contractors are in agreement that running a furnace during construction will shorten the life of the furnace.
The first problem with this is the sheet rock dust that gets blown through your return air duct. If the filter gets plugged with sheet rock dust, the furnace will struggle for air flow and the filter will be sucked out of its frame to allow air to low by. This will send sheet rock dust through all of your supply ductwork as well. It will coat your ducts and really can’t be removed unless you hire a specialty contractor to clean your ducts. This can be a cost between $500 and $1,000 on average.
Another problem is construction debris. On a job site, the grilles are not in the air vents until the final phase. We provide vent covers to block our vent holes from falling debris that is inevitable on a job site until the grilles are installed. When the contractor runs the furnace to dry out the sheet rock and heat the home during construction, he must first remove these covers to let the air blow, thus allowing debris to collect in the ductwork that could sit there for years.
In these pictures you can see the dust caked on the filter material and if you look closely you can see where we scraped through it. This filter had been sucked through its frame and was bent and mangled as well. The contractor had called us out because our equipment wasn’t working properly on the job. Any guesses as to why?
The final problem and the one most of you should be concerned about is your warranty. That’s right! It could be void and you wouldn’t even know it. Some manufacturers will still warranty the equipment if it was run during construction. But the main brand we carry, Amana, will void the warranty on equipment if there are any signs that it was run during construction. And believe me, there will be signs. Any trained heating contractor can look inside your furnace and tell you whether or not it was used by your contractor. There just is no hiding sheetrock dust!
So if you are building a custom home, we suggest making it clear to your contractor that you want heaters brought in to dry out the house. It’s your home and you hired him! Protect your heating equipment and your ductwork!
