Healthy Indoor Air

I have a alaska model 140 furnace,and installed a Lennox HC16 air filter in the cold air return but still have dust throughout the house.It seems the dust from the furnace exits the hot air duct directly in the system,wouldnt it be logical to put a air filter in the warm air duct to catch the dust before it gets into the house,most of it doesnt go back into the cold air return.

The cold air return is the 'normal' location for an air filter in a forced air system...

If you are getting a lot of dust.. is it black,, like coal dust? or is it white/grey, like fly ash??

If the base of the furnace jacket has spilled fly-ash and coal dust, then since this is after the filter in the return trunk... that dust would get pushed into the house...

Do you shut down the fan/furnace when you empty or swap ash pans?? Any disturbance of the dust will cause it to get circulated..

Most furnace filters are way too coarse of a filter to trap coal dust or fly-ash anyway...they are best at dog and cat hair, and larger, lighter dust pieces.

You may have to add a vacuuming to your daily or weekly opperations on the furnace... Maybe a quick pass with the vacuum around the ashpan and jacket base???

Greg L

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Greg,thanks for the interest, to answer you, the dust is light tan, and no I don't vacum around the base of the jacket,if that is the area under the pan,my neighbor has the same furnance and he said he does so I will start to do so.I do shut the system down when I change out the ash pan.So.. you tthink an exit filter would not be helpful?.Also we both had our power venter motors break, twice,and the motor that powers the auger,Its when they break that our dealer tells us that these motors need maitenance,besides whats in the power venter book we had no idea what maitenance is required.any ideas on a guide to complete maitenance for the whole system?Thanks for ypur input! Best, James

Well, since I've never owned or opperated a power venter, hopefully someone who has experience will reply.. I know Matthaus has two running full time..

If you can inexpensively install an exit filter, it may be worth the experiment. However it probably will reduce your air-flow rate through the ducts.. this may or may not be a problem with your system.

I think you need to inspect your flue pipe and power venter about every month during the the burning season, and see how fast the flyash accumulates.. this will vary with the amount of coal burnt.. Once you can establish how fast the ash accumulates, then you can adjust the cleaning schedule accordingly.

I would definitely suggest vacuuming out the furnace base, and keeping it clean with weekly or at least frequent cleanings. See if this doesn't significantly reduce the dust in the house.

Let us know what you find out and what works..

Greg L

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