Gas and Oil Home Heating Furnaces - Steam from roof vent

When I pulled into my driveway yesterday I saw what looked like steam coming from a pipe sticking out of my roof. I assume this is a vent for my furnace since it's in that area of the roof. Weather was cold and misty - but I didn't see steam coming from similar vents on neighboring houses. Can someone tell me what this means???

is this a 90% furnace? does the pipe appear to be pvc or metal with a cap?

I'm not sure what a 90% furnace is -- sorry! I have central heat and air - furnace is gas - ac is electric. The pipe appears to be metal with a cap. There are two up on the roof fairly close together. My water heater is gas also and is just down the hall from the furnace closet.

depending on conditions, flue gas does contain moisture, and on cold days with low humidity, appears to steam. examine the flue the best you can, be sure there are no obstructions, etc. BTW excellent website you have.

Thanks - I was worried when I didn't see the same thing coming from the neighbor's roofs. Furnace is less than two years old - but I had a new vent installed in my bathroom a few months ago and was afraid they had messed something up doing it - subcontractor had a tendency to take shortcuts. Probably my imagination but the house doesn't seem to warm up as well as last year. Probably just paranoid.

As for the website - thanks for the kind words. I'm definitely not a web designer - spend my days behind a secretary's desk. This was my first attempt at web design and it took me forever to get it done.

The steam.. or better term is Water Vaper is normal coming out of the flue pipe on the roof.. Since you have a newer system, your flue temp is going to be a bit cooler so it will show more vaper than your neighbors older furnace.. Also, being your in Tx, it's not a normal everyday thing that you see vs us up here in Minnesota, we see it everday when a furance is running..

As for the "warmth" feeling. Your newer furance is not oversized like your old one might of been, that shoot out a big blast of hot air vs the newer furnace is putting out warm air and saving on gas..

Looked at your web sight as well. Looks good..


One thing I do want to add on for your "Dryer Tip"..

If the dryer has the white flex pipe.. get rid of it. They are a fire waiting to happen.. They do make the Aulinulm flex that is a little more "safe" but the the flex stuff, they have a lot of "ridges/bumps" that cuts on the air flow.. Best thing is to replace them with all ridged pipe that has no bumps. Also, the vent hood outside, lot of the old homes has the old dryer vents that may have about an 2" opening blowing down, that is only letting out half the air flow.. Best to replace it wht the wider 4" openings, or the 3 or 4 flapper louver style vent.

http://www.applianceaid.com/images/venting%20a%20dryer.JPG

http://www.applianceaid.com/vent-length.html

Hope this helps ya! :-)

Thanks for your help. Guess I'll just have to wear more sweaters!

I appreciate your tip on the dryer vents. I'll go in and add that to my website next time I do an update.