TOPIC: Furnace in Closet

I realize that a gas furnace installed in a bedroom closet is an obvious defect. What about the kitchen? Older bungalow house, built in 1950. The gas water heater and gas furnace are installed in a pantry closet. I'm not sure whether this is a defect or not? I told the client that I certainly wouldn't store aerosols or cooking oil in there. Anybody have knowledge or an opinion?

The biggest issues I find with these installations is the lack of combustion air size of the combined vent, and old leaking valves.  With a home this age, chances are the furnace and water heater have both been changed out and the combustion air and venting requirements may have changed.  Other than that, I don't have an issue.

Thanks Stephen. If I remember correctly, the furnace is a '93 model (most houses around here of that era had floor furnaces). The house has only been vacant for 6 months, so I guess any fume problems would have been discovered before now.It is a fairly large closet, with 3 sets of bi-fold doors. Maybe I should suggest changing the doors to louvered doors for the combustion air. The water tank vent connects to the larger furnace vent and then to a chimney flue. The pilot would not lite on the water tank, but the smoke/draft test for the furnace seemed to be okay.

Are you sure the combusion air wasn't coming from the crawlspace? I have a gas furnace in my kitchen closet that does this. The doors are actually padded to make it harder for gasses to seep out.

Hi Dom. It didn't appear the combustion air was coming from the crawlspace, the unit was sealed from that area. I did see a first while I was under there, though. A coffee or similar type of can was used as the "collar" that penetrated the floor for the dryer vent to connect to. Pretty neat idea!