Natural Gas Appliance Vents During Heavy Snow

As the snow piles up outside, keep an eye on those natural gas appliance vents.  You want to make sure that the vent's are blocked.  This mainly applies to high efficiency PVC furnace vents, gas dryer vents that are low to the ground and those through the wall vents for gas insert type fireplaces.  Blockage of a vent by snow could allow carbon monoxide to enter your home.

When snow blowing or shoveling, be sure to not to cover the PVC vents from you high efficiency furnace.  Most furnaces will shut off automatically without combustion air, but you may be able to save a service call if you know your vent got blocked by snow.

I often see dryer vents too close to deck surfaces; the vent was 3' off the ground before the deck was built, but then the deck was added and nobody thought about the dryer vent in the winter.  This goes or electric dryers too, but you won't get carbon monoxide buildup with an electric dryer, just damp clothes after a full cycle.

Here's a vent that looks ok in summer but can easily be covered by snow.

Here's a high efficiency furnace PVC vent in danger of being covered by snow.

Stay warm and safe everyone!