I’m working on a report now that had a second furnace installed to heat an addition. The furnace was installed in the garage on the slab as it would be in a basement. It was heating a master bedroom suite that was an addition above the garage. There was an output register located in the garage.
Normally, when the heating system is located in the dwelling with a register into the garage that is a no-no. This is one of those DLR’s (Doesn’t Look Right). It was installed in 2006 at the time the addition was put on.
Greg, I would write it up. Also recommend sealing voids in ceiling around ducts/ pipes. Hard to tell in picture, but I think a crash barrier is also needed to protect the HVAC equipment from vehicles.
Besides being unsafe and not permitted via the IRC (as has been pointed out), it has a terrible detrimental affect on the thermal efficiency of the house. That unit is pulling all return air from within the dwelling and pumping a portion of the supply air outside of the thermal envelope. This places the house under negative pressure. This would be a great house to do infrared thermography for air leakage in because it has a built-in unregulated blower door.
Also, shouldn’t that thing be protected from vehicle impact by a bollard or other barrier?
Good points. These observations are why Realtors are anxious when I’m the hired inspector. Also why we’ve been voted the best home inspection company in our county in the last 2 years. We’re not code inspectors.So I write things like this as Safety issues.
