[shaggy667]

My furnace is located in a closet next to the hot water heater. The area is closed off by 2 bi-fold slotted closet doors. This area happens to be near the living room so when the furnace runs it gets quite loud.

I was thinking that using solid doors instead of slotted should help with the noise. However I'm unsure if that would be an issue with heat and/or ventilation of the area.

Does anyone have some advice? I'm open to any other noise reduction tips as well.

[twinkiedooter]

Do not use a solid door as both the heater and the furnace needs air to breathe!

[letmetellu]

If you make provisions for the furnace and water heater to get fresh air you can do what you described.

If your house is not a two story house you could run a 8 inch pipe up into the atic and down to the level of the burners on the furnace, Then do the same with the water heater with a 6 inch pipe.

[wmproop]

I`ve seen instances where the installer planned for the slotted bi-fold doors to serve as the return air,, do you have a return air system coming in from somewhere else,, some people do wild and weird things sometimes

[shaggy667]

Well there are 2 pipes going to the furnace, but I'm not sure where the ends are. I've included a picture so you can see my setup.

Picasa Web Albums - Ben

Also I noticed that there is a draft coming in from around the ducts as they feed up into the rest of the house. Is it safe to stuff some insulation around them?

[hvac1000]

The two pipes you have now are not for combustion air, One is the furnace flue and the other is a discharge heat pipe. If you are going to put in solid doors you have to add combustion air as discussed.

Combustion Air

Calculator

House of Craig - Online Combustion Air Calculator

Providing Enough Combustion Air

[letmetellu]

One of the pipes in your picture is for the exaust fumes to leave the building through the roff. I think the other pipe is for or was for a humidifier.