New apartment with electric heat. What are the 5 inch ducts to the outside for?


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Old 12-05-18, 05:37 PM
J
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New apartment with electric heat. What are the 5 inch ducts to the outside for?

I am renting an apartment that has an electric fireplace and electric heat. There are 5 inch vents from the living room, and the bedroom to the outside. Can someone tell me what the purpose of these vents is? Will there be any problems if I block them off for the winter? Cold air comes in through the vents.
 
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Old 12-06-18, 05:39 AM
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Without seeing what you have it's hard to say. I'm assuming it's an older building. They probably were installed for something that's no longer there. Maybe for gas powered heaters that needed venting. Maybe previous tenants were operating a grow house and were venting the smell outside.
 
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Old 12-06-18, 09:10 AM
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Thanks. I should have mentioned that it's a new six story wood frame apartment building. It's just 1 1/2 years old..
 
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Old 12-07-18, 06:59 AM
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Being new construction it would be ironic if the building was designed to be super-tight and efficient and then people got sick off the lack of ventilation. Skuttles could have been added as a Band-Aid fix.
 
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Old 12-07-18, 08:09 AM
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Does the apartment have an exterior venting range hood or a bathroom fan or a clothes dryer?

Those devices need makeup air drawn from the outside into a different room in order to vent out the stale air.
 
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Old 12-13-18, 04:43 AM
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I'm just shocked that a new building would have an electric furnace in it.
 
 

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