Questions about the dehumidifier on the furnace?

Question

On the side of my furnace there is an vertical pipe the connects to a pipe that runs all the way across the room and into the drain.

Normally my dog isn't allowed down there because he hides stuff in the gravel pit and spreads gravel everywhere. Today he managed to disconnect the pipe, which apparently isn't glued together. And now I have wet gravel everywhere. Which is just making the basement an even more dank hell-hole that I don't want to deal with.

Now as far as I know most people don't have pipes running from their furnace across the floor. So can someone tell me where, in a normal house this pipe is supposed to go? And whether I can do that kind of plumbing hookup relatively easily myself?

If I can't do it easily is there any reason this pipe isn't at least f$%&ing glued together? And shouldn't the vertical pipe have a cap on the top to stop cr@p from falling in it?

ou can see a picture of the pipe where it is attached to the furnace and where it "connects" to the drain here:
http://www.prematureoptimism.com/blog/furnace.html

And yes, I know my basement is a flaming mess.

Answer 1

Go to Lowes and get some PVC pipe adhesive for PVC pipe and glue it back together. Leave the pipe as is Do not redo the route. And DO NOT RECAP any open top , that is a VENT for air so drain will operate properly.

You probably have a 90% condensing furnace which drains the water byproduct of combustion of natural gas. Remember when gas is burned the byproduct is WATER and some C02 and C0


Or you have a "Flow Thru" Humidifier, the type that runs water over a grid when furnace comes on and the excess goes down a drain pipe

Either way its an easy fix, go to Lowes and by a can of PVC glue and reglue the joints.

Answer 2

You asked twice, so I'll answer twice. Fair enough?

I'm guessing that is the drain for the condensate that is in the furnace exhaust. And yes, many people have such a pipe, either running across the floor or pumped to a drain. The exhaust from the furnace has lots of water vapor in it, and it has to be drained somewhere.
There is probably a trap on that line, inside the furnace. And yes, it should be glued back together(probably just bad workmanship when it was installed)
You could put a cap on the top of the pipe...this isn't a "pressure" pipe...just a drain, so you wouldn't need to glue the cap on. Just stick it on.
If you don't have a drain on the furnace like this, the condensate will back up and that's not a good thing.
I've seen worse basements...LOL!