2 Choices

Post Reply | Watch this Post

Either draw combustion air from the outside (PVC pipe on the intake) OR draw the air from the basement with a supplied screen over the PVC intake fitting. I have never seen an electric damper on a furnace intake. My experience has been with Efical (name brand) damper, but only installed on a hydronic system (boiler) On some older Efical models there is a manual (open) and automatic switch. I do understand your reasoning about how to make the furnace more efficient, but do not understand how and why you would try to RE-design the system and compromise safety issues.