Heating decisions can make or break a facility project in Denver, where cold snaps, high altitude, and tight urban sites punish sloppy design. These pitfalls show up as change orders, failed inspections, comfort complaints, and missed occupancy dates.
Things go wrong when teams oversize equipment, skip altitude derating, starve combustion air, route flues poorly, pick weak filtration, place noisy units badly, ignore balancing, miss commissioning, or botch BAS handoffs.
Keep reading to identify six of the most common heating pitfalls that derail facility projects.
Choosing The Wrong Installer
Picking a bad service provider for your system installation is one of the common heating pitfalls. A low-bid crew can miss permits, gas coordination, clearances, combustion testing, and documentation, then leave the owner with no commissioning report or warranty registration.
Pick a contractor with recent similar suite work, and confirm their process for HVAC furnace installation in Denver, CO, including permit plan sets, utility scheduling, startup checklists, and owner training. Require as builts, serial numbers, combustion results, and written warranty transfer at turnover.
Ignoring altitude derating
Denver altitude reduces air density, so standard input ratings overfire burners, raise CO, and trip safeties, or underdeliver heat after field tweaks. Designers often size from sea level catalogs, then installers chase problems with gas pressure adjustments.
Fix it on paper, use the manufacturer’s altitude tables, specify the correct orifice, fan speed, and vent kit, and confirm the combustion air openings. Things to do during startup:
- Require a combustion analysis
- Record O2, CO, and manifold pressure
- Lock settings in the BAS
- Coordinate with the utility and document the derate for inspectors.
Inadequate combustion air
Altitude derating fails fast when the unit also lacks enough combustion air. Tight suites, fireplaces, and negative pressure from exhaust fans can pull flue gases into the room, causing burners to run rich.
Specify dedicated outdoor air to the mechanical room, size openings per code and manufacturer requirements, and verify that door undercuts do not count toward the required area. Add a pressure sensor or proving switch on sealed combustion units. During commissioning, measure the room pressure, verify the draft at the vent, and document the results for the inspector.
Poor flue routing
Combustion air shortfalls often occur when the flue layout creates draft problems. Long runs, too many elbows, shared vents, or missing terminations can trigger rollout switches, condensate leaks, and soot.
To avoid these problems, plan vent paths early, reserve shafts, and confirm allowable equivalent length from the submittal. Keep slope to drain condensate, and use fittings and firestops.
During startup, verify draft pressure, check condensate drains, and photograph terminations for closeout. Also, avoid locating outlets near windows and doors, and ensure you coordinate penetrations with waterproofing and snow control.
Oversizing heaters in small suites
When vent runs get tight, oversizing makes cycling worse, and draft stability drops. Many Denver tenants complete projects, then opt for the next size up to feel secure, only to experience short cycling, waste gas, and create hot and cold zones.
Oversizing also drives louder airflow and higher static pressure, which can worsen filtration bypass.
To be on the safe side, use a room-by-room load, include altitude derate, and size for design day, not worst-case guesses. Specify turndown or staged heat, and require airflow verification after balancing. Request part load data, set tight deadbands, and limit burner starts.
Weak filtration choices
The last pitfall we will examine in this guide revolves around filtration choices. Gaps around filters, low MERV media, or flimsy frames let dust load coils, foul burners, and trigger limit trips. Denver smoke also turns a filter into a comfort and indoor air quality problem.
- The best approach to avoid this would be to:
- Specify a gasketed rack, a pressure drop limit
- Specify a target MERV level that matches the fan’s capability
- Require a differential pressure gauge, with alarm points in the BAS
- Verify there is no bypass using a test and document the intervals in the O and M manuals during commissioning.
Final Words
Small heating misses turn into big schedule and budget hits, especially in Denver, where altitude, venting limits, and winter startups leave little room for improvisation.
Keep documentation tight, insist on measured startup data, and treat inspections as a design constraint, not a surprise. When a scope changes midstream, pause, recheck the load, the vent path, and the gas service, then proceed with updated submittals and clear sign-offs.
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