Brown liquid from flue pipe

Posted by essenz on November 13, 2007, 11:54 pm

I have a house with an asbestos flue. The water heater and gas furnace
have regular sheet metal flue duct, then up in the ceiling the metal
flue slips into this ceramic/asbestos flue - 6" diameter.

There was no heat for about 1 year, just this past week got everything
back together.

One problem, there appears to be a brown liquid dripping out of the
asbestos part of the flue, it then trickles down the metal pipe. Not
alot, just a small drip from time to time - but messy and concerning
nonetheless.

Any idea what this is? Should I be concerned?

Thanks
John

Posted by jamesgangnc on November 14, 2007, 8:40 am

Yes, you should be concerned. The brown liquid is most likely water with
various contaminants mixed in. In your case it is probably caused by the
flue not staying hot enough all the way out. When you burn gas one of the
resulting products is water vapor. The way 80% and lower effeciency heaters
deal with that is to keep the flue temp high enough so the water vapor does
not condense out. In the original installation there was probably enough
heat going out the flue to do that because the original furnance was not
very efficient. As furnaces have gotten more efficient there is less heat
in the exhaust. It may be possible to install a liner in your old flue to
prevent this. Or you may need to have a newer flue installed. You do not
want to just ignore this because the other combustion byproducts make that
water corrosive and it will damage the flue and the furnace.

>I have a house with an asbestos flue. The water heater and gas furnace
> have regular sheet metal flue duct, then up in the ceiling the metal
> flue slips into this ceramic/asbestos flue - 6" diameter.
> There was no heat for about 1 year, just this past week got everything
> back together.
> One problem, there appears to be a brown liquid dripping out of the
> asbestos part of the flue, it then trickles down the metal pipe. Not
> alot, just a small drip from time to time - but messy and concerning
> nonetheless.
> Any idea what this is? Should I be concerned?
> Thanks
> John
>

Posted by =?ISO-8859-15?Q?Tekkie=AE?= on November 14, 2007, 9:32 pm

essenz posted for all of us...

> I have a house with an asbestos flue. The water heater and gas furnace
> have regular sheet metal flue duct, then up in the ceiling the metal
> flue slips into this ceramic/asbestos flue - 6" diameter.
>
> There was no heat for about 1 year, just this past week got everything
> back together.
>
> One problem, there appears to be a brown liquid dripping out of the
> asbestos part of the flue, it then trickles down the metal pipe. Not
> alot, just a small drip from time to time - but messy and concerning
> nonetheless.
>
> Any idea what this is? Should I be concerned?
>
> Thanks
> John
>
>

It's essence
--
Tekkie Don't bother to thank me, I do this as a public service.

Similar Threads	Posted
Flakes of brown paper coming from vents...???	December 31, 2006, 11:57 am
Chimney line and flue	August 9, 2006, 4:30 pm
Condensation in an old exhaust flue	November 6, 2006, 4:40 am
flue damper install	November 9, 2006, 12:09 am
Oil furnace flue has green stuff dripping down?	October 30, 2006, 10:08 pm
Gas pipe size	February 21, 2008, 5:18 pm
Trak-pipe	June 3, 2008, 11:35 pm
liquid line in condensate	June 27, 2007, 7:56 am
Freezing liquid lines	February 13, 2007, 1:56 pm
Upside down Liquid Line Solenoid	January 31, 2007, 9:16 pm