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Posted by Speedy Jim on July 17, 2007, 9:02 pm
CompleteNewb wrote:
> I apologize for the lengh of thi, I'm just trying to explain as much as
> possible.
>
> Okay, so the house was built in 1929. I'm not sure if this is the ORIGINAL
> configuration, but it's been this way since at LEAST '94.
>
> I don't know all the terminology here, so you'll have to forgive my
> ignorance:
>
> We have a chimney with 3 separate holes up to the top; 1 is the fireplace on
> the 1st floor (not part of the issue here), 1 is the furnace, and 1 is the
> downstairs (basement) fireplace. The furnace has a stovepipe-type pipe that
> goes from the top (the outside protuberance at the top of the chimney) down
> through the actual brick enclosure, and then comes out the side of the brick
> enclosure in the basement to connect to the pipe coming out of the furnace.
> Here is a view of the fireplace and furnace; you can see the steps on the
> other side of the furnace:
>
> http://www.grilloff.com/_images/FireAndFurnaceFront.jpg
>
> In the next pic, you can see the downstairs fireplace, and on the right is
> the venting pipe of the furnace (it's just getting a little closer so you
> can see the furnace pipe going into the chimney column better):
>
> http://www.grilloff.com/_images/FireFurnaceSide.jpg
>
> The downstairs fireplace is, I believe, the normal configuration, just the
> hole going up through the fireplace flue all the way to the outside. The
> water heater, which is on the other side of the big chimney column from the
> fireplace, has a pipe going through the wall of the chimney column, and I
> can actually see the opening of it up in the chimney; it's just a pipe that
> opens into the fireplace's chimney.
>
> Here's a picture of the big chimney column on the furnace side; you can't
> see the fireplace, but it is on the left chimney wall behind the furnace.
> The water heater is on the right (you can see it and its pipe behind the
> stairs):
>
> http://www.grilloff.com/_images/FurnaceHeaterFront.jpg
>
> So, walking to the right and going past the stairs, you see this:
>
> http://www.grilloff.com/_images/HeaterFront.jpg
>
> See the water heater's vent going itno the chimney? The other side of the
> pipe just terminates up inside the fireplace's chimney; you can open the
> fireplace flue and shine a flashlight up there and see the pipe just ending.
>
> And continuing past the water heater and then looking back at it, you see
> this (the chimney wall that continues to the right is the opposite side of
> the chimney column from the furnace; around the corner and to the left is
> the fireplace):
>
> http://www.grilloff.com/_images/HeaterSide.jpg
>
> Now, we tried to have a nice fire downstairs once, but smoke actually
> started coming out of the water heater's vent right on top of the water
> heater. Not a crapload of smoke, I mean there must have still been SOME
> upward movement of the air to the top of the chimney and outside, but it was
> enough to actually see it (and of course smell it) coming out and fogging up
> the basement. And, of course, I'm sure it's not "up to code" to have the
> water heater just venting directly into the shared fireplace chimney.
>
> So here are my questions, and I hope someone can help me:
>
> 1) How can we vent this water heater the right way, with its own
> compartment or something, such that we don't have to move the water heater?
> I hypothesized to a chimney sweeper (expertise not so great, it seemed, but
> of course I know much less) that perhaps we could just connect a long
> stovepipe-type deal to the water heate'rs vent inside the same shared
> fireplace chimney, thus sort of faking a separate chimney, even though it's
> really just a pipe going up the firepace's chimney. He said that the
> chimney hole for the fireplace was probably too narrow to do that, and it
> would constrict the opening too much, such that the smoke wouldn't have
> enough room to go up, and it would probably be coming out the fireplace due
> to insufficient air flow straight up. Plus, I was worried about the heat on
> the pipe, and of course sweeping the fireplace chimneny would probably be
> difficult to impossible. The sweeper said he's seen configurations where
> the pipe coming out to connect to the furnace vent is a "Y," and the water
> heater would connect into it, and so the water heater and the furnace would
> share the pipe. However, you can see from the configuration here that we
> can't run the water heater vent pipe to where the furnace vent pipe is; it
> would have to go around the stairs, and would surely not be an upward angle,
> either. In fact, it would actually have to go downhill, so that's out. Any
> ideas here?
>
> 2) If we DO have to move the water heater (a serious pain, because we'd
> have to completely change the gas lines and the copper pipe of the water
> intake and output), the water heater is taller than where the current
> furnace vent goes into the chimney; so how could we arrange that? Are we
> talking about knoecking a high-up hole in the chimney and re-piping
> everything, and sealing up the old hole? Is there anything less drastic we
> could do?
>
> 3) I've heard of these "ventless" water heaters that need no venting into
> the outside, they just sit in the basement and are safe somehow. However,
> we JUST bought this water heater, and the ventless ones are hugely
> expensive. I'd like to try and resolve this issue a different way.
>
> Sorry about the place being a mess in the pics, and I would REALLY
> appreciate any advice on this.
>
> Thanks very much for reading, and in advance for any input.
>
>
It's been this way since '94? Meaning the water heater is that old?
Replace it. You could get a "Low Boy" model that could TEE into the
existing vent (and move the heater).
You could replace it with a "Power Vent" model that exhausts
out the side wall, but at greater expense.
Jim
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