B-Vent Infraction

[Pep]

We own a house that was built in 1901. Union Gas has now given us an infraction saying that we need to replace our B-Vent. To make a long story short, they turned off our gas until we did the work. Well I've spoken with a number of Gas companies and not one of them had ever heard of this infraction before. Was wondering if anyone knew about this and if they could shed some light. The gentleman that I spoke with today, just said that that they are doing resident checks and that B-Vents are not up to code any more. So you can either have it inspected or have it replaced. Am wondering the cost of having this replaced and also any other information that you can shed light on with be great. Thanks

[G Hensley]

I think you mean you have to replace the single wall vent(s) you currently have with double-walled B-Vent.

Why can't you do it yourself?

[SQLit]

You spoke with other gas companies,,,,, WHY? Why are you not talking to the folks that did the inspection and shut off the gas. They are the ones you have to work with. Not some other gas company.

Seems to me that you allowed them to do the orginal inspection. Your bad.

When you home was constructed is not the issue. The installation is the issue. Lots of installation codes have changed since the beginning of the last century.

Do you live in an city that has an inspection department? Call them to see if this is even enforceable. What code section are they applying? UBC? UPC? What code date is being enforced, usually a difference in dates on this one.

City of Phoenix once decided to do complementary inspections on residences. Sounds good right. Well if they found a violation then they could give you a citation. When they showed up on my property I politely showed them the sidewalk and told the poor guy that he did not have my permission to be on my property. One of my neighbors paid well over a thousand dollars for stuff that the complementary inspection found.

You did not even provide us with a location. How can we be helpful if we do not know where your are? Canada? England? US? Africa? Antarctica?

[Pep]

Union Gas is our gas company and they have told us to contact an independent gas company to fix the problem. Once it has been completed, then we need to call them to have them look at it. If we decide not to fix the problem, the Independent company needs to inspect it to make sure it's up to "code". However this needs to be done regularly to make sure that the Gas does not get turned off again. We are located in Canada and I've been searching the net trying to find more information on this subject.

The reason that they noticed is because we purchased the house but were not living there because we were doing renovations. Once we moved in we called the gas company to come and turn it on. It at that time the gentleman noticed this "b-vent" and gave us the infraction to have it fixed.

Thank you in advanced.

[Charles Spitzer]

about half way down. it appears as if a b vent is a hood around the fireplace, rather than around the vent pipe.

OP: you just probably need to get it repaired. call a fireplace store.

[kevin]

This sounds fairly simple to me. You asked the gas company to turn on the gas, and they refused because your furnace venting looks sketchy. You should fix the vent. While it may be that this particular case silly mindless rules and red tape (as occationally happens), it doesn't sound like you know enough about the situation to tell. Have you considered that they are trying to keep you from burning down your house (and making them look bad)? Or geting CO poisioning (and making them look bad)?

Why do you not want to have your furnace vent fixed properly? It's not hard, and not terribly expensive. And you were doing renovations anyway, so you can hardly say it is incredibly inconveneient. And you were not living there, so you can't say "well, we haven't died yet..." Installing a double walled B-Vent is likely what they want you to do. Should be a quick and easy job for a competent installer.

[Pep]

Union Gas who is our gas company, does not fix this problem. They have told me to contact independent contractors and then once this has been completed, I need to contract them again for their reps to come out and inspect. I'm in Canada and have been speaking with a number of people at Union Gas trying to get my gas turned back on. They are coming today to do it and have given me an amount of time to either have it inspected (which is okay but has to be done yearly or they will disconnect the service again) or fix the problem.

As for them noticing this pipe, it's because the gas was turned off well we were doing renovations. (We had just bought the house and were not living in it) Once we moved into the house we had them come out to turn it on. It was at that time, the gentleman noticed the pipe and said that it is no longer code and gave us the infraction notice. Our Pipe he said isn't rusting or anything like that, however it's now not considered up to code.

Thanks for your help and insight!

[Greg O]

Heatman, no offence, but you had better study up on your venting! Greg

[HeatMan]

Joseph,

With some regards to the other people answering your question, here's my take.

A-vent is your basic single wall pipe. Nothing fancy.

B-vent is simple double wall vent pipe. There are several different manufacturers and their lines won't always match up. It's traditionally used for gas and oil (?) furnaces up to a certain stack temp.

C-vent (if it's actually called that) is the triple wall pipe that usually used for high stack temp applications, such as wood burners, etc.

[Joseph Meehan]

What is a B-vent? What kind of Gas? (natural or propane)

[kevin]

I have never heard of A-vent or C-vent. But B-vent is indeed a douible wall vent pipe. They usually have clever connectors at the ends -- you don't just cut them and fit them together, you buy the lengths you need and they couple together. I repaired a B-vent pipe on the side of our house for a water heater (a "cold water heater", that is ... for heating my very cold well water!) a few years ago. I was told by a plumber and a house inspector both to ask for B-vent. At the plumbing supply, I asked for B-vent, and they immediately knew what I wanted, although we had to sort out exactly which connector I had and needed.

It may be that different manufacturers have different incompatible couplings -- I don't know much about that.

-Kevin

[SQLit]

Ahhhh the story is more complex

Where I live once you start a renovation your on the hook for bring most everything up to the current code. I googled B vents and found that they are basically a double walled locking vent pipe. Which is required where I live if exposed or passing through other materials. The site I went to also mentioned that the equipment being vented may or may not be compatible with B piping.

Did you pull a permit for the remodel? Check with your city fathers, and see if the utility has the authority for this action. Again where I live the utility has some issues sometimes staying on their side of the fence. Here the utility can make suggestions, but unless it is unsafe they are not allowed to remove service. What they do here is call the city and get an inspector out to do the dirty work.

I think it is time for a local pro to look at your installation.

[barry]

Maybe you could focus in on the problem. Your service was shut of because you need to replace the b-vent because it's not code (-compliant.) WHY NOT? What's the matter with it, or the installation?

Ask them already. Just the facts, please.

J

[EXT]

A "class A" vent pipe is a two wall metal pipe with insulation between the metal walls. They are used with solid fuel equipment such as wood burning stoves and oil burning furnaces. They are made for higher temperatures.