Why would anyone C clamp open all the fireplace flues?

[Wes Groleau]

It's also why the instructions say to hold it for sixty seconds after lighting.

I once had two elderly ladies ask me to look at their ancient gravity feed furnace. I didn't know that furnaces had thermocouples but I knew what they were, so I figured out that's what it was and why it was there, and that the reason the furnace only quit while they were on a long trip was that the pilot alone couldn't heat the umpty-year-old thing enough unless the furnace came on often enough to keep the TC from getting cold.

But I had no clue where to buy one that would fit, so I told them to never set it lower than 68°F and built for them an emergency starter (with a flashlight battery) in case they forgot.

[William Don**ly]

I'm in agreement. You don't vent the Menora.

But why then does California code require disabling the damper when wood fireplaces are retrofitted to gas?

[Doug Miller]

William Don**ly wrote in news:kbkrks$vuu$4 @news.albasani.net:

Beats me. Why does California do 90% of the goofy stuff it does?

[ebinstallations]

The reason the clamps are there is due to the fact that somebody could star t a fire with a ceramic firelog set in there, and the gas(es) would cause c arbon monoxide poisoning. The are code now in many places for that reason. If you are not using a gas fire, you would know that the flue was closed du e to the smoke.........So, how you use the fireplace determines the actual need.

[steveg]

The fireplace damper needs to have a clamp on it so it will NOT close all the way and jeapordize lives due to people commonly leaving the damper shut and running their gas logs. Carbon monoxide is very deadly. In California you cannot sell a house without a clamp on your damper to keep it open some.