Ok, we start with a guy who is a roofer. He is hired to re-shingle a residential home. The owner asks if he can remove the brick chimney and run a normal furnace pipe through the roof. The roofer says this is no problem as he does this all the time now. He would normally hire an HVAC guy to do this part of the job. BUT, he has watched him and has learnt how to do them himself. (YEP... first mistake!)
So, this is how the story goes... A long time client calls and ask if I can stop by to look at a chimney job. Stating that he doesn't think its done properly and believes there will be problems once the furnace is needed this Winter. He explains that the roofer capped the chimney with metal. Then cut a hole in the metal and stuck a pipe through it and then through the new roof.
Ok, no problem, I'll stop by, take a look and see what's needed to make things right.
OH BOY!!!!!!
I get there and as I'm walking around the house I see a 4" pipe protruding through the roof about foot. Never mind that this is under the peak of the roof and near a valley! And since when, can you use a plastic roof flashing to vent an old "natural draft" furnace and a standard water heater??? It's not like it's a new high efficiency model.
I go down into the basement to see what's going to be needed... a 150K natural draft furnace with a 6" flu outlet and a 38K 40 gal natural draft water heater with a 3" flu outlet... all venting into the brick chimney. Go up on the roof to see that the 4" pipe is not only *SINGLE WALL* but it's also *ALUMINUM* pipe!!! Forget the clearances needed for the proper pipe... this shit is about 1/2" away from the roof decking!!! With only the water heater being operational at the time, this thing is venting flu gases into the attic space!!! Thankfully this is just under the power ventilator for the attic.
So... needless to say... this guy hasn't learned anything about what it takes to vent a gas fired appliance. But one thing is for SURE... if his messes don't get corrected and he keeps doing this shit... he's going to kill someone! :-( Sad thing is... how many furnaces are screwed up by this Bozo and how many people are getting poisoned by combustion by-products???
Scary shit!!!