I recently had a natural gas furnace installed in my attic. It's vented with a standard double-walled Type B flue pipe. The flue pipe runs parallel to the roof sheathing for about 7 feet (with a clearance of about a foot) before exiting through the roof.
Though this will be the unit's first winter, I'm pretty certain that the heat thrown off by this pipe is going to be enough to melt the significant snows that accumulate on my shallow pitch (4/12) roofline (I live in a snowbelt area of Cleveland, and accumulations of a foot or more are the norm). I don't want to have an ice buildup problem from repeated melting/freezing cycles, so my question is this:
Is it possible to safely insulate the flue pipe, and if so, what kind of material should be used?
Thanks in advance for the help.
Pete D. Cleveland OH