furnace/water heater venting... PVC

"Tony Kimmell"

Pretty sure that's going to violate code - and it sounds like a pretty ghetto fix anyway.

Further, you may want to check the furnace install manual. There are limits to how long the pipe run can be and how many bends it can have.

Not sure about the hot water thing - but since most similar furnaces have a differential pressure cut-off switch monitoring pressure in those in/out pipes, wanting them to be equal to a degree (or your furnace simply stops working), I'm pretty certain that idea won't work either.

Why don't you just add to and redirect the existing pipe outside? Seems like it would cost you 20 bucks in some extra PVC materials, and 2-3 hours time.

Also - super efficient gas hot water? Might want to do some simple math with that yellow efficiency sticker to see if something like that is going to ever pay off for you. Hot water is usually pretty cheap.

- Nate

Running the PVC up the old chimney is done all the time. No problem with code in most areas. The length of run usually is the killer when going up the chimney. Most times only two runs of 2" will fit. This restricts the length you can go. If it is a two story, forget it. A sheet metal cap with two holes to fit the PVC to cover the top. The chimney will most likely need to be filled with vermiculite insulation. Elbows maybe required at the top on the intake.

I would move the intake and exhaust away from the meter, maybe just a short extension will get the gases past. Watch out for windows and doorways, there are restrictions! What ever you do, follow the owners manual to the letter! If you go over the maximum run, or too many elbows the furnace most likly will not run. Greg

Didn't like the answers on the other group you posted to?

I do it all the time.

I bet you that the job was not permitted and the installer/hack never read the instructions....

Feasible? I can't see it from here. It may not be easy. But, yes you may be able to, provided A) you run them both up the chimney and B) you follow the manufacturers instructions on legnth and number of elbows. The chimney must not be used for any other purpose. You can seal it almost any way you want, but it needs to be sealed. If it were me, though, I'd just re-route the pipes according to codes and manufacturer's instructions.

No, you may not run them together. I have never seen a high efficiency piece of equipment that allows shared PVC venting. In fact, most places forbid it.

Man, I'm still trying to figure out why the guy who posted the original question doesn't just move the vent location away from the meter, keeping the vent in the wall. Cut a new hole, cut some new PVC, problem solved. Why this guy is intent on running it up the chimney and creating a job that is a jillion times more complicated and costly is way beyond my simple comprehension.

AJS

Might not want the vent running out the side of house for cosmetic reasons....although he is already got 2 holes to patch up over the meter when he moves the vent.

I recently rad a 4 inch and a 3 inch pvc pipe down a chimney that served an old boiler in an older home. Knocked a hole out in the chimney where it ran thry the attic and ran refrigerant tubing thru the 4 inch and wire thru the 3 inch....this also allowed the homeowner to run up some wire for additional electrical outlets and catv,phone etc......

He had finished remodeling the main floor before thinking about the second floor additonal wiring hvac etc....... and would not have anything going up outside the house or would not have any work done on the main floor even in closets to get wire refrigerant tubing etc....upstairs.

Depending on the chimney size it may or may not be possible to get the right size pvc for a vent up....someone will have to determine the proper size and then measure the chimney.

Whatever is done..........if that vent pipe exits the chimney you are still going to get condensate products dripping on something unless you run the vent or exaust pipe straight up......the intake air will need to be terminated in an elbow or a 180 degree bend to keep rain out.

As to the original installation with the vent exiting at the gas meter....I see installations such as this passed by local inspectors all the time.....you have building inspectors who either dont care or dont know......bad inspectors, bad installers, there are bad people in all professions.

Cant tie the pvc water heater vent in with the furnace vent either...so something is going to have to go out the wall.

Trane makes a decent looking vent cover for sidewall vents, its small and flat and looks decent.....dont know the part number offhand........

I didn't say I was going to do it... just ASKING around for some opinions about suggestions I'd been given. Asking questions is what newsgroups are intended for, is it not?

I will PROBABLY just put a 90 degree elbow on the vent and run about another foot horizontal along the house and end in a 45. And the water heater will vent out the opposite wall like it does now. The intake pipe can stay where it is.

In comparison, the power vent models I've looked at seem to bee not that much more than their natural draft versions. maybe $100-120 more. Not that big an issue to me.

Most manufacturers now-a-days require the intake and exhaust to be on the same side of the house.

Someone else mentioned using the manufacturers vent termination kit. That may be a good, aesthetically approved idea.....

I'd rather have an un-powered hot water heater if at all possible.

Still having hot water is a wonderful luxury during a power outage.

They will still be on the same side of the house... all I'm going to do is put a 90 deg elbow on the vent tube and run a foot or so horizontal so it's not over the gas meter.

The WATER HEATER will vent on the other side (like it does already)

Tony

I'm not too worried about it... no hot water is no more of a pain than no heat or A/C.

Works for me. It isn't my work, nor is it my house.....