Chimney Hijinks

[Nick Ostrowski]

Hmmmmm. This chimney looks.........interesting.

[Nick Ostrowski]

Mmmmmmmmm........

[Nick Ostrowski]

What the...........

[Nick Ostrowski]

Wow!!!!!!!!!!

[Chuck J. Jones]

Saving a few dollars on that chimney cap sure makes sense now!

[Jerry McCarthy]

Me thinks in attempting to comply with the 10-3 foot rule (bldg-code) after erecting the second story addition they oversized the furnace vent flue resulting in major a condensation problem?

[Nick Ostrowski]

That was my same line of thinking Jerry. I only ran the furnace during the inspection for about 5 minutes and that alone was enough to make the flue pipe in the basement leak condensate. The flue pipe above the furnace was new and shiny too. What a coincidence.

Despite all of this, the service tag on the furnace mentioned nothing of the corrosion issues or the exterior chimney configuration. It's a great way to ruin a furnace.

[Bob Harper]

Nick, what is the flue material in that extension? Metal? I can't wait to see what the base of the chimney looks like.

There are a lot of factors that collectively can be causing all this condensation so don't get tunnel vision on just the improper chimney.

You can get a lot of condensation early in the firing cycle. For instance, with our weather in Philly around 75*F and ~50%Rh, you already have a lot of moisture condensing in a cool flue that is rarely if ever firing now. If the burner fires on a short cycle, the flue walls may not have warmed up above dewpoint (usually around 167*F for #2 high sulfur oil) before it cycles off. Then a chimney exposed in the breeze such as this will cool quickly condensing. This is a classic case for needing an insulated liner even if the chimney was brand new, built perfectly to the code. Of couse, using the case in point, the chimney proper would first have to be extended per code then a listed liner installed. Rather than extending a cold uninsulated 18" block chimney, they may be better off to raze this chimney and replace it with a listed factory chimney, which could be braced against the upper roof deck for proper height.

Then, too, they should have combustion analysis performed and this appliance tweaked to maximize performance. If you are seeing this kind of condensation, you have to worry about CO spillage as well. If this rotted out new chimney connector pipe, a blocked flue is a very real possibility.

Nick, let me know if I can help. ;-)
Bob

[Jim Luttrall]

Just had a family die here of CO in an "extended stay" hotel (read cheap flop house.) Don't hesitate to call out this stuff when it is crap. Someones life may depend on our opinion!

[Nick Ostrowski]

Bob, the extension was a thin metal material. I told them the entire setup (furnace and chimney) is in need of immediate repairs. The house was up in Bensalem which may be out of your neck of the woods.