Venting Hot Water Heater And Furnace Through Chimney

To avert this problem you can vent the water heater to the largest hole in the chimney and cap the remaining holes.

Venting hot water heater and furnace through chimney. The area around the flue piping should be sealed where it enters the chimney. In some homes gas water heaters also vent into chimneys. Traditional masonry chimneys were designed and sized to vent very hot flue gases from old coal wood burning or low efficiency gas furnaces. Atmospheric venting refers to a system in which exhaust from the water heater naturally rises out of the appliance s combustion chamber then travels up through a standard chimney style flue that.

All water heater venting systems use a vent duct or pipe also called a chimney or flue to bring exhaust gases from the water heater to the outdoors. Illustration above an unused chimney flue or masonry enclosure may be used as a passageway for the installation of the water heater vent pipe. That s a sign that hot gases are backdrafting toward the unit. When venting two appliances separately into a common chimney always install the smaller flue pipe appliance with lowest gph input at a higher point into the chimney than the larger flue pipe for the appliance with the largest gph input.

Before connecting a vent to a chimney make sure the chimney passageway is clear and free of obstructions. The duct may be metal or plastic depending on the type of vent system. Refer to figure 2. Proper furnace water heater venting is an extremely important issue which depends on the performance of the house chimney chimney flue or other exhaust assemblies.

Water heater ducts may lead directly outdoors or they may tie into a larger vent duct that also serves a gas or propane furnace or boiler in the home. The conditions explained in this post also apply to the wood burning appliances. Two gas fired appliances such as a water heater and heating boiler may be vented into the same flue if your local jurisdiction approves of that installation. These should be tested as well especially if you see melted or melting plastic grommets on the side of the water heater.

Venting through existing chimney. In some locales fire officials also permit two gas appliances to vent into a single flue when the heaters are on different floors as we see in carson dunlop associates at reviewers sketch. The exhaust gas temperature of modern gas furnaces and water heaters is much lower than past appliances because much more heat is harvested so you waste less money up your chimney.