Wait, what?

HVACNUT

I showed up for a heat maintenance this morning and saw the PVC elbow with the plug. I've been servicing the gas furnace with AC in the attic for a few years now and don't remember ever seeing the PVC. I asked the client "what's up with that?". He said he had his basement finished and the PVC was a failed inspection location for the vent on the sewage ejector, so the plumber  had to relocate it. Ok, cool.
I go into the attic to do my thing. While doing the test with the analyzer, I look around and see this.The contractor Tee'd the sewage vent into the furnace exhaust at the concentric venting. My brain first said "its April fool's day". Then I realized its Halloween and got a trick instead of a treat.
Needless to say I shut the power and turned off the gas to the furnace. Recommended a plumber. 
There were permits pulled for the job so I don't know how it was missed. And I usually have tunnel vision anyway, forget first call on a Monday morning, so I'm glad I saw it. 
I'm no chemist, but what would happen if the exhaust gasses mixed heavily with sewage fumes? Pretty noxious I bet.

Paul Pollets

Competence reigns supreme...

pedmec

Thats why we had a code change in mass and required all power vented or direct vented piping be labeled.

STEVEusaPA

Yikes. What's the insulation supposed to be doing?
If he ran the pipe that far, wasn't much more work to punch it thru the roof.

ChrisJ

pedmec said:

Thats why we had a code change in mass and required all power vented or direct vented piping be labeled.

If the equipment is a few feet away like in the situation above, do you really feel a label is going to fix or improve that situation?

Labels aren't going to fix incompetency.
You can have all of the labels and codes you want and it's not going to help if the people following them are like whoever did the work mentioned by the OP.

I have to admit @HVACNUT this is one of few posts on here that actually made me laugh out loud.

KC_Jones

I have a friend who had bathroom vent fans installed, they hooked them up to the DWV vent system in the attic. I found it by accident when I was doing some other work for him.

The OP's situation. I mean I have no words, everything was in the same area, that pipe is obviously going to the furnace. That's a whole new level of stupid, like they should 100% not be in any trade level of stupid.

Can't people lose their license for this?

As a homeowner I would have been making a lot of calls to contractor and inspector. Heads would be rolling right now.

pedmec

@ChrisJ Its not for guys like us. i would say its for the do it yourself. i think if it wasn't happening over and over again you probably wouldn't need stickers but what would i know. I guess your just smarter than everyone else and never make mistakes

ChrisJ

pedmec said:

@ChrisJ Its not for guys like us. i would say its for the do it yourself. i think if it wasn't happening over and over again you probably wouldn't need stickers but what would i know. I guess your just smarter than everyone else and never make mistakes

Absolutely I make mistakes. All of the time.

On a separate note..


How did it fail the first time and the inspector didn't catch that the 2nd time? Wouldn't the first failure have been kind of a red flag?

mattmia2

Inspector didn't want to go in the attic.

Steamhead

KC_Jones said:

I have a friend who had bathroom vent fans installed, they hooked them up to the DWV vent system in the attic. I found it by accident when I was doing some other work for him.

The OP's situation. I mean I have no words, everything was in the same area, that pipe is obviously going to the furnace. That's a whole new level of stupid, like they should 100% not be in any trade level of stupid.

And, once again- you can't fix stupid!

KC_Jones said:

Can't people lose their license for this?

As a homeowner I would have been making a lot of calls to contractor and inspector. Heads would be rolling right now.

You should, and they should.

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes

They walk among us.

"They're both vents. Why not combine them?"

Danny Scully

Guys need to learn the air admittance valve trick with sewer ejectors…a lot of wasted work to only do it wrong lol. 

EBEBRATT-Ed

Ma has required that flue and air intake pipes be labeled for quite a few years now as @pedmec pointed out.

I thought it was a stupid requirement and it is but I have heard so many stories of people cutting and teeing into flue or intakes that I can understand why it is reuired.

Same goes for the electrical code. It never said you COULDN't mount a electrical panel on a ceiling .....until someone did it

HVACNUT

Danny Scully said:

Guys need to learn the air admittance valve trick with sewer ejectors…a lot of wasted work to only do it wrong lol. 

I'm not sure a Studor vent is permitted. I didn't ask. Town of Brookhaven NY. You'd think it was the easiest solution, but obviously nobody thought much of anything. What did Moe say, "I keep tryin' to think, but nuttin' happens."

STEVEusaPA

HVACNUT said:

...What did Moe say, "I keep tryin' to think, but nuttin' happens."

I think Curly said that...lol

HVACNUT

STEVEusaPA said:

...What did Moe say, "I keep tryin' to think, but nuttin' happens."

I think Curly said that...lol

Yes, Curly. I only had one cup of coffee when I wrote that.

HomerJSmith

Works for me!

ChrisJ

This one was Moe