Welcome! Here are the website rules, as well as some tips for using this forum.
Need to contact us? Visit https://heatinghelp.com/contact-us/.
Click here to Find a Contractor in your area.
If our community has helped you, please consider making a contribution to support this website. Thanks!

What caused this on a boiler flue?

Options
RayWohlfarth
RayWohlfarth Member Posts: 2,070
edited August 28 in Strictly Steam

This had to be one of the scariest boiler rooms I ever saw. The customer was incredibly lucky.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjiXP8kkCRU
rotted flue pipe.jpeg
Ray Wohlfarth
Boiler Lessons

Comments

  • SteamNow
    SteamNow Member Posts: 66
    edited August 28

    Very interesting

    Owner

    Steamnowrockford.com

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 27,704

    Nothing like a little acid condensation in the combustion gases…

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
    mattmia2HomerJSmith
  • RayWohlfarth
    RayWohlfarth Member Posts: 2,070

    @SteamNow I thought scary LOL

    @Jamie Hall Yes it was crazy

    Ray Wohlfarth
    Boiler Lessons
  • hot_rod
    hot_rod Member Posts: 28,125

    poor draft, too long of a horizontal run?

    Bob "hot rod" Rohr
    trainer for Caleffi NA
    Living the hydronic dream
  • Big Ed_4
    Big Ed_4 Member Posts: 3,564

    Looks like hot water heater has been leaking or under fired…

    There was an error rendering this rich post.

  • SteamNow
    SteamNow Member Posts: 66

    @RayWohlfarth lol, maybe a little too scientific. I imagine the carbon monoxide detector must have been going off?

    I've never seen a leak that bad and left that long. I've seen similar stuff happen when the chimney gets partially clogged and then condensation sits and builds up and tears the bottoms open.

    Owner

    Steamnowrockford.com

  • Steamhead
    Steamhead Member Posts: 18,815

    I'd say condensation too. On a run that long I would have used double-wall pipe.

    Co-Founder, All Steamed Up, Inc.

    Baltimore, MD, USA

  • leonz
    leonz Member Posts: 1,918

    OUCH, that is downright nasty Ray!!

    I wonder if that water heater has a water leak in the scheme of things?

  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 20,874

    Looks reasonably ok until it gets to the WH so I think that is the issue.

    I am going to say too long of a horizontal in relation to the draft available. Equipment too far from the chimney.

    Moving the equipment or maybe a separate flue for the water heater

    mattmia2
  • HomerJSmith
    HomerJSmith Member Posts: 2,802
    edited August 28

    Had a job checking a side wall venting Lochinvar mini-fin boiler and had to crawl in a space on the other side of the wall where the blower vent was. When I got there the installer had used standard gauge single wall venting. The venting had more holes in it than Swiss cheese. Barely got out of there the CO was so high. I ask the renter whose bedroom wall was on the other side of that crawl space if he had any headaches. He said that he woke up every morning with a headache. Concentration & Duration, gasp.

    The big problem was the boiler was next to the washer and dryer. Excessive acidic condensate did the job. I replaced the venting sys with stainless steel venting and brought in fan assisted outside combustion air that turned on when the boiler fired.

    Sometimes simple mistakes can be a killer. Be careful out there.

    PS. Also installed CO detectors.

  • Big Ed_4
    Big Ed_4 Member Posts: 3,564

    I like the Trex gas pipe floating in the air :)

    There was an error rendering this rich post.

Categories