\"Aerodynamically coupled gas appliances

hr

In this months FHB (May 04) author Joseph Lstiburek P.E. write a clever article about "top 10 blunders that rot your house, waste your money, and make you sick." He writes

"We've advanced from a hole in the cave to aerodynamically coupled gas appliances. We've put a pipe over the fire and suck the pipe through a hole in the ceiling to vent smoke. In typical gas water heaters the chimney isn't connected to the top of the water heater; there's a gap. Building scientists call this gap a bad idea. Everyone else calls it a draft hood.

Except in Germany where things are always ordered and precise, combustion byproducts don't follow arrows, past the draft hood, especially if your house, range hood, or clothes dryer sucks. If your house sucks the results is called backdrafting, sucking toxic gases into your breathing air."

Great article, well written.

www.buildingsciences.com is his web site.

hot rod


Also in this FHB issue Radiantec replies to my letter concerning Al Rossetto's combined radiant/ dhw systems.

To be polite I'll call the response anticipatory denial :)


<A HREF="http://www.heatinghelp.com/getListed.cfm?id=144&Step=30">To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"</A>

J.C.A._3

For the record....

Mr. Milne asked a great question at last weekends Mass. PHCC gathering about "open systems".

The asnswer from the board was....? They were completely sidestepping the issue by saying things like, "youve got to see the approved system", and REALLY didn't come right out and give an answer.

I believe in Ma. this leaves the question open to "interpretation from the Local inspector".

My FIRM belief is that mixing domestic water and heating systems is a "NO-NO". No , it shouldn't be done, and No way, it is a disaster waiting to happen.

The board ,to me,was dazzling the audience with brilliance, but baffling with bull&#!*. All we wanted was an answer. Didn't get one! This IS a question that needs to be asked. If the producers of this type of system are willing to stand behind it, will they also be in court, to provide the neccessary backup that will be requested WHEN someone gets sick or dies because of their "thought process"?

I think that "heat exchangers"or"SEPERATE SYSTEMS' are the only way to go if your going to try to "mix and match". Wasn't "standing domestic water" the cause of Legionaires disease? Chris

Mark Hunt

Holy flue pipe Batman!


How many times AFTER you drilled a hole into a flue pipe for testing has the customer pointed to it and asked, "You're going to seal that up, right?".

I guess the huge hole called a "draft hood" is good, while that 1/4" hole is deadly????????????

Go figure.

Mark H

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

jackchips_2

One nice

aspect of the Ma code, Chris, is the option of anyone to propose a change.

I have met and had conversation with Mr. Joe Peluso, as you know our Executive Director, and he is more than willing to look at, review and comment on proposed changes.

I would suggest you call his office in the State House and request a code change form.

Although there has been a long delay in all the code changes that have been proposed over the last few years, it is my understanding that there will be code hearings this year and substantial changes to the Ma. Plumbing Code.

ScottMP

Jack

I have spoken to Mr. Peluso on the phone and he was the one who responded to my question at the trade show. His answer was to wait untill we see the drawings. I would think that a ruling of No Connection Between Domestic and Heating Water, would have gone a long way to support the claim that MA has one of the best codes in the country. Instead it appears they have a made a provision to allow a certain manufacturer to peddle his wairs in Mass.

Scott

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

jackchips_2

That just

makes seeking a code change even more relevant, Scott. In this way there is no dependence on a verbal reply to a specific situation.

We do have one of, if not the best codes in the country but I could spend the next 1000 words expressing deep frustation with various aspects. Unless you, I and others who have questions and concerns bring them forward through changes and are willing to defend those proposed changes at the hearings, nothing will get done.

Mark Eatherton1

Perception...

the manufactured hole is "supposed" to be there. The 1/4" hole was made after the fact...

I hear what you're saying.

ME

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"