C O HELP

MIKE6

Worked wityh fire Dept on a c o call found 38 ppm comming from drain pipe in sump pump pit.No battery back up.Any ideas?Fire Dept insists its a nat gas heat boiler problem,I disagree.Reading at heat 7ppm,reading at sump pit 38ppm.Utica boiler about 10 years old,flue draws,chimney relined.35ppm in heat flue.No down drafts or mechanical vents.Can a french drain cause co?
Mike

Mark Eatherton1

Is there a condensate drain from the appliance...

that posssibly terminates in that area? I remember a situation a few years back where all the W/M Golds in Colorado had to have a spring check connected to their stack drain due to a lack of condensate to keep the trap primed. Was discovered in Aspen Colorado if memory serves me well..

CO is basically unburned molecules of carbon. It is entirely possible that you have some natural gas leaking up through the french drain system from an external leak on your gas line, or a leak from an old underground fuel tank.

The ethyl mercaptan could be getting filtered out by the soil, so you can't smell the usual odors associated with a natural gas leak.

Nothings impossible.

Treat it with the utmost respect.

ME

LEAD PIPE

CO

Shut the boiler down and air it out for a bit then test with the boiler off.

john c.

main venting location

i guess this is gonna seem silly to most of you who are reading this but please bear with me. im a plumber in nj. but i rarely do haeting at all. one of my friends asked me the other day to look at his one pipe steam system...he had a loud hissing buried in the ceiling....towards the end of the house well, i opened the ceiling sure enough the main vent was shot. ...actually it looked like it went thru a meat grinder. i have dans book on the lost art of steam heating and i know according to the book the main vent , ideally should be15 inchs from the end of the main,but what if u have a final take off going to a radiaator and that take off is like 3 inchs from the end .....what do you do then? any comments would be appreciated.

john c.

main venting location

i was looking at a friends one pipe system the other day and his main vent is at the very end of the line.......but i do see why they put it there at first though.......there is a block wall at the very end of the house and the vent is right up against it and the last take off for a radiator is roughly 3 inches before it. now ideally if i wanted to protect the new main vent id back up the main ventlocation .........buthere is my question... can i put the main vent in just before the take off to the radiator i previously mentioned.......or will i be creating new problems for myself....any imput would be appreciated.