death in the making

dann crist_2

check out these pics, customer complained of bad flue gas etc.they said the problem had been going on a couple years.Boiler Room is somewhat isolated from main living part of the house but they were having to keep the window open to keep the smell to an acceptable level. two boilers were hooked to this flue--one was primary, the other was only fired when temps were quite low. Primary boiler 130,000 BTU. System was also firing an indirect fired water heater. What you see in the pic is a starling nest, actually there were at least two nests, as there were two layers of nest materials and two layers of dead young birds. the chimney was completely blocked---all flue gasses were being spilled out the diverter. Please note-- there WAS a regular approved B-vent cap on the chimney top. (Last guy here put a shield on the windward side of the chimney top to keep the wind from driving flue gasses down the chimney). I figure the birds built the nest just inside the top and when the weight of the birds and moisture from the flue gasses made the nest heavy enough, it fell 18' to the elbow at the bottom. Next bird-- new nest--repeat. Replaced whole set up with new Weil Mclain Ultra.