Sneaky CO call

Dave Yates (PAH)

Two story home with a water heater in the first floor closet.

Called in for a pilot outage & no hot water - simple thermocouple replacement was all that was required to restore pilot and operation. End of story?

When just the water heater ran, no problems could be detected. However, there was evidence of flue gas condensation at the draft diverter.

But..... Turn up the thermostat for the horizontal crawl space located 80+ furnace and flue gases began spilling into the closet from the partially blocked chimney. That's the problem with having one appliance attached at a higher elevation to a chimney where both vent via gravity.

The condensing flue gases provided enough of a rain-forest effect to drip down through the water heater's flue tube and douse the pilot.

Our CO detector was the first rock-solid clue that something elusive was wrong in spite of the water heater drafting properly on its own. If you don't test, you can't know!

Turned out to be a squirell's nest! 40 PPM CO in the home. Airing out today & we'll re-test this afternoon. Spark-guard screen has been added to chimney outlet to prevent another nest building.

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sootmonkey

hey

sounds like someone is alive tonight because of you.

Steamhead

Nice job, Dave

knowing what to look for is half the battle. Hey, did you get my e-mail?

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Mark Eatherton1

How's the squirrel doing??

PETA monitors this site on a regular basis...

Must have some feeling for the squirrel too...

GREAT job of CO sleuthing Dave.

I was in a foreign county today (Vail) and heard a radio announcement from a local HVAC contractor that sounded almost exactly like the PSA announcement I put out in regards to CO poisoning. Made me smile and feel good all over:-) Glad someone is getting the word out in a BIG time manner.

ME

Brian_24

I think you have more trouble. How was the squirrel able to build the nest? I would make sure both appliances are venting properly.
Brian

rob

Just a thought...

Since this appears to be a common vent by code definition, isn't the appliance with the lowest input btu supposed to be the first into the manifold or common vent? Just wondering since this one may be "yours" after the repair.
Good lick and thanks for your insights.