A tale of two buildings...........

[BoilerMan]

I wonder if he will still decline the chimney being lined and capped off to reduce the flue size to something in the century. 12x12 is from the coal-fired steam days and pneumatic controls. Still love coal and pneumatics though, just not steam.

TS

 

[711mhw]

Could he just choke the chimney down with a cap on the top and get the same results as relining it to a smaller size?

 

[salecker]

Hi All
as an owner of a log house i just want to say that not all log homes are created equal.Ours is whats called a scribe log house.The master that built ours cuts groves in the logs so they fit tight on each other.I call him a Master because of the work he does,our house is roughly 31'x37' with 11' walls.We will not chink and it's not required to use any chinking on our home.There is a little air leakage on the walls but not much.I have found the most leakage was through the cracks in the logs.Each winter since we have heated it i have reduced the leaks by looking for the frost on the outside then from the inside i will use spray foam to seal the crack.
When you look at the logs inside and outside there are very few gaps between any of the log work.i doubt you could fit a piece of paper between 5% of the log work.We only have one log that twisted and opened up the seam
Then there is the thermal mass of the logs,they act like a big flywheel giving off heat when it gets colder.If i don't fire my boiler according to outside temps the mass of the logs will absorb the shortfall of BTU's by giving off heat.But i have to make sure to catch up or the house will slowly cool.
I would love to have a door blower test done,i'm sure the results would surprise a lot of people.
The insulation in the roof,and the job done to seal the vapor barrier is also crucial.Our roof has a minimum of R80,on the 12/12 pitch if you measure straight up it has R 120.Gable ends and dormer walls are at R28 and will get more insulation on the outside,probably 3" styro i have a trailer load of it.
So just like anything a log home is only as good as the builders,just like a stick framed home,or a boiler for that matter.Each must be assessed individually and not grouped in with all similar units.Just because Central Boilers are crap doesn't mean all OWB are crap
Thomas

 

[heaterman]

Could he just choke the chimney down with a cap on the top and get the same results as relining it to a smaller size?

As a matter of fact, that is what he says he is going to do.
I have seen this cause problems in large flues though. What you get is convective air currents going up the middle of the flue and as the exhaust gases cool they will try to fall back down the outer walls. This can effectively "block off" the flue creating more problems than it solves.

 

[sinnian]

As a matter of fact, that is what he says he is going to do.
I have seen this cause problems in large flues though. What you get is convective air currents going up the middle of the flue and as the exhaust gases cool they will try to fall back down the outer walls. This can effectively "block off" the flue creating more problems than it solves.

Is this an ego thing now? Obviously the owner has some money to do this correctly, why wouldn't they?

 

[heaterman]

Is this an ego thing now? Obviously the owner has some money to do this correctly, why wouldn't they?

Actually, I would not be surprised if they were thinking about selling the house due to changes in their life circumstances.