Baffling chimney issue...

[rwhite]

Put in an electric HWH and be done with all that.

Thought about suggesting that but figured that with the age of the house they probably don't have 200 amp service to handle it. But if they do then an electric HW is certainly an option. Or do like I did and swap the electric range for NG and free up a breaker that could be used.

 

[hotot]

ThankS again everyone.

I do have 200 amp service and lots of room in my box (just upgraded last year). However with the price of ng and 5 person household I think I want to stick with ng if nothing more then recovery time.

Right now I am thinking of switching to a ng with PVC exhaust and powe vent. It will also allow me to move the wh closer to bathrooms. Not the perfect spot as there would be a deck over the nearest exhaust point and I am sure that is not allowed. But if I move it 10 feet the other way I should be in the clear. Got a gas line right there and lots of wires to put in an outlet.

The biggest problem is all the power vent units I have seen or friends have I feel are noisy! Have they gotten better? Or some models quieter then others? It is not a deal breaker as anything is better then watching my chimney weep to pieces. Thanks I'm calling for wh Monday morning.

 

[Butcher]

The biggest problem is all the power vent units I have seen or friends have I feel are noisy! Have they gotten better? Or some models quieter then others? It is not a deal breaker as anything is better then watching my chimney weep to pieces. Thanks I’m calling for wh Monday morning.

What I've found with the noise issue is in the mounting of the PVC to the floor joists. If only wood or pipe strapping is used you might get a vibration noise when the vent kicks in. If you buy the appropiate hangers for the vent pipe it cuts down on the noise a great deal. Get the right J hangers and I'll bet you wont hear much noise.

 

[hotot]

Quick update on this.
I knew if the water stopped in the spring it had to be a moisture issue from inside the chimney. It did, issue confirmed. So I started the task to get a new water heater and vent it differently.

I knew my chimney had a nice flexible liner in it from a good company since I had the bill from the previous owner and had talked to the installed of it from 7 years ago. The bill said hooked to furnace.

Well people don't assume anything. I was working down there doing some prep and pulled a few things out and realized the liner is actually hooked to the coal stove. I talked to the chimney company and he verified that this type of coal stove in this configuration they would very well refer to that as a furnace on the bill.

So now back to square one in the fact I don't know if the moisture / condensation is caused by the furnace, water heater or most likely both.

I ended up having the chimney company come and disconnect the liner from the coal stove/furnace and pull it right out and seal up the coal stove hole (cleaning the stove up now to sell). They turned the liner, cleaned it, and hooked both the NG furnace and NG water heater to it. Sealed the extra hole on the top of the chimney (the one that was just open to the cavity), insulated it all and it looked great.

It was a little bit more then buying a direct vent water heater, but I might have done all that and still had the problem if the furnace was more the issue.

Now I can go up in the attic when it is a bit cooler and scrub the chimney down to hopefully get rid of all those dark drips and stains.

Thanks everyone.