I am rehabbing a house built in 1950. I replaced the old water lines with CVPC. In side a wall cavity I have a vent from the furnace. This vent becomes hot when the furnace is running. It becomes hot enough that it becomes difficult to place my hand on the vent near the floor level. Two feet higher it becomes cooler. Near the bottom portion on this vent I have a cold water cpvc line which passes as close as 1/2″ from this vent. I was going to run an electrical line within 4 ” of the vent. The plumber did not seem concerned with the placement of the cpvc (the furnace may not have been running when he was there.) The electrician was unsue about the placement of the wire. I am about to seal up the wall and put a kitchen cabinet in front on the access to these items. Should I beconcened with the heat from the flue affecting the cpvc or electrical wire? Should I install some type of heat shield around the flue? Thanks
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My first assumption would be that with these things you should maintain the required distance between flue and flammable surfaces. Not sure what that distance might be for your flue, though.
In any event, it's not good for plastic to be "baked" for long periods of time. Both CPVC and modern romex are rated to about boiling, but will last longer if held below, say, 150F.
If possible, a piece of drywall or cement board is better than metal as a shield, though metal is better than nothing. And in any event it's important to restrain the pipe and wire so that future activity does not cause it to move closer to the flue.
This is also possibly a good time to place draft stops in the flue chase. These should generally be sheet metal (for most flue types), cut (using two overlapping pieces with U notches in them) to fit tightly around the flue such that they seal off drafts in the chase. Cuts heat loss to the attic and slows any fire that may get started down below.
FWIW, when I was working on rehabbing a HfH house some years back, the BI required that the flue chase be rocked on the inside, as a fire barrier. He didn't require taping the joints, though I recall reading here of some others who did.
Edited 3/7/2007 1:40 pm by DanH
Thanks for the advice. I will either put a piece of sheetrock or a piece of cement rocker board (we are tiling as we speak) between the flue and the cpvc and wire. Do you have a preference between the two? I think I can reroute the flue out to a different wall but it would involve a 90 deg bend. I'm not sure that would be up to code. BillB82
The safe distances are spelled out in the building code. An inspector would have gladly helped determine proper routing for those items, but it sounds like you don't have a permit.
Judging by the clearances an inspector probably has things to say that you wouldn't like. Just covering it up just screws the guy who buys the house after you.
Beer was created so carpenters wouldn't rule the world.
IIRC there is a 2" minimum clearance required between framing and double wall flue pipe. Could be wrong, but that is the number that comes to mind from an install we did several years ago.
I'll pull out the 02 IRC and check this evening.
Dave
I have a hard time keeping all that straight. Our HVAC inspector applys rather restrictive requirements on an installation unless the manufacturer's specs are followed, which are usually less restrictive.
It's a full time job keeping up with all the trades. :-)
Beer was created so carpenters wouldn't rule the world.