I’m refinishing a room, and would like to leave the chimney exposed. There are some cracked bricks, and I don’t think either flue has a liner. One flue is for an oil furnace, the other for a wood burning fireplace. I’ve had a CO detector up there, to try and see if there is any leaks, I don’t know how sensitive they are though, it’s a Kidde Nighthawk model, with an led readout. Is there a way to fix hairline cracks in brick? Maybe some kind of sealer? I can post a pic of the brick, if that would help.
Thanks
Replies
here are some pics of the brick
Probably should have a liner.
You can pressurize the room and see if air is traveling through the cracks.You get out of life what you put into it......minus taxes.
Marv
Both flues should/must have liners.
Period.
I don't know about yours, but my church isn't a hotel for the holy, it's a hospital for sinners
Sojourners: Christians for Justice and Peace
Thanks for the replys, I'll definitely make sure I get a liner in there. The oil furnace will be replaced in the spring, it's from around 1952. The house is from the the late 1920's so my guess is they didn't use liners back then. Since the firebox for the fireplace is brick, how hard is it to retrofit a liner? I've only seen the stainless steel ones used with a steel fire box
Going at it with a Kiddie Nighthawk is a bit like George Bush looking for grammatical errors. Your instrument isn't sensitive enough by a long shot.
All UL-listed CO detectors are crap. The early ones were fairly sensitive and lots of people called their fire departments. FDs got tired of the work and the current ones might help you explain the headache and other symptoms you already have. Or catch a sudden, catastrophic failure. But a low-level chronic leak? Forget it.
Home Inspectors like Bob use more sensitive detectors. An aviation oriented detector is in between. More sensitive than a home one (pilots can't just step outside) but not as easy to localise as with a wand-style detector.
All that said, a flue should be under negative pressure while it has warm or hot air in it. So small cracks, in a good flue, leak in not out.
But if the flue is not well-designed - to short, too wide, too narrow - then portions of its length may be under positive pressure. Or if a stork built a nest on your chimney - flue gases would definitely vent through those cracks.
Summary - a good thing to follow up on. But unlikely to be a big hazard. Small cracks mean small flow. An otherwise functioning flue means it leaks IN not OUT.
I don't entirely agree on CO detectors, although there is no absolute right and wrong.The least expensive detectors ($20 +/-) should be the last choice, in my opinion. If you have one, fine, but get a better one, too.The $40-50 are pretty good and might be the best choice for some folks.The $100 - $130 are the best, especially for folks who are vulnerable to CO.I've been recommending the one at www. aeromedix .com for a few years.There is a new low level monitor from the National Comfort Institute available through heating contractors and CO Safety Analysts that looks like the best one out there now.Contractors carrying them can be located by calling the NCI at the 800 number on their site.I hope to have my next shipment in in another week or two, but they are hard to get because the demand has outpaced what they expected.There's more on CO monitors and CO at msg 49763.4 and in that thread.I don't know about yours, but my church isn't a hotel for the holy, it's a hospital for sinners
Sojourners: Christians for Justice and Peace