Water Heaters - Can flue accommodate 2nd water heater?

:rolleyes: undefinedI am finishing the basement in my new house, and have decided to do baseboard hotwater heat (in the basement only). Not wanting to part with 3k for a boiler, I have chosen to use a water heater instead. My question is this-a plumber and a salesman have both told me that my 6 inch flue will easily accommodate another water heater along with my 80,000 BTU furnace and 40,000 BTU existing water heater. Yet another plumber tells me it will not. I am not interested in taking any chances. At 200+ dollars, this is the cheapest option. I could always do a powervent, but they are very expensive. Option 3 is to use my existing water heater coupled with a heat exchanger. But at only 40 gallons, I am worried that I will have enough potable water for my family when heating demands are high.

Thanks for any input.

Consult the National Fuel Gas Code for the BTU capacity of your flu. A good plumber can help you with this. I am not posting from home, so I don't have my book handy.

If you have a B vent for gas on the units go to
http://www.duravent.com/docs/instruct/shbook.pdf

This should tell you what you can do there on the vents

ED ;)