Water Heaters - Can you direct vent a H/W heater?
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grantiman
04-12-05, 08:03 AM
I have H/W baseboard heat. Connected to my boiler is a "Amtrol Boiler Mate" H/W maker. There is a zone on this Boiler Mate so when the water temp get to low, the zone will open to heat the the water. The Boiler Mate is good in the winter cause the boiler is running anyways to heat the house, so the water is always hot in the boiler. The problem is , in the summer when I don't need the big gas eating boiler running to heat the house, it has to fire up all the time to just heat the hot water tank. I would just like to put a standard hot water tank in the basement and use that in the summer, this way my boiler wouldn't have to run all the time. Can I just vent a hot water heater out the side of my house, or does it have to be vented into a chimney? Or can I just vent the new H/W heater into the boilers vent pipe, this is a direct vent, draft induced boiler.
notuboo
04-12-05, 08:20 PM
Local code would dictate if you can vent out the side of the house. Some yes, some no. Tieing into existing masonary chimmey is bad as moisture problems develop. Tieing in to direct vent on boiler would be a no no when boiler is running, BUT you are using vent when boiler is off. This would be a very good question to ask the manufacturer of the boiler given the same situation that water heater is ran only during times boiler is off for seasonal usage.
Chances are they will tell you that you should not do this but you should still ask.
Good luck with your project and let us know what turns up.
Chances are they will tell you that you should not do this but you should still ask.
Good luck with your project and let us know what turns up.
michiganguy
04-20-05, 07:02 PM
You can direct vent a water heater as long as it is the proper power-vent
design. A power-vent water heater comes with a fan already built in at the
top of the unit and uses a pvc pipe to vent combustion gases out the side
wall, just above the foundation. I don't think you'll find any variation of local
codes, but I guess it doesn't hurt to ask. If your boiler uses a conventional
metal chimney vent, you could also use it to vent a conventional (non-
power vented) water heater. The smaller vent pipe from the water heater
is required to have a priority position at the chimney connection.
design. A power-vent water heater comes with a fan already built in at the
top of the unit and uses a pvc pipe to vent combustion gases out the side
wall, just above the foundation. I don't think you'll find any variation of local
codes, but I guess it doesn't hurt to ask. If your boiler uses a conventional
metal chimney vent, you could also use it to vent a conventional (non-
power vented) water heater. The smaller vent pipe from the water heater
is required to have a priority position at the chimney connection.