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I recently purchased a home, about 6 months ago, and just discovered that there is no damper on the exhaust pipe that comes out of the furnace. The pipe goes into the wall into what I assume is part of the chimney.
The furnace is an old Luxaire oil furnace.
1. Isnt this a problem? Could it contribute to heat loss in the home when the furnace is fired up?
2. Should the house inspector have caught this? I did have a furnace inspection by a oil company and they didnt seem to catch this either. Surely, if this is a problem, they should have caught it.
I am not fluent in furnaces or anything of the sort. So I dont completely understand how it all works, as well as the exhaust. But from what I understand and what someone told me, is that there should be a damper on the exhaust pipe. I dont completely understand its purpose though I must admit.
I'm just a home owner with no special knowledge. When I bought my place decades ago I had the same situation. My oil burner maintenance guy said "Yep, be a good idea to have one, it balances the air pressure differential in the flue", so I had it installed.
Common sense says they shouldn't be allowed to install flues without them --- but common sense is sometimes in short supply. I'd have one installed if it were my place. JMO
Do you know if it would help making the furnace more efficient or is it just some sort of air pressure deal. I guess Im not even sure what noticeable difference its suppose to make
A barometric damper will allow for air to flow out of the basement instead of it getting sucked out your boiler/furnace. This will reduce heating costs, especially important for boilers with stored heat and if you live in a windy area.
Common sense says they shouldn't be allowed to install flues without them --- but common sense is sometimes in short supply. I'd have one installed if it were my place. JMO
There's no codes for this AFIAK and in the case of a wood burner you're just asking for your house to burn down with one installed.
Im definitely calling the people who did a maintenance check on this when I bought the house. I think this is something they shouldve at least mentioned.
One thing is for sure, that exhaust pipe gets extremely hot. While the house does get heat from the furnace it doesnt seem like it is efficient as it should be. I realize the unit is old, but if the fact that no damper being there allows all this really hot air to escape, then I would have to think that putting a damper in would help at least a little bit.
I sure hope it helps. The furnace works, though its old, and if this would help make it more efficient, thus saving me money, that would be awesome.
Generally when you say damper you are referring to manual damper that goes inside the flue pipe, these actually restrict the gases from escaping. They are used on wood burners and hand fired coal stoves.
What you want is barometric damper.
The reason you wouldn't use one of these on a wood stove is in case of a chimney fire, it would have an unrestricted amount of air making it much worse.
Coal and wood are not an issue. Pressure balancing of the flue stack in an oil fired system is what competent installers do. Am I missing something here??? --- feel free to beat me over the head but let's skip the advice on coal and wood that are not relevant to the guy's situation. He's got an oil fired system that needs some attention.
Pressure balancing of the flue stack in an oil fired system is what competent installers do. Am I missing something here???
I don't think you're missing anything, I would never install a heating system without a manual or barometric damper but you want the correct one for the application.
Quote:
--- feel free to beat me over the head but let's skip the advice on coal and wood that are not relevant to the guy's situation. He's got an oil fired system that needs some attention.
I mentioned it because he said damper, where I come from that means manual damper which you're not going to use with an oil furnace. It performs pretty much the same task as a barometric damper but in a different way and could be hazardous for oil fired system.
Probably be in your best interest to buy a carbon monoxide detector if you have a heating system involving flames and chimney..
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