At Home In The Woods

[Damifino]

I would want all the waste lines subjected to a water test for at least 24 hrs.
your plumber may or may not be required to do this in your jurisdiction.

If it's not required for inspection, he may choose to for go, I know for peace of mind I would like to be sure.

Here's how it could be done at riser/risers in basement, each riser that has any fixtures attached upstairs that was not subjected to 1st test at ground rough.

A test tee would need to be cut into each riser and the below blow up plugs installed to hold back water.

Pushing in the snifter valve just like a tire valve will release the water past the cleanout, also the cleanout plugs upstairs will need to be doped.

 

[Obed]

Fireplace Installation

The fireplace was installed today. There are still a few things left to do.

The guy who did the installation turned out coincidentally to be the ex-son-n-law of the no longer hired construction manager. What are the chances?

This vent at the end of the hallway will blow hot air from the fireplace. We will have a secondary H&A return in the ceiling beside the hot air vent. The idea is to be able to use our HVAC ventilation to help circulate warm air from the fireplace.

This picture of the back side of the fireplace was taken while standing in the master bath shower. The flexible duct on the left brings in air from the outside of the house to cool the chimney flue. The duct between the flexible duct and the chimney flue runs to the hot air vent at the end of the hall.

Here is where the air supply ducts exit the house. The duct above the window draws air to cool the chimney flue. The bottom duct supplies combustion air for the fireplace.

This picture shows where the chimney runs through the attic.

 

[Coyote machine]

Obed,
Bigfoot systems recycled plastic cones are used to replace or be used in conjunction with sono tubes depending on the application. They are just a heavy duty pre-formed plastic base that is round, narrower at the top and wide at the base, to give stability while the concrete is being poured, setting, and after back filling to keep the concrete from being contaminated with back fill dirt, etc. Just wanted you to know for the next holes you dig- not being critical of your work- just trying to save you some back breaking.:thumbsup:

Glad you sought out the purple primer issue. (I did not know what piping was showing- just that I could not see any primer anywhere). It is for your edification, and allows you to take charge of how you want things done. One small leak- where ever it happens after ceilings and wallboard is up can be really costly.

I don't understand the concept of cooling your chimney flue?! And the hot air you're trying to capture is not from furnace or fireplace exhaust flues ducts is it?
Also I'd inquire about what ducting both HVAC and exhaust from fireplace, etc. needs to be wrapped with the metal foil at the joints of each section and smoothed with a squeegee type tool to seal any gasses from escaping into the home..
And for discussion purposes what is required by building codes is usually the MINIMUM allowed in a county or State application. Minimum may get things done but may not get them done to most people's personal standards for construction of THEIR home. Read all the clearance literature that comes with the fireplace AND furnace to make sure all adjacent walls are of adequate fire rating and especially the proper distance from combustibles. Make sure whoever is hooking up your interior gas lines is certified to do gas work. Many plumbers are NOT.
Keep up the good work!:thumbsup:
Personally I don't know how you find time to take all the pics and upload them and make the comments, etc., and do all the work you do.:confused2:
You must be dog tired at the end of each day?!

 

[CurlyDave]

I don't understand the concept of cooling your chimney flue?! And the hot air you're trying to capture is not from furnace or fireplace exhaust flues ducts is it?

I don't understand cooling the chimney flue either, but the air duct looks like it might be for providing outside air for combustion, which is more efficient than providing inside, heated, air for this purpose. This will cause the flue to run a few degrees cooler, but is not usually the primary reason for going to the trouble.

Typically, the hot air in this kind of system is from circulating inside air through a double or triple shell around the firebox.

 

[tommu56]

Here is the link to Big foot system.
Buy Bigfoot Systems® - for home improvements save time & money

 

[firefighter9208]

I think the duct going to the outside is for combustible air. Newer homes are sealed more tightly with the invent of housewrap and window tape. Most of the new heaters and fireplaces that I have seen require ducting to the outside for combustible air. W/O this ducting the chimney would not maintain a draft and turning on a bathroom vent or other item inside the house would actually cause a negative draft and smoke to come back into the house.

The other duct that Obed is referring to is to distribute heat into other parts of the house. Many of the newer inserts have hookups to make the fireplace into an almost "central heating" system.

Here is a link for an insert that is made by Napolean. It has the option for "central heat" or gravity vents to supply warm air to other parts of the house. Look down at the bottom of my link and click on manual. Page 8 of the PDF shows the options. Specifictions for NZ3000 Wood Burning Fireplace

Obed,
What insert did you install? I've been thinking of adding one to our house.

Chris

 

[srs]

The fireplace was installed today.

Suggestion for you Obed. Nail a piece of plywood or similar product on the face of the fireplace so it doesn't get damaged. It will prevent a board, dirt, drywall mud, a hammer, etc. from damaging the face of the FP.

 

[Coyote machine]

What was explained to me by an energy consultant as one of the reasons to bring in outside air to provide combustion air to my old basement furnace was the following: When a source of combustion, like my old oil burner furnace/boiler draws in available air from it's immediate surroundings for instance in a basement that people may inhabit, the combustion process is reducing available oxygen from the area and can be detrimental to their health. By providing an outside air source tied into the combustion process, example: in circuit blower, this problem is eliminated and the oxygen depletion is eliminated, thus restoring necessary air/oxygen to the area in question.

 

[dodge man]

Its looking good! Another suggestion that Mike in WV touched upon, is what kind of texture do you want on your walls and ceiling? I like the rougher texture on the cieling, it hides a lot, and a "knock down" on the walls. Its basically just dry wall mud put on thin and spread out. It provides a little texture, I like the looks, and it hides any minor problems with the dry wall.

 

[Pops15]

Using outside air for combustion is nothing new. Many fireplace manufacturers have offered outside combustion air kits since at least the late 1970's. The short explanation is that set up is more energy efficient. When you use inside air for combustion you're sending air you've paid to heat up the chimney.
Ducted fireplaces aren't new either. There are several variations of ducted fp systems. The best I ever saw ducted the heat from the heat exchanger on fp into the COLD air duct going to the furnace and used a limit switch to run the furnace blower to circulate the fp heat throughout the house. I used a similar system with a wood stove in my house in the early 80's.

I've never seen a separate duct to cool the flue. I'm curious as to why that is needed with Obed's fp. The flue on a prefab fp is usually triple wall that uses outside air to cool the flue. Air enters at the top between the 3rd (outside) and second walls of the flue. Convection causes the cool air to drop. the second wall usually has cut outs at the bottom which allows the air thats coming between the 3rd and 2nd walls to enter the space between the 2nd and 1st (inside) walls of the flue. The inner wall is hot from handling the combustion gasses from the fire box. It heats the air between the 2nd and 1st walls of the flue which causes the air to rise. The outside air cools the inner wall as it rises. It's a very good system. Some brands are zero clearance to combustible materials.
I wonder if Obed's flue is double wall and just uses a separate duct for the outside air?