CHECK HERE THE MOST COMMON SCAMS AND LEARN
WITH OTHER PEOPLE’S MISTAKES
BE AWARE OF THE PROBLEMS REGARDING CHIMNEYS
AND DON’T ALLOW THE SAME MISTAKES
SEE ALSO POORLY PLACED FREESTANDING STOVES DUCTS
These pictures don’t need any comments
Ducting inspection
It seems half the duct disappeared
Unfortunately, it’s a common mistake to place few
meters of flue pipe, just to save a couple of euros.
In this case, it’s impossible to carry out the
proper cleaning of the pipe
Zinc plated spyro duct
It’s commonly used in construction work as risers.
It lasts from 3 to 10 years
Flexible zinc plated pipe
It’s usually used to connect fireplaces to the riser
duct.
It last from 1 to 5 years
Pictures taken while repairing/replacing the duct
Inspection of a rotten metal flue pipe
NONEXISTENCE OF PROPER DUCTING. THE DUCT WAS
JUST MADE OF MASONRY, I.E., BRICKS LAYED ON TOP OF EACH
OTHER AND NOTHING ELSE
We can see the passageway of the
old duct in the rooms. It leaked smoke into the
air box, which was coming out through the tubes
of the lamps, windows and blinds and through the
joints of the links of the inner doors
– a typical and common
situation
Remainder of the old duct.
Examining the area between the ground floor slab and the exterior, we
can see that all the area surrounding the old duct, made of brick and
clay, was filled with smoke due to leakage.
Remainder of the old duct, seen from above.
We can see a power socket, which was set in the wall,
already melted.
MASONRY DUCT COMPLETELY REMOVED. THE SMOKE WAS COMING OUT
THROUGH THE CRACKS IN THE ROOM
View of the duct, smoke chamber and the interior of the hotte.
It would be impossible to clean – We demolished it to install
a stainless duct throughout the whole system.
Continuing flue duct in the first floor.
We can see the smoke leaking areas to the exterior of the old duct, made
of brick and clay – a hazard for the room occupants where the flue duct
passed.
Detail of the chimney outlet, seen from bottom up.
We can see in detail the small size of the chimney width,
namely 15 cm in diameter for a duct of 20 by 18
View from the top of the previous flue duct.
Picture taken from bottom up.
We can see the chimney concrete tube and verify that
there’s a choking section in the chimney area.
BEGINNING OF THE DUCT IN MASONRY, AND AFTERWARDS IN SPIRO
ZINC STEEL
Smoke chamber in the ground floor (inside the hotte, or
hood)
Another case where there’s no flue pipe
Picture taken from the 1ºst floor
The fireplace had never been used.
It’s commonplace, to find situations like this one, where
it’s impossible to clean airway.
Flue pipe in the passageway of the room above the fireplace
Here, we find a zinc steel pipe with a width of 20 cm, enclosed by a
ceramic brick wall. This type of duct doesn’t last long, it should have
been installed a stainless duct; however, it’s best to have this duct
than none at all. It’s good for cleaning while it lasts, and if it’s
properly installed, it enables to slide a stainless duct inside it to
connect to the stove.
In this picture, an opening was made to allow the connection of the
stove’s stainless duct to this existing duct.
Detail of the stainless link which will join the two ducts
Manufactured by us
Detail of the stainless flue pipe and its connection to the picture
duct.
We used the opening to pass another duct to heat the room.
DIVERSOS MAUS EXMPLOS
Flue pipe torn down as it let smoke leak into the upper
room.
We can also see the obstruction in the area where a beam
crosses.
The beam should have never been drilled through to make way
to a duct.
We can see two power cables near the duct, already slightly
melted.
Flue duct of a stove which was poorly connected.
We can see the smoke well outside the hood (hotte)
area which was torn down. Sometimes, the connection
to the fireplace floor is neglected, because the
smoke in this area is in depression, but it isn’t
always like that.
When there’s a choking in the upper part of the duct
or chimney, the depression ceases to be, leaking
smoke through the all the joints.
Stainless flue pipe already set by the building constructor,
where he forgot to seal the passageway around the duct.
In this instance, if the stove installer doesn’t properly
seal the passageway, a great amount of the generated heat
will leak through it.
Alleged flue duct, without any duct.
Flue passageway of a installed stove
Problem: this time it wasn’t possible
to insert a stainless duct to the top of the
passageway due to the fact that the builder,
mindlessly, forgot to cut the slab steal beams.
Solution: the cleaning of the
passageway will have to be executed in two steps;
through the interior of the stove, and through the
top of the passageway, having been installed a
removable chimney for that reason.
Fibre cement (fibro) flue duct (seen from the bottom)
After a fire and explosion
You can see
the smoke chamber covered in soot, even after the fire
and explosion, in this open fireplace.
In the
upper part of the duct you can see the beginning of
fibre cement flue duct.
Reasons of the explosion:
use of an inadequate duct and lack of its cleaning.
Clay
brick flue passageway with large dimensions (50 X 40 cm)
Problem:
the fireplace wasn’t working properly due to the chimney, at the top of
the passageway, being set on top of a prestressed beam, not allowing
enough room for the smoke to go through. This type of error can only be
detected after breaking an opening so we can insert a camera to check
the interior.
Solution:
here, the flue pipe you see in the picture has 16 cm. As this duct size
wasn’t appropriate for the existing stove, it had to be replaced by a
new one.
We took advantage of the
large size of the passageway to insert heating tubes for the two upper
rooms.
... In the Net since 1999 -
Page last updated on01-06-2013
