Replylucky the house is still standing let alone the ho . i have seen blocked flues but not with the vent pipe itself. that has been like that for along time by the looks of it. thats why yearly service is needed on heating equipment
Professional Member
This home is having a new roof put on it due to extensive water damage.
But the water damage isn't from where we expected. We THOUGHT it was our A/C installation. Nope.
I had the roofer cut me some access holes.
And I saw this ancient furnace in the attic.
And blackened wood around the flue.
And lots of water damage to the roof.
When the flue was removed...
And I looked inside...
That's what caused the roof leak.
Imagine the heat inside that flue right at the point of the roof penetration. At the roof jack weather seal. It would heat it up and dry it out every time you ran the furnace.
Directly below the flue:
Now think about where all that carbon monoxide went, since it wasn't out the flue. 10 to 1 the heat exchanger is cracked too.
Regular Guest
lucky the house is still standing let alone the ho . i have seen blocked flues but not with the vent pipe itself. that has been like that for along time by the looks of it. thats why yearly service is needed on heating equipment
Professional Member*
i don't get it, if there is enough room for a furnace in the attic why the heck is there a package unit on the roof? and why is that condenser on the roof? i always thought it was a pita to grab a 6ft or 8ft ladder to work on condensers here, but your area brings whole a new meaning to my thinking!!!
If Guns Kill People, Do Pencils Misspell Words?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=An2a1...eature=related
Before we work on artificial intelligence why don't we do something about natural stupidity?
Professional Member
Well what the......? How'd that get in there?? LolOriginally posted by rifter1
Good to see you back, Rifter.
This space for rent.
Regular Guest
all i can say is WTF???
did you install the new package unit. (that furnace was in operation when you went out?)
Professional Member
Originally Posted by 4l530
Well what the......? How'd that get in there?? Lol
Good to see you back, Rifter.
That is the inner wall of a double-wall flue. It's basically just aluminum.
BUT it got so hot it tore off and crumpled up into a ball.
Regular Guest
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Regular Guest
That's not a condenser. That is an evaporative or swamp cooler you are looking at.
Regular Guest
No, there's a Carrier (presumably) package unit there.
What is this? Was the furnace abandoned and not in use anymore? Or, was it one of those instances where the furnace was "piggy-backed" to a str8 cool pkg unit w/blower removed?
Inquiring minds must know.
Professional Member*
That is not a crushed flue, it is a secondary heat exchanger, EFFECIENCY PEOPLE! lol
Professional Member
Until the 1970's in southern Arizona, unless you had money, your home just had an upflow gas furnace in a hall closet (there are no basements here) and an evap cooler on the roof. They shared a duct system. There would be a barometric damper in the cooler so the hot air in heating season didn't leak out into the sky.
So. What happens years later, is people keep planting vegetation, humidity levels rise, heat rises... it's hotter here than it was 50 years ago. People want to convert their evap coolers to a packaged unit of some type.
So:
The primary upgrade path:
Install a packaged heat pump -- Abandon the furnace (rarely in the attic, usually it's in a hall closet, which then gets removed and you have more storage space).
If you do this, you have to decide what to do with the swamp cooler. Many times, people are attached to the things, and want to keep them. Thus, you have two packaged units on the roof. One is usually a heat pump the other is the swamp cooler.
Why do people get attached to the swamp coolers? Humidity. In a part of the country where we only JUST get into double-digit humidity most of the year, indoor air is almost too dry.
(16% humidity at 110F converts to about 45% RH at 80F indoor air -- so infiltration air is pretty dry -- except -- in Phoenix, the Manual J Latent Load is NEGATIVE -- ie: the home's humidity is sucked OUTside to the drier air)...
People like humidity... and you can't humidify your cooled air... so Evap Coolers still have a following here...
Also...
There are next to NO straight packaged A/C systems in the southern part of Arizona.
Why? Because heat pumps really don't require heat strips. Since your cooling load is greater than the capacity of the heat pump in the heating season (a situation that exists in only a very small part of the country) you can size your heat pump for the cooling load and NO heat strips are required!
Which is good, because the old homes had gas, and not much power. So they usually can't support a 5 KW heat strip anyways.
Example: Yuma's winter design temperature (Manual J) is 44F!!!!
How would you like to live in a place that basically never goes below 44F? At 44F A heat pump that is sized for cooling here is actually oversized for the heating load.
So.
To answer the question: What is on the roof:
This is normal here.
House originally had a furnace in the attic (unusual, usually in the closet), and a swamp cooler. Later, the gas furnace was disconnected, and a heat pump was put on the roof. Later still, as happened in this case, the swamp cooler was removed, leaving only the packaged heat pump on the roof.
Here's another typical Phoenix rooftop install for you:
http://www.hvac-talk.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=167664
Last edited by rifter1; 04-06-2008 at 09:24 PM.
Regular Guest
Oh goody goody. I get to play "quess the hood"! Been a long time since we played THIS game.
Ok. Looking at what LOOKS to be the radio towers on South Mountain.
This job is approx at Broadway and 24th st?
How close am I?
Professional Member
21st street
Just south of Southern.
Just over a mile away.
Regular Guest
Damn I'm good!
Well, with south mountain in the background, it's pretty easy to gauge I guess!
I never got an email form you. I think you may have had one of my old ones I don't use anymore. I lost yours when I redid my computer. I think you have yours listed on here right? Maybe I'll shoot you one from one of my newer accounts. Probably hotmail. I can use it anywhere.
Professional Member
Close call !
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---------Holland aint flat !!! it is hollow !----------- first thing my mommy told me was : learn to swim
Professional Member
Because it's easier getting on the roof than it is in some attics.
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