Bruce, August, et al,
This is but one more example of confusing terminology. A plumbing vent
is not an exhaust vent!
A plumbing vent (what August calls a cold vent) is provided to allow the
sanitary drain traps (and perhaps more) to operate properly. Without the
properly functioning traps you would have sewer gas smell and sewer gas
from the plumbing fixtures. This was commonplace when indoor plumbing
was introduced to early adopters.
An exhaust vent is another animal entirely. An exhaust vent carries the
combustion products to a suitable exterior location for dilution with
ambient air. With the advent of power vented combustion appliances, a
direct vent (one that takes in combustion air from the outside and
naturally exhausts combustion products to the outside) is IMHO the only
responsible way to install any power vented appliance in a freezing
climate. (Power vented appliances come in both condensing and
non-condensing flavors-they can penetrate the side wall or the roof).
Originally, two separate pipes (with two independent properly separated
penetrations) was used. That technique is still often used today. More
recently concentric vents have been introduced both for condensing and
non-condensing applications. A concentric vent can simplify some
installations by putting the exhaust pipe inside a larger air intake
pipe allowing for one, albeit larger, penetration. As you might imagine
if the exhaust flow is hindered/diverted/redirected by an
inappropriately located solar module combustion gasses will be
re-ingested into the intake air. Not good for equipment performance. My
understanding is the power vented _appliance manufacturer_ dictates what
kind of separation/clearances are needed with their product. My guess is
you find they want at least a foot of separation between the top of the
" inverted cone" and the module. Probably not what you had in mind for
an aesthetically pleasing installation.
I hope this helps,
Bill Loesch
Solar 1 - Saint Louis Solar
314 631 1094
On 23-Sep-14 6:54 PM, August Goers wrote:
Bruce and All,
Sorry, I hit send before I had a chance to complete my thoughts. What I
meant to say was that I've found AHJs often allow us to cover cold
plumbing vents but I've never tried or had any luck with covering hot
vents including condensing boiler PVC vents. Once again, if in doubt you
could see what the plan checker or inspector thinks.
Best,
August
-----Original Message-----
From: August Goers [mailto:aug...@luminalt.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2014 4:15 PM
To: 'RE-wrenches'
Subject: RE: [RE-wrenches] Modules over vents
Bruce,
I'll send you the CA plumbing code vent section offlist (attachment too
large for this list). The way I read the code is that you technically
can't cover any type of plumbing or hot vent. However, and I've run into
little resistance from AHJs in the Bay Area by covering these. You might
want to check in with your plan checker.
Best,
August
Luminalt
-----Original Message-----
From: RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org] On
Behalf Of Bruce Leininger
Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2014 3:49 PM
To: RE-wrenches
Subject: [RE-wrenches] Modules over vents
Hi all. We're designing a system on a roof that is literally infested
with plumbing, exhaust and combustion vents. The combustion vents are PVC
and none of the vents are more than 1.5' above the roof.
A racking company says that we can cover them with modules, since the
modules will be at least 4' above the roof. They have not yet provided
any building code references to say that this is ok. Do any of you know
if the building code allows this?
Thanks.
Bruce
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