na1981

Thank you all for your responses! The two things I forgot to mention are... the house is very old and thus is really drafty (like a corn crib really!) and so I don't think there should be any concern for improper draft. (Re: Trent and Jim's notes). We plan to install more plug-in carbon monoxide detectors that will read as low as 30 ppm. We also plan to install a few propane detectors. Lastly, in response to Jim, our boiler has a built in propane gas detector and shut off valve and thus will not continue to release propane in the presence of a leak. Thus, there should be no unburned gasses present. One last thought... so if propane sinks and we are testing for it.. and the boiler will not allow more propane to be release with the shut off valve, then how could there be any gas settling in the basement? Further more, if the fire is on the first floor and drafting up AND we never turn the boiler on when we're lighting a fire, how could there ever be an explosion? Thanks for all your help! I don't have 500 or more dollars to spend to purchase and then install a side wall vent system and honestly have a lot of very dry wood to burn this winter... so I'm seriously considering firing up the wood stove after shutting off the boiler later this week. Please tell me what else I can do to be as safe as possible. In my humble opinion it's probably safer to do this than drive on the back roads in this snowy weather we're having at the moment []

Hello folks. I have some questions for you involving how to safely vent both solid fuel and gas (LP) out of the same chimney. I know this is not code, but a lot of people still do it and some of them are licensed plumbers with small children (I know two such cases). (1) Can people give me some clarity as to what are the known (as in proven) hazards of doing such a thing and what (if any) precautions one can take to make sure nothing really bad happens from having a duel vent for wood and gas exhaust? Background: basically we don't plan to use the propane boiler that much (located in basement)... and if we do use it we would make sure there is no fire going in the wood stove (first floor of house). The house is over 3 stories high (basement, 1st floor - 9ft high-, 2nd floor - 9ft high- and vaulted attic - over 12 ft high). I think we will have sufficient draft for either appliance - even without a sleeve (which is in the chimney right now because it's attached to the propane boiler exhaust). We plan to plug in a bunch of carbon monoxide detectors on all floors of the house and keep the chimney totally free of any debris or creosote build up. (2) The propane boiler has a built in shut-off system that will stop gas from coming out if the lighting mechanism malfunctions.. this makes me think there would be no unspent gas fumes entering the chimney which would potentially meet with a spark a floor above, am I correct? What are your thoughts on all this - thanks!