inspectorwill Posted March 4, 2010 Report Share Posted March 4, 2010 Came across this configuration yesterday and can't find any building standard that speaks directly to it. The fireplace is set in a corner of two interior walls, however, the chimney is square to the roof framing. The 45 degree turn was accomplished in the smoke chamber. Hope I am making sense. Basically, looking up through the damper you can see the unparged bricks of the smoke chamber turn 45 degrees in relation to the throat (as seen in the photos). Seems to me this may cause a drafting issue. Click to Enlarge 52.5 KB Click to Enlarge 50.03 KB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barlyhop Posted March 4, 2010 Report Share Posted March 4, 2010 I don't see anything related to this particular design, perhaps this site will help somehow. I do not see any evidence of a draft problem from your photo's.http://www.gobrick.com/BIA/technotes/t19b.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Raymond Posted March 4, 2010 Report Share Posted March 4, 2010 It appears to be functioning just fine, the smoke chamber is remarkably clean compared to the flue and damper. As long as it is sized correctly why would the 45 degree rotation matter? Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghentjr Posted March 4, 2010 Report Share Posted March 4, 2010 Came across this configuration yesterday and can't find any building standard that speaks directly to it. The fireplace is set in a corner of two interior walls, however, the chimney is square to the roof framing. The 45 degree turn was accomplished in the smoke chamber. Hope I am making sense. Basically, looking up through the damper you can see the unparged bricks of the smoke chamber turn 45 degrees in relation to the throat (as seen in the photos). Seems to me this may cause a drafting issue. Click to Enlarge 52.5 KB Click to Enlarge 50.03 KB So two guys didn't see it as a problem, nor do I. What did you tell the client? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Posted March 4, 2010 Report Share Posted March 4, 2010 ghentjr wrote: "So two guys didn't see it as a problem, nor do I. What did you tell the client?" The offset nature of your chinmey will cause real problems around the holidays. Check carefully for pieces of red velvet and white hair around the new year. ..............more or less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inspectorwill Posted March 5, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2010 The fact that it's clean tells me nothing because the current and original owner only used it a few times with a gas log set. My client intends to use the fireplace for burning wood. My opinion was that the rough transitions with the corbelled brick and the suspect cross sectional area of the opening created by this installation is cause for concern. There is potential for build up in the unparged smoke chamber and also a potential for drafting problems with the rough and short transition. Considering this fireplace has not been used (regularly or with wood), there will be no evidence of potential drafting problems. The answer may be resolved in time with operation. Nevertheless, I cannot predict the functionality so I referred them to a CSIA inspector as I felt it was the prudent thing to do. There was also a second fireplace in the home that was obviously in need of inspection / servicing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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