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This is very helpful. The combustion vents are of the inverted cone
variety that you've described. I'm still wondering if the building
or mechanical codes would prohibit panels located 4 ft above
plumbing, bathroom or non-combustion exhaust vents. <br>
<br>
Regarding Benn's earlier question about minimum allowable height for
plumbing vents, I believe that it's 6" as described in section 906.1
here: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://tinyurl.com/ll3fqt7">http://tinyurl.com/ll3fqt7</a><br>
<br>
Bruce<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 9/24/2014 6:38 AM, Bill Loesch
wrote:<br>
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<blockquote cite="mid:54229F0C.8010304@charter.net" type="cite">
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Bruce, August, et al,<br>
<br>
This is but one more example of confusing terminology. A
plumbing vent is not an exhaust vent!<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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 <u>appliance manufacturer</u>
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.<br>
<br>
I hope this helps,<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">Bill Loesch
Solar 1 - Saint Louis Solar
314 631 1094</pre>
On 23-Sep-14 6:54 PM, August Goers wrote:<br>
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cite="mid:efb8968d9a8d4c887a619f5337d6c32f@mail.gmail.com"
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<pre wrap="">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 [<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="mailto:august@luminalt.com">mailto:august@luminalt.com</a>]
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 [<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="mailto:re-wrenches-bounces@lists.re-wrenches.org">mailto:re-wrenches-bounces@lists.re-wrenches.org</a>] 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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