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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>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:efb8968d9a8d4c887a619f5337d6c32f@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<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 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 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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