Then came the Minneapolis Gas Company, virtually giving away space heaters and gas hookups to get Minneapolitans to throw out those faithful wood stoves. Typically these gas fired heaters were vented up the same brick chimneys. Over the decades those chimneys deteriorated, and the standard fix was to run galvanized steel stovepipe down the old brick chimneys. This stovepipe has a life of maybe 20 years, and should properly be capped with a rain cap at the top to prevent water and wind coming down the stovepipe and blowing out the pilot light.
My first experience with these failing stovepipes was a few years back when a CO detector went off alerting me to a leaking stovepipe. Promptly shutting down the heater, I found the stovepipe inside the brick chimney near completely rusted away. With no means to access the chimney top 30 feet up I removed the blockage and tuckpointed the original brick chimney, returning it to use and removing the rusting stovepipe "liner". For 8 years that repair has held, but that old brick chimney's on borrowed time.
A few weeks back a friend told me how a contractor had replaced a similar stovepipe inside an old brick chimney by breaking open the bottom of the chimney, digging out the old stovepipe, and then pushing up new stovepipe from below. Well at first sounding like a simple solution that avoided the need for a bucket truck, one is left with no proper rain cap or closure at the top of the chimney. A few days ago I undertook the replacement of a similar plugged and corroded stovepipe inside of brick chimney that vented a gas fueled water heater.
What I found was frightening- the contractor who'd installed the stovepipe and water heater 15 years ago had busted a big hole in the back side of the chimney. Through a poorly placed outside air inlet for an electric heater they had used the same technique to push stovepipe up the old chimney. Problem is, they never closed the hole they made in the chimney.
Now in the real world outside of Minneapolis' city limits people don't have to mess with replacing stovepipes for 15 year old water heaters. There are a variety of 21st century means of much more efficiently heating water out there- solar water heaters, wood fired outdoor water heaters that heat your house too, gas fired tankless water heaters, etc.. None of these solutions requires a chimney or even stovepipe through the roof- these heating devices waste so little heat that they're warm rather than hot vent pipes can go out through the wall. Stoves and even furnaces are available that are vented in similar easy to install manner and run on renewable energy sources like corn and wood pellets.
Of course, none of these solutions are allowed in Minneapolis, where the city gets a cut of the gas company's take and pretty much does their bidding. So if you want a water heater replaced (they charge even more to fix 'em) here in Minneapolis, you can call the gas company or one of the handful of contractors that do business here. None of them carry solar water heaters or even the more efficent gas fired tankless heaters, and figure on spending at least $1000 on a $300 water heater that is no more efficient or long lasting than your old one by the time they add installation charges, etc.. Then you get to pay escalating prices for natural gas for years to come because you're competing with NSP's new natural gas fired boilers for the same supply of natural gas...
Which explains why I'm deep into the labor intensive job of rebuilding an old chimney so I don't have to pay $1000 for a new water heater. And while they're in there the gas company would probably condemn my old space heater so they could stick me another $10,000 for a new gas furnace and ductwork too. Then they'll insist on having the house rewired for another $10,000 to provide enough power for their "energy efficent" forced air system...
So before the cool weather provokes that furnace into action check those aging stovepipes and chimneys for leaks. And right now check that gas water heater for proper venting, and get a couple CO detectors with CO level readouts. Hopefully those potential CO sources will be OK, but while they deteriorate make plans to move somewhere the city doesn't stop you from using the most efficient and safest heating available, or at least remind your council member and mayor that a city that supposedly promotes clean and efficient energy should not force it's citizens to use the most inefficient and expensive heating systems.
from Hawthorne-In-The-Hood,
Dyna Sluyter
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