Omar Alsweiti
New Member
I don't know a lot about this stuff but i'll give it my best shot.
Background: We came home one day and our hotwater heater wasn't running. Plumber came out and after troubleshooting, he replaced the faulty power vent fan (broke the pilot viewing window in the process though). The hotwater heater started working again. I then turned up the hot water dial to just prior to HOT position.
Now every time we come home, the entire house smells of exhaust fumes. You get used to the smell pretty fast but I managed to find the source was coming from the hot water heater flue as expected. I called 2 different mechanics to come look. One said this is normal (insane), the other claimed that this does happen but there is an intake for our central air in the same room and that's why it's spreading through the house. So he placed metal tape over the pilot viewing window and the intake on the central air ducting.
These are my thoughts/what I've done on the matter:
1) the power vent turns on when the hot water heater turns on, and IMMEDIATELY turns off when the hot water heater turns off. So any residual fumes bellow out the top and into our basement without being vented.
2) I've done ALL youtube/google tests for backdrafting. When the vent fan is on there is no backdrafting (I've tried worst case scenario with negative pressure in the house... it still vents).
3) I've cleaned the top of the heater for any soot and will monitor for maybe intermittent back draft.
4) The heater should have sufficient air flow since it's the same setup it has been ever since we started living here (2 years).
5) After 14-16 hours of not being home (wife works too, we weren't using hot water), there are fumes throughout the house.
6) I immediately check the hot water heater when I come home everyday and this is what I find: The hot water heater is off (just the pilot is on I think?), but I hold my hand to the outside of the flue/vent and feel hot air coming on my hand. This is evidence of back drafting EXCEPT the hot water heater is off, therefore the power vent is off. Is this Normal? Does the pilot really produce that much exhaust that spreads throughout the house?
7) All in all, I have a feeling that the exhaust that's coming from our hot water heater when it's in it's standby condition (burner is not on) isn't normal.
8) Again I stress, since we've lived here for the past 2 years we have NEVER smelled exhaust coming from anywhere in our house and the only things that have changed are: Broken pilot viewing window (has metal tape over it), newly installed power vent fan, turned up the rheostat on my hot water heater for hotter water (just prior to HOT position)
I am calling a 3rd mechanical service place to have them check but I wanted to check here first as I have lost a little faith (and money) to get nothing accomplished.
Thanks for your help!
Background: We came home one day and our hotwater heater wasn't running. Plumber came out and after troubleshooting, he replaced the faulty power vent fan (broke the pilot viewing window in the process though). The hotwater heater started working again. I then turned up the hot water dial to just prior to HOT position.
Now every time we come home, the entire house smells of exhaust fumes. You get used to the smell pretty fast but I managed to find the source was coming from the hot water heater flue as expected. I called 2 different mechanics to come look. One said this is normal (insane), the other claimed that this does happen but there is an intake for our central air in the same room and that's why it's spreading through the house. So he placed metal tape over the pilot viewing window and the intake on the central air ducting.
These are my thoughts/what I've done on the matter:
1) the power vent turns on when the hot water heater turns on, and IMMEDIATELY turns off when the hot water heater turns off. So any residual fumes bellow out the top and into our basement without being vented.
2) I've done ALL youtube/google tests for backdrafting. When the vent fan is on there is no backdrafting (I've tried worst case scenario with negative pressure in the house... it still vents).
3) I've cleaned the top of the heater for any soot and will monitor for maybe intermittent back draft.
4) The heater should have sufficient air flow since it's the same setup it has been ever since we started living here (2 years).
5) After 14-16 hours of not being home (wife works too, we weren't using hot water), there are fumes throughout the house.
6) I immediately check the hot water heater when I come home everyday and this is what I find: The hot water heater is off (just the pilot is on I think?), but I hold my hand to the outside of the flue/vent and feel hot air coming on my hand. This is evidence of back drafting EXCEPT the hot water heater is off, therefore the power vent is off. Is this Normal? Does the pilot really produce that much exhaust that spreads throughout the house?
7) All in all, I have a feeling that the exhaust that's coming from our hot water heater when it's in it's standby condition (burner is not on) isn't normal.
8) Again I stress, since we've lived here for the past 2 years we have NEVER smelled exhaust coming from anywhere in our house and the only things that have changed are: Broken pilot viewing window (has metal tape over it), newly installed power vent fan, turned up the rheostat on my hot water heater for hotter water (just prior to HOT position)
I am calling a 3rd mechanical service place to have them check but I wanted to check here first as I have lost a little faith (and money) to get nothing accomplished.
Thanks for your help!