Chimney Venting and Boilers

Hi there, I live in a 5 story brownstone.  Our gas fueled steam boiler just died and we have to get a new one.  We have found out that our current chimney does not meet required specifications for a standard 349,000 BTU boiler which was recommended.  We currently have a 6″ chimney.  Does anyone know the lowest BTUs necessary to properly heat a 5 story chimney?  Has anyone had to build an external chimney and if so, can you recommend a company?  Has anyone had this problem and explored other options?  Any advice would be helpful!

dsbbrownstone

in Masonry 11 years and 11 months ago

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victor123 | 11 years and 11 months ago

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I have one furnace telling me that the new high efficent furnaces will only last 10-13 years because they had to make them get to hot in order to get the high efficienty rating.

steam_man | 11 years and 11 months ago

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Gennady, I’m not saying you’re wrong but if the manufacturer is basing the warranty on a 9″ chimney, I’m not downsizing it even 1/16″.

ellenlourie | 11 years and 11 months ago

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6″ liner on 50′ chimney will work for 200.000btuhr input boiler. And probably this is all you need to heat your brownstone.

ellenlourie | 11 years and 11 months ago

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at 50′ high chimney your chimney liner diameter for 350,000 btuhr is 8″

needmtg | 11 years and 11 months ago

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Of course he meant ‘..5-story house,’ not ‘chimney’, else the occupants are in for very a cold winter ! Not a totally silly question, though, as not everyone realizes you have to actually *calculate* heat load instead of just multiplying square footage by a factor.

steam_man | 11 years and 11 months ago

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No no no no no no no. You have to size the boiler to the heat load of your home, not to the capacity of the chimney. Now a 349 MBTU boiler is fairly large for a house so although I’m not saying it’s wrong (your huse is fairly big and might be drafty) it should be vcerified by counting the radiators and sizing based on the heating capacity of those rads. Now.. Assuming that 349 MBTUs is correct you would need a minimum 9″ x 15′ chimney based upon a Burnham IN11\. (http://cdn.usboiler.net/products/boilers/independence/assets/Independence_ProductDataSheet.pdf) You could simply run a new stack up the rear of the building or somehow build it out inside the building. Cost-wise it is best to go from the outside I would think. It’s done all the time and not really rocket science. Let me know if you need more info. Good luck. -Steam_man