We own a house that was built in 1901. Union Gas has now given us an
infraction saying that we need to replace our B-Vent. To make a long
story short, they turned off our gas until we did the work. Well I've
spoken with a number of Gas companies and not one of them had ever
heard of this infraction before. Was wondering if anyone knew about
this and if they could shed some light. The gentleman that I spoke with
today, just said that that they are doing resident checks and that
B-Vents are not up to code any more. So you can either have it
inspected or have it replaced. Am wondering the cost of having this
replaced and also any other information that you can shed light on with
be great.
Thanks

Pep wrote:
We own a house that was built in 1901. Union Gas has now given us an
infraction saying that we need to replace our B-Vent. To make a long
story short, they turned off our gas until we did the work. Well I've
spoken with a number of Gas companies and not one of them had ever
heard of this infraction before. Was wondering if anyone knew about
this and if they could shed some light. The gentleman that I spoke with
today, just said that that they are doing resident checks and that
B-Vents are not up to code any more. So you can either have it
inspected or have it replaced. Am wondering the cost of having this
replaced and also any other information that you can shed light on with
be great.
Thanks


I think you mean you have to replace the single wall vent(s) you
currently have with double-walled B-Vent.

Why can't you do it yourself?

"Pep" wrote in message
ups.com...
We own a house that was built in 1901. Union Gas has now given us an
infraction saying that we need to replace our B-Vent. To make a long
story short, they turned off our gas until we did the work. Well I've
spoken with a number of Gas companies and not one of them had ever
heard of this infraction before. Was wondering if anyone knew about
this and if they could shed some light. The gentleman that I spoke with
today, just said that that they are doing resident checks and that
B-Vents are not up to code any more. So you can either have it
inspected or have it replaced. Am wondering the cost of having this
replaced and also any other information that you can shed light on with
be great.
Thanks


You spoke with other gas companies,,,,, WHY?
Why are you not talking to the folks that did the inspection and shut off
the gas. They are the ones you have to work with. Not some other gas
company.

Seems to me that you allowed them to do the orginal inspection. Your bad.

When you home was constructed is not the issue. The installation is the
issue. Lots of installation codes have changed since the beginning of the
last century.

Do you live in an city that has an inspection department? Call them to see
if this is even enforceable.
What code section are they applying? UBC? UPC? What code date is being
enforced, usually a difference in dates on this one.

City of Phoenix once decided to do complementary inspections on residences.
Sounds good right. Well if they found a violation then they could give you a
citation. When they showed up on my property I politely showed them the
sidewalk and told the poor guy that he did not have my permission to be on
my property. One of my neighbors paid well over a thousand dollars for
stuff that the complementary inspection found.

You did not even provide us with a location. How can we be helpful if we do
not know where your are? Canada? England? US? Africa? Antarctica?

Pep wrote:
We own a house that was built in 1901. Union Gas has now given us an
infraction saying that we need to replace our B-Vent. To make a long
story short, they turned off our gas until we did the work. Well I've
spoken with a number of Gas companies and not one of them had ever
heard of this infraction before. Was wondering if anyone knew about
this and if they could shed some light. The gentleman that I spoke
with today, just said that that they are doing resident checks and
that B-Vents are not up to code any more. So you can either have it
inspected or have it replaced. Am wondering the cost of having this
replaced and also any other information that you can shed light on
with be great.
Thanks

What is a B-vent? What kind of Gas? (natural or propane)

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

Union Gas is our gas company and they have told us to contact an
independent gas company to fix the problem. Once it has been completed,
then we need to call them to have them look at it. If we decide not to
fix the problem, the Independent company needs to inspect it to make
sure it's up to "code". However this needs to be done regularly to make
sure that the Gas does not get turned off again. We are located in
Canada and I've been searching the net trying to find more information
on this subject.

The reason that they noticed is because we purchased the house but were
not living there because we were doing renovations. Once we moved in we
called the gas company to come and turn it on. It at that time the
gentleman noticed this "b-vent" and gave us the infraction to have it
fixed.

Thank you in advanced.

"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message
. ..
Pep wrote:
We own a house that was built in 1901. Union Gas has now given us an
infraction saying that we need to replace our B-Vent. To make a long
story short, they turned off our gas until we did the work. Well I've
spoken with a number of Gas companies and not one of them had ever
heard of this infraction before. Was wondering if anyone knew about
this and if they could shed some light. The gentleman that I spoke
with today, just said that that they are doing resident checks and
that B-Vents are not up to code any more. So you can either have it
inspected or have it replaced. Am wondering the cost of having this
replaced and also any other information that you can shed light on
with be great.
Thanks

What is a B-vent? What kind of Gas? (natural or propane)

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/Publications/...&print view=N

about half way down. it appears as if a b vent is a hood around the
fireplace, rather than around the vent pipe.

OP: you just probably need to get it repaired. call a fireplace store.

This sounds fairly simple to me. You asked the gas company to turn on
the gas, and they refused because your furnace venting looks sketchy.
You should fix the vent. While it may be that this particular case
silly mindless rules and red tape (as occationally happens), it doesn't
sound like you know enough about the situation to tell. Have you
considered that they are trying to keep you from burning down your
house (and making them look bad)? Or geting CO poisioning (and making
them look bad)?

Why do you not want to have your furnace vent fixed properly? It's not
hard, and not terribly expensive. And you were doing renovations
anyway, so you can hardly say it is incredibly inconveneient. And you
were not living there, so you can't say "well, we haven't died yet..."
Installing a double walled B-Vent is likely what they want you to do.
Should be a quick and easy job for a competent installer.

Union Gas who is our gas company, does not fix this problem. They have
told me to contact independent contractors and then once this has been
completed, I need to contract them again for their reps to come out and
inspect. I'm in Canada and have been speaking with a number of people
at Union Gas trying to get my gas turned back on. They are coming
today to do it and have given me an amount of time to either have it
inspected (which is okay but has to be done yearly or they will
disconnect the service again) or fix the problem.

As for them noticing this pipe, it's because the gas was turned off
well we were doing renovations. (We had just bought the house and were
not living in it) Once we moved into the house we had them come out to
turn it on. It was at that time, the gentleman noticed the pipe and
said that it is no longer code and gave us the infraction notice. Our
Pipe he said isn't rusting or anything like that, however it's now not
considered up to code.

Thanks for your help and insight!

Joseph,

With some regards to the other people answering your question, here's my
take.

A-vent is your basic single wall pipe. Nothing fancy.

B-vent is simple double wall vent pipe. There are several different
manufacturers and their lines won't always match up. It's traditionally
used for gas and oil (?) furnaces up to a certain stack temp.

C-vent (if it's actually called that) is the triple wall pipe that usually
used for high stack temp applications, such as wood burners, etc.


"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message
. ..
Pep wrote:
We own a house that was built in 1901. Union Gas has now given us an
infraction saying that we need to replace our B-Vent. To make a long
story short, they turned off our gas until we did the work. Well I've
spoken with a number of Gas companies and not one of them had ever
heard of this infraction before. Was wondering if anyone knew about
this and if they could shed some light. The gentleman that I spoke
with today, just said that that they are doing resident checks and
that B-Vents are not up to code any more. So you can either have it
inspected or have it replaced. Am wondering the cost of having this
replaced and also any other information that you can shed light on
with be great.
Thanks

What is a B-vent? What kind of Gas? (natural or propane)

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

"HeatMan" wrote in message
...
Joseph,

With some regards to the other people answering your question, here's my
take.

A-vent is your basic single wall pipe. Nothing fancy.

B-vent is simple double wall vent pipe. There are several different
manufacturers and their lines won't always match up. It's traditionally
used for gas and oil (?) furnaces up to a certain stack temp.

C-vent (if it's actually called that) is the triple wall pipe that usually
used for high stack temp applications, such as wood burners, etc.



Heatman, no offence, but you had better study up on your venting!
Greg

I have never heard of A-vent or C-vent. But B-vent is indeed a douible
wall vent pipe. They usually have clever connectors at the ends -- you
don't just cut them and fit them together, you buy the lengths you need
and they couple together. I repaired a B-vent pipe on the side of our
house for a water heater (a "cold water heater", that is ... for
heating my very cold well water!) a few years ago. I was told by a
plumber and a house inspector both to ask for B-vent. At the plumbing
supply, I asked for B-vent, and they immediately knew what I wanted,
although we had to sort out exactly which connector I had and needed.

It may be that different manufacturers have different incompatible
couplings -- I don't know much about that.

-Kevin

"Pep" wrote in message
ups.com...
Union Gas who is our gas company, does not fix this problem. They have
told me to contact independent contractors and then once this has been
completed, I need to contract them again for their reps to come out and
inspect. I'm in Canada and have been speaking with a number of people
at Union Gas trying to get my gas turned back on. They are coming
today to do it and have given me an amount of time to either have it
inspected (which is okay but has to be done yearly or they will
disconnect the service again) or fix the problem.

As for them noticing this pipe, it's because the gas was turned off
well we were doing renovations. (We had just bought the house and were
not living in it) Once we moved into the house we had them come out to
turn it on. It was at that time, the gentleman noticed the pipe and
said that it is no longer code and gave us the infraction notice. Our
Pipe he said isn't rusting or anything like that, however it's now not
considered up to code.

Thanks for your help and insight!

Ahhhh the story is more complex

Where I live once you start a renovation your on the hook for bring most
everything up to the current code. I googled B vents and found that they are
basically a double walled locking vent pipe. Which is required where I live
if exposed or passing through other materials. The site I went to also
mentioned that the equipment being vented may or may not be compatible with
B piping.

Did you pull a permit for the remodel? Check with your city fathers, and see
if the utility has the authority for this action. Again where I live the
utility has some issues sometimes staying on their side of the fence. Here
the utility can make suggestions, but unless it is unsafe they are not
allowed to remove service. What they do here is call the city and get an
inspector out to do the dirty work.

I think it is time for a local pro to look at your installation.

Maybe you could focus in on the problem. Your service was shut of
because you need to replace the b-vent because it's not code
(-compliant.) WHY NOT? What's the matter with it, or the
installation?

Ask them already. Just the facts, please.

J

A "class A" vent pipe is a two wall metal pipe with insulation between the
metal walls. They are used with solid fuel equipment such as wood burning
stoves and oil burning furnaces. They are made for higher temperatures.

"kevin" wrote in message
ups.com...
I have never heard of A-vent or C-vent. But B-vent is indeed a douible
wall vent pipe. They usually have clever connectors at the ends -- you
don't just cut them and fit them together, you buy the lengths you need
and they couple together. I repaired a B-vent pipe on the side of our
house for a water heater (a "cold water heater", that is ... for
heating my very cold well water!) a few years ago. I was told by a
plumber and a house inspector both to ask for B-vent. At the plumbing
supply, I asked for B-vent, and they immediately knew what I wanted,
although we had to sort out exactly which connector I had and needed.

It may be that different manufacturers have different incompatible
couplings -- I don't know much about that.

-Kevin