3 Chimney Flues, 1 fake?

[rydaddy]

I was on my roof today, looking at my chimney flues. Not the first time I have ever done this, but I was measuring the flues to help determine the possibility of adding a 2nd stove in the basement. The middle one is 12x12 and currently houses my 6" liner for my heritage. To one side of that is an 8"x12" that is venting the H2O heater. I am planning on switching to a direct-vent H2O and using that flue for my basement stove.

Here is my potentially dumb question, to the other side is another 8"x12" that is "concreted" in. Was this customary 50 or so years ago? Do three look that much better from outside the house, that they put up fake ones? Or do I need to really look hard in my house for a 3rd flue?

Thanks!

 

[begreen]

It's not uncommon over the life of an old house for owner's needs to change. Sometimes old kitchen woodstove ports are bricked up and covered over. Or it's possible that this flue is damaged and it was concreted up to absolutely prevent its further use. It may have had a chimney fire or cracked at some point in the past.

 

[LLigetfa]

It could have been built as a fake to begin with. They used to do that with large steamships also to make them look more impressive.

 

[Rudyjr]

In my house one of my liners is mortared shut. I did it to it when I installed my high efficiency furnace and moved the water heater closer to the bathrooms. I ran b-vent between two closets and built a chase for the chimney we figured when we put in the furnace and eliminated that vent it would be a good time to move the heater rather than put in a liner in an oversize flue. Now the hot water only travels 10 feet to the kitchen and baths rather than 50 feet. I know sometime in the future someone will be scratching their head trying to figure out what the other chimney was for.