Chimney clearance from nearby evaporative cooler on roof

[Alexander L]

Hi all! I am buying a home with two wood burning stoves. The usual pre-purchase home inspection was performed yesterday afternoon. My home inspector called out the large Franklin stove, citing clearances and safety issues. He also noted the close proximity of the chimney to the evaporative cooler that is installed on the roof. He strongly recommended that I have out a local stove installer/service to further inspect and point out violations/remedies.
I will be doing that.

My question... what is the required clearance for the chimney in this situation where there is a mechanical appliance sitting right next to it that draws outside air into the home? I am having trouble finding that info for this scenario, and if a chimney and an evap cooler are even allowed to exist in close proximity, as is seen in this case. We want to remove and replace the old Franklin stove with a new efficient model, but I am now wondering if any stove will be allowed to have a chimney penetrating the roof in this spot that is going to be this close to the evaporations cooler. Appreciate any info/insight.

Here are some pics of the roof from above showing the issue, and a pic of the stove inside the house... you can see the vents that blow in air from the evap cooler.

 

[begreen]

Nothing about that installation looks correct. The clearances for the franklin and the stove pipe appear to have been ignored. The swamp cooler scenario is unusual. I would expect that the chimney needs to be at least 10' away from any air intake. I don't know the code for this, and I am guessing that the thinking was the swamp cooler would only be running during the summer, but the potential is there for bringing in smoke to the house.

 

[Alexander L]

That is what I thought... potential is there for bringing smoke into the home, which is exactly what the inspector was concerned about.
And, as you pointed out here and in my other thread... the franklin install has a few issues. Also, it looks as if the other chimney pipe at the back corner of the house is a bit short of the required 3' minimum? (for Blaze King Briarwood)

 

[EbS-P]

Is the grill above the Franklin is for the swamp cooler? Have you lived somewhere with a swamp cooler?

I’d probably keep the stove (think about upgrading it) and replace the swamp cooler with a mini split.

 

[Alexander L]

Yes, that grill above the stove is one of the three grill vents for the swamp cooler on the roof. It only blows air into this center portion of the house. I did once rent a home in the area for a year that had a swamp cooler in the window. I have thought about possibly just removing the swamp cooler. There are two newly installed mini-splits in this house (one in the living room next to this center part of house and one in the master bedroom)... and I suppose if I installed a mini-split into this room it might justify the removal of the roof mounted swamp cooler.

But I definitely am curious to find out the code requirement (or violations) relating to this chimney/swamp cooler intake proximity issue.

 

[begreen]

Also, it looks as if the other chimney pipe at the back corner of the house is a bit short of the required 3' minimum? (for Blaze King Briarwood)

It's hard to tell from the picture if it has the required 3ft above the roof. However, the Briarwood requires 15' minimum total flue system height from stove top to chimney cap, so it may not meet that requirement. If the house is at a high altitude, then it may need to be higher to compensate.

 

[Alexander L]

True, hard to tell from pic on the height. I saw the Briarwood requirements, though I am not sure which model this is. It is a Fabco Briarwood. Says Briarwood BB on back label. I am guessing the requirement is similar, as the stove looks very similar. My pics I grabbed were bad.

 

[Alexander L]

Pic of the Briarwood in the other room...

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Depending on what is behind that stone, there may be issues with that stove install too.

 

[Alexander L]

EatenBy, it is masonry/block house.

 

[Alexander L]

Any installers able to comment on legality or code concerning the close proximity of a chimney to an air intake... a swamp cooler in this case?

 

[bholler]

EatenBy, it is masonry/block house.

Yes but the wall behind that stone is interior and looks like it has drywall on it. What does it look like in that room? It it bare block behind the stove?

 

[bholler]

Any installers able to comment on legality or code concerning the close proximity of a chimney to an air intake... a swamp cooler in this case?

The chimney needs to be 2' higher than the swamp cooler

 

[Alexander L]

bholler, thank you for the information! Was hoping you would chime in.
Good to know about t the 2' higher requirement.
It is bare block behind the stove. The decorative rocks are mortared to the block exterior wall.
Here is a pic of the room housing the Briarwood stove:

 

[begreen]

EatenBy, it is masonry/block house.

I think the Briarwood may end up checking out ok, though perhaps needing more chimney. It looks like there is a (studded?) partition behind the Franklin.

 

[Alexander L]

begreen, yes that is certainly a studded wall behind the franklin behind the rock.

 

[Alexander L]

Update... And thank you everybody for the info and advice. Inspection reveals.... unsafe situation with the franklin. Think we knew that. No roof flashing, flue goes up into ceiling, and a single-wall chimney pipe with a piece of sheet steel wrapped around that. Something home-made. Just cemented in place to seal. It all must come out.
Briarwood was good(and in very nice shape), though needs more chimney. Other than more chimney pipe, they just recommend I replace the door rope gasket on that one.

 

[begreen]

I'm glad you had it checked out. I saw lots of red flags with the Franklin install and was afraid they took stovepipe through the roof. That is a fire waiting to happen.

 

[mari]

I would take out the swamp cooler and replace it with a portable one. I did that for different reasons and and very glad I did.