My vinyl siding is melting...please help. New direct vent fireplace

[Benmelting]

I just had a Patriot/Vermont Castings 36 inch direct vent natural gas fireplace installed professionally. It was installed with the Duravent siding standoff straight out the back of the unit, according to the directions. I noticed a few days ago that my new siding above the standoff outside the house is beginning to melt! I had the installer come over and
he stands by his installation and said he followed the instructions and doesn't know why it's happening. The retailer and the tech dept at VC looked over the photos I supplied and said they have never seen this before and don't know how to fix it. My plumber came by and checked the gas pressure and said it's fine but he did notice that the pilot light is very large (it's not a propane unit). It's about the size of a small donut, blue flame. I want to say it's about 3 inches in cicumference and irregular in shape. Kind of like a roller coaster. Does this indicate a problem? Can a professional on the forum suggest a remedy? I shut the unit off until this is fixed. The siding standoff is very hot to the touch with just the pilot light on. The glass is hot to the touch also. For what it's worth, I get a white smokey cloud along with a strong chemical odor in the room when it runs for 20+ minutes. I just figured that this is the newness of the unit and will burnoff in time but I'm not sure if this is related to the problem. I called other fireplace retailers for a service call and for liability reasons, nobody wants to come by and take a look.

 

[Fsappo]

I just had a Patriot/Vermont Castings 36 inch direct vent natural gas fireplace installed professionally. It was installed with the Duravent siding standoff straight out the back of the unit, according to the directions. I noticed a few days ago that my new siding above the standoff outside the house is beginning to melt! I had the installer come over and
he stands by his installation and said he followed the instructions and doesn't know why it's happening. The retailer and the tech dept at VC looked over the photos I supplied and said they have never seen this before and don't know how to fix it. My plumber came by and checked the gas pressure and said it's fine but he did notice that the pilot light is very large (it's not a propane unit). It's about the size of a small donut, blue flame. I want to say it's about 3 inches in cicumference and irregular in shape. Kind of like a roller coaster. Does this indicate a problem? Can a professional on the forum suggest a remedy? I shut the unit off until this is fixed. The siding standoff is very hot to the touch with just the pilot light on. The glass is hot to the touch also. For what it's worth, I get a white smokey cloud along with a strong chemical odor in the room when it runs for 20+ minutes. I just figured that this is the newness of the unit and will burnoff in time but I'm not sure if this is related to the problem. I called other fireplace retailers for a service call and for liability reasons, nobody wants to come by and take a look.

Does that valve say anyplace that it was converted to LP? or is the fireplace marked as LP? Some fireplaces require different size very for straight out installs, I'll look at the manual.

 

[Benmelting]

The plate behind the bottom cover confirms that it's natural gas. It's not a propane unit. I called VC and they confirmed natural gas.

 

[DAKSY]

Can you post a pic of the outside of your house showing the vent cap & the siding?
A pic of the pilot flame would be helpful as well...

 

[Benmelting]

I am having trouble posting them with my iPhone. Can I email them to someone who can post them for me?
Thx.

 

[DAKSY]

I'll try. Send the pix to [email protected]

 

[DAKSY]

Here are your pix, Bennett.

 

[DAKSY]

Here's what I will say about the siding melting. Your contractor forgot to install a vinyl siding shield, That item moves the cap about 3-4 inches out from the wall & mitigates the chance of the heat exhaust affecting the vinyl. Have him return & remove the cap, install the vinyl siding shield & replace the damaged siding...

 

[Benmelting]

Thanks for your help Daksy. E fireplace store said that is the complete kit. There were no other parts in the box. Did they short me this part ? The installer was here again today and said there was nothing else to install. Where can I buy this extender? He thinks it's a bad regulator. He adjusted the cap to vent the heat more horizontal than vertical to see if that works

 

[DAKSY]

Here is what should be installed between the cap & the wood sheathing under the vinyl:

(broken link removed)

 

[Heatsource]

what brand of piping is that?
send the pics to the maker and see if the vinyl siding kit was installed properly.\

 

[Benmelting]

It's a Duravent siding standoff. They said it's the correct product but the deflector must have bent in shipping. They told me to bend it so the exhaust vents horizontally. I did that. We will see what happens. They said it already has the extension installed.

 

[Heatsource]

i've never seen a duravent cap that looked like that...

anyways, it appears the siding kit is installed backwards....
check the instructions for yourself.
(broken link removed to http://www.duravent.com/docs/product/L954_W.pdf)

 

[Benmelting]

Sorry guys. Retailer said its not a Duravent. They substituted it after the order for a VC unit.

 

[Heatsource]

what brand is the cap and vinyl siding kit?

 

[Benmelting]

See me prior post. It's a VC (Vermont castings) siding standoff vent.

 

[Heatsource]

i still think its installed backwards (its not 'standing off' the wall)

 

[Benmelting]

Update...So it turned out to be a bent diverter on top of the siding standoff kit. The diverter was almost straight up ( it must have bent when it was packed/shipped) so all of the heat/exhaust was going straight up (melting the siding). My installer bent it back to a 45 (per the manufacturer's instructions) and now the heat vents away from the house. Thanks for everyone's help here. As a side note, I called 4 local fireplace retailers for help and not one wanted to get involved because I didn't buy it from them. I told them I was happy to pay them for a service call but nobody wanted to stop by. Sign of the times I guess.

 

[Fsappo]

It is a sign of the times. In a world where you can sue your parents for not buying you a car, or Mcds for spilling coffee on your lap, Hearth shops can view fixing someone elses potentially dangerous problem as a kind of litigation game of hot potato. Last guy there is the first to be looked at by lawyers or insurance companys. I have seen this first hand.

Now the original fireplace shop you bought the VC fireplace from should have been there right away. Not sure where the excuse was for them.