oil to gas conversion furnace Chimney liner Help

[gearguy]

Hello

I am going to do an oil to gas conversionon my furnance. My chimney is not lined. The vent hole where my oil furnance is currently connected to appears to have a crazy offset, and my plumber says he cannot get a chimney liner down it. I looked in the hole myself and it just disappears into nowhere...About 3 feet away from the hole is the ash pit door for my fire place. The ash pit has a straight and direct path to my fireplace above it.

My question is am I allowed to put a chimney liner thru my fire place removing the ash dump door, into the ash pit, and connect the liner to my new furnance at the at the ash pit door? I don't ever use my fireplace, or ash pit/dump. It looks wide enough to fit a liner down, and I believe it can be chipped if its not wide enough

My only other alternative is to break apart my home to access the original hole or build some kind of external chimney pipe.

Is the ash pit necessary? Does this violate any codes? Any input appreciated

 

[CaptSpiff]

Do you ever plan to sell your house?

I would work a bit harder on identifying that old oil furnace flue path. Try a trip up to the roof and eyeball the chimney top. You described a double flue, one for the fire place and the other for the oil furnace. Lower a flashlight down the furnace flue while a helper looks down the hole (flue pipe) in the basement. Or duct tape a flashlight to a stick and get a good look into that hole (flue pipe).

Chances are the fireplace flue shoots straight up. The furnace flue probably goes up 6-8 feet, then 45 around the fireplace toward the FP flue, then straight up parallel next to the FP flue. That is quite normal, and I wouldn't think a plumber is the right guy for that job. Call a chimney guy for a better estimate.

 

[gearguy]

Hi thanks for the reply...
yes I may want to move in 10 years or so. For now will stay in this house. I am afraid of heights so I will not be doing any climbing. I called over some Chimey experts and will see what kind of estimate/input they have.