| Author | Content |
AYankeeCat
Fairfield County, CT
(Zone 6b)
May 31, 2007
01:05 PM Post #3557733
| I hired a contractor who had his best plumber put in gas and a new boiler for me. I googled for efficiency and came up with direct venting condensing boiler and an on demand water heater. The plumber diecided on a Munchkin M80 with an indirect water heater. They are installed but the munchkin has been vented through the front of my house under a picture window. The plumber swore this was the only place suitable other than taking down my deck in the back to vent the unit. He refused to vent it on the driveway side as a car might hit it and break the vents. Now I have these awful looking plastic pipes sticking out of the front of my house and the manufacturer says that I can't put anything in front of them to hide them! Also the exhaust from the boiler is really hot and it is full of condensation. Imagine the plume it will produce in a New England winter! This is really ugly and the contractor is my girlfriend's husband so I really can't complain. Anyone have any idea what I can put over this mess to try and hide it? The best I cold come up with is a concrete dragon breathing smoke. And that really won't look that good in front of a little Cape Cod. |
BackyardZoo
Poquoson, VA
(Zone 7b)
July 12, 2007
10:59 AM Post #3727465
| Have you thought about that plastic lattice board? Put up a piece a few inches in front of the pipes (check the required distance as the manufacturer suggests) and then let a vine grow up it. Put some landscape fabric & rocks on the ground in between so that you don't have a weed problem.
Another option might be to paint the vent pipes so that they blend with your house a bit more & aren't so obvious. Steam disperses pretty readily, even in winter, so I'm not sure I'd worry about that much as long as the pipes themselves aren't an eyesore.
Or, if you'd like to be a bit more whimsical...Maybe take some of those 'tree faces' you can get and give one of them a pipe? Or make a 'fairy house' (http://www.urban-fairies.com/) and make the pipe the chimney? |
AYankeeCat
Fairfield County, CT
(Zone 6b)
July 12, 2007
11:15 AM Post #3727515
| I did paint the pipes to match the house and that helped - a little. The manufacturer said to put nothing in front of the pipes. The steam coming out is very hot for at least a foot so I put a little "cast iron gate" there for now - but I think it just makes things worse. I'm trying to look on the bright side - maybe the steam will cause a microclime and I can put my hardy fig in that area and get it through the winter without wrapping or I'll be able to grow lettuce in the window box above it all winter. |
randbponder
Hornick, IA
(Zone 4b)
December 30, 2007
09:05 PM Post #4342191
| Hmmmmm. If it were mine I would try coming up with a way to heat a greenhouse. But then I live where I could get away with that.
Sorry I'm probably no help. |
AYankeeCat
Fairfield County, CT
(Zone 6b)
December 30, 2007
11:03 PM Post #4342570
| That is OK. Now it is winter and the pipes are sticking right out in the open. Painting them to match the house helped a lot. You are not supposed to use the vented air because it has carbon monoxide. |
randbponder
Hornick, IA
(Zone 4b)
December 31, 2007
11:19 AM Post #4343677
| Sorry I thought you were talking about excess steam. |
AYankeeCat
Fairfield County, CT
(Zone 6b)
December 31, 2007
12:18 PM Post #4343914
| That is where the excess steam comes out. The contractor told me that I couldn't use the exhaust because of the carbon monoxide. However the pipe itself gets warm . . . |
randbponder
Hornick, IA
(Zone 4b)
December 31, 2007
06:06 PM Post #4345058
| That would probably require too much extra pluming to use the way I was thinking. Which would also look out of place.
I burn gas for heat but this year the cost is so high that I am using a couple electric heaters, to keep the furnace from running so much. Makes the electric bill slightly higher. But really stretches the gas out between fillings. If I had a place to go down south, I would blow out the water lines and not heat the house. That would at least pay for the trip both ways. Got to think on that a little. LOL |
BackyardZoo
Poquoson, VA
(Zone 7b)
January 02, 2008
10:43 AM Post #4351177
| How about putting a 'fairy door' near it and make the pipe into a chimney?
( [HYPERLINK@www.fairywoodland.com] )
Then it would look like the fairy is home when the chimney is 'smoking' :-)
http://www.urban-fairies.com/locationspages/locations.html has other places with some fairy doors, just FYI...I thought they were very cute :-)
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