Gas fireplace venting pros serving Wyndham Lakes

How a B-vent fireplace uses the air in your room

A natural-vent, or B-vent, fireplace burns air from the room and lets the warm exhaust rise through its own pipe by draft. The unit has a draft hood, and one maker requires that hood to sit in the same air pressure zone as the combustion air inlet.

The pipe must be Type B gas vent listed to UL 441, which the Florida fuel gas code requires in section 503.6.1. Our technicians confirm the pipe type from the markings on the sections they can reach, since the wrong vent type is one of the causes of poor draft listed in the manual.

Counting the turns in a vent run

Every elbow adds resistance to a vent. One maker caps the total of all elbow angles in a direct-vent system at 270 degrees, so a run with two 90 degree elbows and two 45 degree elbows has used its whole allowance.

Remodels tend to add elbows as the pipe is steered around new framing. Our pros count every elbow they can see or trace and compare the total with your manual. An extra turn hidden behind a wall is one of the reasons a relocated fireplace starts misbehaving.

Height above the ground or the deck

A sidewall cap has to sit high enough to stay clear of the ground and anything built on it. Section 503.8 of the Florida fuel gas code and one maker's manual both ask for at least 12 inches above grade, and the manual applies the same 12 inches above a veranda, porch, deck or balcony.

Landscaping, new pavers and raised flower beds can quietly shrink that distance. Our crew measures it from the finished surface as it is today, since the original plans no longer tell the story.

Caps set near inside and outside corners

Corners change how exhaust moves along a wall. One maker's termination figures set a clearance to inside and outside corners that depends on the wall material, 6 inches on combustible walls and 2 inches on noncombustible ones.

Stucco over framing, brick and siding all count differently, so our technicians confirm what the wall is made of before measuring. The result, and any change it calls for, goes into the written estimate.

What the written venting estimate lists

Our estimate breaks the vent job into the pieces you would want to see. Parts come by name, access openings and finish repairs sit on their own lines, and anything we could not reach is stated plainly.

Your approved price holds unless you sign off on added work. Nothing is hidden, and booking within 72 hours after the inspection puts 10% off on that same page.

• Listed vent parts for your model
• Wall, ceiling or roof access
• Finish repairs after access
• Test burn and leak check