And if you STILL have the smell after you install the BW, what then? It means that you never found the source of the smell in the first place, and spent a lot of time and money needlessly. I doubt that it is the smell from the tape, although that flue should have been class "B" because of the proximity to the combustible wood surfaces.
Well the smell is suspiciously close to the smell of the adhesive of the tape....and these pipe were loaded with it but yes I can't be sure that is it.........if it isn't from the adhesive on the pipes it has to be the water heater not working correctly? The "smell" floats up the stairwell to the cellar door and is up high near the ceiling.... Would a lazy flame indicated improper combustion? If not enough secondary air would that produce a combustion smell? The design of the BW air intake system appears to be superior to the crap design on the Kenmore?
Yes the B pipe will be a welcome improvement..I will still wrap the pipe in the 3m Fire blanket near the combustibles for extra protection
The one thing that changed in the basement was the water heater...no combustion smells , no adhesive smells...nothing that I can recall...could it be because of a lesser BTU rating? If the new WH is 40000 btu and the 20 year old Vanguard was lets say 32000 btu would that have any effect on the venting??
I'm not trying to argue or dispute ...just trying to figure it all out...like I said, old water heater no smells or issue..new Kenmore goes in and all hell breaks loose......very odd
Do any of my questions make sense?