Whats the difference between a conventional flue and a direct vent?
A conventional flue is what most people are familiar with. It typically consists of a double-wall flue pipe going from the top of the heater through the roof or side wall, venting outside. Sometimes it ties into the furnace vent at a “Y” or “T’ union. The fixture draws its combustion air from the space around it (utility room, garage, hallway, etc.). Our indoor gas fired models are the “direct-vent” type unit with forced air exhaust. We call it (sealed dual-chamber intake-exhaust) The large pipe that exits the top of the heater both vents and draws it’s combustion air through a specially designed double stainless steel pipe from the outside via an adjacent wall. This special pipe has sealed joints and the outer joints must also be wrapped with special aluminum duct sealing tape. In this design, the interior pipe is the exhaust and it has sealed interior joints. The outer pipe is the one that draws the combustion air into the unit. This has an added safety benefit of dramatically loweri
