The flue should run as nearly straight up from the base to the top outlet as possible. It should have no other openings into it but the boiler smoke pipe. Sharp bends and offsets in the flue will often reduce the area and choke the draft. The flue must be free of any feature which prevents a free area for the passage of smoke. The outlet must not be capped with any device which makes the area of the outlet less than the area of the flue.
The best form of flue is a round tile—in such there is less friction than in the square form and the spiral ascent of the draft moves in the easiest and most natural manner.
If the flue is made of brick only, the stack should be at least two 4-inch courses in thickness.
If there is a soot pocket in the flue below the smoke-pipe opening, the clean-out door should always be closed. If this soot pocket has other openings in it—from fireplaces or other connections—such arrangements are very liable to check the draft and prevent best action in the boiler.
The smoke pipe should not extend into the flue beyond the inside surface of the flue, otherwise the end of the pipe cuts down the area of the flue and injures its drawing capacity.
The inside of a flue should be smooth (pointed or plastered). When the courses are laid with the mortar bulging out from the joints the friction within the flue is very much increased. Often a troublesome flue is corrected by lowering some sharp-edged weight by a rope which should be worked against the sides of the flue until the clogging is scraped off.
A new chimney when “green” will not have a good drawing capacity. Short use dries out the mortar and better results follow.
“Smokey” Chimneys.
—The failure of draft in flues may be due to a variety of causes, one of which is illustrated in Fig. 57b. The short chimney on the left side of the roof shows the course of the wind as it passes over the ridge of the roof and why the draft in such a chimney is retarded whenever this condition exists. The force of the wind, as it comes into contact with the roof, causes a compression of the air on the windward side and a rarification on the lee side. This inequality of pressure causes a downward sweep of the wind as indicated by the arrows. The effect on the low chimney is to retard the draft and sometimes the pressure is great enough to reverse the action of the flue and force the smoke into the house. The only remedy for such a condition is an extension of the chimney that will raise its top above the ridge.
