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The project reported on here was designed to expand on previous studies of the problem of incomplete venting of the products of combustion from heating appliances in order to approach a more nearly comprehensive understanding of the extent and nature of the problem in the Canadian housing stock. The work was subdivided into seven separate but closely coordinated sub-projects
- a country-wide survey of approximately 1000 houses to derive an estimate of the extent of the problem
- refinement and extension of FLUE SIMULATOR, a computer model originally developed for CMHC by Scanada Consultants Limited in 1984-85, to make it easier to use and to allow it to model a wider variety of furnace/flue/house systems
- refinement of existing field detection/diagnosis procedures (checklists) to improve their accuracy and facilitate their use by a wider variety of potential users
- study of the pollutants likely to be released in a house as a result of failed or incomplete venting of combustion products and study of the health hazards these pollutants might represent
- review of remedial measures, available or on the horizon, for collecting or avoiding combustion venting problems and research and development of the more promising such measures
- on-site investigation of problem houses found in the country-wide survey as case studies for the other sub-projects
- drafting of a strategy for communicating the results of the project to the appropriate audiences in order to encourage the initiation of measures to reduce the combustion venting problem.
The results indicate that a significant portion of the housing stock has potential for combustion venting failure to occur regularly, but such failures are not necessarily if e-or health-threatening. The project has resulted in marked improvement in understanding of the combustion venting process and has identified a number of effective preventative and remedial measures.