Are leaves in heater exhaust flue dangerous?

[TrampledUF]

I have a Jandy JXi400N gas heater for my outdoor, in ground pool. It was installed a few months ago, and just the other day finally got the gas and electric lines hooked up and fired it up. Some leaves had collected in the exhaust flue, and it smelled like they were burning. The installer got worried that it could start a fire, and thinks we should rig something up so that leaves can't fall into it (he is a friend of mine and isn't trying to upsell me on anything). I figure that lots of people have these heaters, and they'd be starting fires all over the place if a few leaves could cause that.

What do y'all think? Is it worth going to Home Depot and putting on some extra piping?

You can see in the attached image that the flue faces up, and how leaves could slip in through the grill.

 

[ajw22]

How often do you normally expect to run the heater?

You had the heater sitting idle for a few months collecting leaves. If that will be normal for you then maybe you need to do something.

If you run your heater every week or so then any leaf accumulation should be minimal. It is more of a fall problem and just keep an eye on your heater when leaves are falling.

 

[zea3]

You could get a little cover to slip over the exhaust when not in use, as long as you remember to take it off when needed! You could also get a little bit of metal 1/2" hardware cloth and wire it to the top of the exhaust. That should keep out the majority of the leaf debris.

 

[TrampledUF]

You could get a little cover to slip over the exhaust when not in use, as long as you remember to take it off when needed! You could also get a little bit of metal 1/2" hardware cloth and wire it to the top of the exhaust. That should keep out the majority of the leaf debris.

This may be the route I go. If it's heat-resistant and doesn't restrict air flow, then that seems ideal.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

This may be the route I go. If it's heat-resistant and doesn't restrict air flow, then that seems ideal.

Be very careful here! Most heaters have a flue-stack sensor and, if it sees a higher flue exhaust temperature due to a restriction at the vent, the heater will shutdown and error out. I would suggest you either change the environment it's in (trim trees away) OR you redo the exhaust to move the flue out of the way of leaves.

The danger isn't so much that the heater will catch fire but that a leaf could and the cinder could travel a distance and spark a fire somewhere else.

 

[TrampledUF]

Be very careful here! Most heaters have a flue-stack sensor and, if it sees a higher flue exhaust temperature due to a restriction at the vent, the heater will shutdown and error out. I would suggest you either change the environment it's in (trim trees away) OR you redo the exhaust to move the flue out of the way of leaves.

The danger isn't so much that the heater will catch fire but that a leaf could and the cinder could travel a distance and spark a fire somewhere else.

Great point about a cinder. Hadn't thought of that. There's no way to get around there being leaves in the area; my neighbors have big trees and these are small lots. Ultimately, the exit point of flue has to point up, not down or parallel to the ground, right? So unless I rig up a whole bunch of piping so that there's a trap, I'm still thinking put a wire mesh on it, and before I start using it in the fall, take it apart and clean it out.

Am I right that the flue needs to point up for safety?

 

[HeyEng]

Great point about a cinder. Hadn't thought of that. There's no way to get around there being leaves in the area; my neighbors have big trees and these are small lots. Ultimately, the exit point of flue has to point up, not down or parallel to the ground, right? So unless I rig up a whole bunch of piping so that there's a trap, I'm still thinking put a wire mesh on it, and before I start using it in the fall, take it apart and clean it out.

Am I right that the flue needs to point up for safety?

The direction of the flue would be dependent on obstructions/clearances/local code, etc.

How will you operate the heater? Manually? Automatically? If manual, then I would just block it off when not in use and then remove it when you use it.

Ours has a good bit of leaves in it right now, but it's not being used right now. Before firing it up for the season, I will pull it apart and get out any debris that has accumulated.

 

[Pool Clown]

You should be able to take that cover off the exhaust to clean it out. You may even be able to hit it with your leaf blower to clear it out. Not sure i would put any kind of cover on it, even if it were a free flowing type. You don't really want to obstruct that vent (see post #5)