{"id":6541,"date":"2025-08-01T11:14:24","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T18:14:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c4n6.com\/site\/?post_type=blog_post&p=6541"},"modified":"2025-08-01T11:15:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T18:15:08","slug":"hud-nspire-july-2025-newsletter-water-heater-and-furnace-exhaust-vents","status":"publish","type":"blog_post","link":"https:\/\/c4n6.com\/site\/blog-post\/hud-nspire-july-2025-newsletter-water-heater-and-furnace-exhaust-vents\/","title":{"rendered":"HUD NSPIRE July 2025 Newsletter: Water Heater and Furnace Exhaust Vents"},"content":{"rendered":"

July\u2019s Newsletter topic discusses water heater and furnace exhaust vents because both are Life-Threatening (LT) deficiencies which, for properties receiving a REAC score, are high points!<\/p>\n

NSPIRE Deficiencies per each Standard:<\/strong>
\nHVAC:<\/strong>
\n
\nWater Heater<\/strong>
\n<\/p>\n

What Do These Mean?<\/strong>
\nNSPIRE Protocol prohibits<\/strong> the following for both fuel-fired water heaters and furnaces:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Misalignment<\/strong> \u2013 this could mean:\n
      \n
    1. The draft hood on the water heater isn\u2019t where it\u2019s supposed to be<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      <\/p>\n

        \n
      1. The exhaust is negatively pitched.\u00a0 All vents must pitch up then out \u2013 no downward slopes.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        <\/p>\n

        <\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Disconnected Pieces \u2013 this one is pretty obvious.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          <\/p>\n

            \n
          1. Holes<\/strong> \u2013 sometimes you\u2019ll find holes left behind after a combustion test.\u00a0 For single wall B-vents, it\u2019s acceptable to use high temperature fire retardant putty to plug the hole.\u00a0 For double wall B-vents, they typically require a plug AND the high temperature fire retardant putty.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            <\/p>\n

              \n
            1. Lack of supports or clearances<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              HUD states in the Standard the following:
              \nHVAC<\/strong>
              \n<\/p>\n

              Water Heater:
              \n<\/strong><\/p>\n

              Unfortunately, we are still waiting for further guidance from HUD on exactly what kind, how many, and \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 where supports need to be\u2026not to mention what is considered \u201cproperly connected.\u201d
              \nIn the meantime, inspectors are making judgment calls based on their own knowledge\/experience so many inspectors are citing missing collars, for example.<\/p>\n

              <\/p>\n

                \n
              1. Improperly connected<\/strong>\n
                  \n
                1. The exhaust vent reduces in size \u2013 you want the pipe to go from small to big\u2026not big to small<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n


                  \n<\/p>\n

                    \n
                  1. Using the wrong material OR installing it incorrectly<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n


                    \n<\/p>\n

                      \n
                    1. Lastly\u2026HUD states the following under BOTH Standards:<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                      <\/p>\n

                      What this means is that high temperature (fire resistant) foil tape CAN be used\u2026but only to REINFORCE<\/strong> the joints \u2013 not to connect the joints.All the joints should be connected with sheet metal screws and then install the tape over the screwed joint.
                      \n<\/p>\n

                      Contact me!<\/strong>
                      \nFor all training, Pre-REAC inspections, or appeal consultations, please reach out to me at kmarkan@c4n6.com<\/a><\/p>\n

                      Resources<\/strong>
                      \nHUD has PDFs (videos are currently down) on how to appeal and how to close out H&S deficiencies here:
                      \n                      NSPIRE Toolkit<\/a>
                      \n**Remember, if you will be appealing something,
                      \nyour \u201cdefect mitigation in 24 hours\u201d is that you are appealing\u2026not that you fixed it<\/u>!**<\/p>\n

                      To subscribe to this free monthly newsletter and read newsletters you may have missed, click here: C4N6 Newsletter Registration and Archive<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                      July\u2019s Newsletter topic discusses water heater and furnace exhaust vents because both are Life-Threatening (LT) deficiencies which, for properties receiving a REAC score, are high points! NSPIRE Deficiencies per each Standard: HVAC: Water Heater What Do These Mean? NSPIRE Protocol prohibits the following for both fuel-fired water heaters and furnaces: Misalignment \u2013 this could mean: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6542,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"blog-category":[130],"class_list":["post-6541","blog_post","type-blog_post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","blog-category-hud-assist"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c4n6.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog_post\/6541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c4n6.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog_post"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c4n6.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blog_post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c4n6.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c4n6.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6541"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c4n6.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c4n6.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c4n6.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6541"},{"taxonomy":"blog-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c4n6.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog-category?post=6541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}