Could someone help me out with a little problem, please

[Mind_your_head]

It's been raining quite a bit here last nite and this morning. So I go downstairs to throw in a load of wash and I see water dripping from some ductwork overhead. I 'follow it back' and see that it's connected to the furnace, like the front of the furnace after the air filter thingy...it goes up to the ceiling as regular square ventwork, then at the end there is a round piece (3-4" diameter) that looks like it leads to the outside - it's this round piece where the water is dripping from. I knocked on the round piece and it sounds like it's full of water.

I went outside and I just don't see any place where this thing comes out. I see the dryer vent thingy (and this thing should come out 1-2' to the left of that (but maybe it really doesn't go outside, maybe it goes up somewhere through the insulation that I can't see).

There's a lot of puddling around the foundation of the house outside, but that's several (6-10' away) from where this leaking venting should be. Anyway, here's my questions:

1) Who should I call to take a look at this water dripping from the ventwork? A furnace guy or ???

2) I know the water shouldn't be puddling around the foundation of the house like this, so who should I call to take care of THAT problem?

3) This is only a problem when it rains apparently, so should I take pictures of the puddling around the house. You know, when someone comes out here to have a look, it will most likely not be raining, so will they be able to see the problem?

Thanks in advance for any tips/advice.

M_Y_H
(a single mom on mother's day *sigh* - it's always SOMETHING)

[Stinky The Clown]

1. Posting a picture here would really help.

I cannot understand what you're describing.

That said, ***maybe*** that "..... round piece (3-4" diameter) that looks like it leads to the outside ....." is the furnace flue. If it is, it almost certainly goes all the way to the roof. And if it does, it is supposed to have a cap on it. If it doesn't have a cap on it, rain water can get inside and will obvious go all the way to the bottom.

Who to call?

A furnace guy.

For the outside puddling? Maybe no one. You say it is 6 to 10 feet from the house. That's plenty far away and likely of no concern.

[Mind_your_head]

2. Thanks for answering H2S

Here's where the water is dripping from. The round one at the joint before it goes up:


If you follow it along it goes into the insulation as shown here. I don't see anything on the outside of the house at this location, so I guess it goes up?:


I guess it makes sense to call a furnace guy for this, huh?

Regarding the puddling: It actually IS puddling up against the house/foundation. The puddling is 6-10 feet away - down the wall from - where my dryer vent and this venting that is leaking is located (hope that makes sense this time). Maybe I just need to get it re-graded around that part of the house, I guess???? Can any yard maintenance company do that or do I have to call someone special? Or can I do it myself somehow? Money is an issue, but I know water problems like these really need to be addressed.

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

3. That hard to tell withing polkaing around

do you have a chimney, that's one probable. The water pooling on the side of the house. One way to solve that is what they call a french drain. But what you can do about that is dig down around that side of the house maybe 12 or even two feet or so , maybe a little more. Than dig a little further with trenches with a down angle directing the ground water away from the house out toward the yard ,than back fill the little trenched out areas with gravel-stones ,a landscape supply or concrete supplier has the drain rock.Say the side of the house measures 60 or 79 feet or 100 what ever ,five six or seven down angled trench's 6or8 inches wide angled down away from the house. After filling the trenches to grade with drain rock than add drain rock over the top of that to about 4 to six inches from grade or level with the ground. Than back fill with dirt or beauty bark. You can hire your gardener or the neighborhood news paper delivery person to do the digging. If there is a side walk there you must tunnel under it. I'm going back to the pictures to look over the ducts, you must find out where the water is getting in. Are there any other places where water is?

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

4. There is a return air vent outside,find it.

If this only happens when it rains redirecting the ground water away from the house will most likely cure the problem. Find the point of entry. You can do it and you can stop the water problem yourself without spending much or any money. find that return air vent. You can buy aluminum duct tape about ten or fifteen bucks at hardware-home depot. You can drill a small hole in the duct to rain the water out. There is also epoxy mix for that, just a very small hole.If it is necessary. Or pull the ducting apart ,you may need to buy replacement parts. Not at all expensive ,the round five inch stuff or whatever it actual diameter. can somebody check out the chimney ,probable return air venting? Your power comes in where the vent goes out. I see a heat duct going up threw the floor. What exactly is on the other side of that duck on the outside? And pull that insulation away from the duct and see what you can see.Don't let that block your view. from the outside look up the side of the house look for a vent.

[Mind_your_head]

5. Thank you VERY VERY much

Wash. state Desk Jet for thinking about this as much as you have - :hug:

I was starting to think some of the same things myself (but am un-sure and don't really know what I'm doing/looking at).

a) Pull the insulation away and LOOK where that venting goes (just did that and the venting goes OUT)...I see it now on the outside *duh@me*

b) Drill a hole & drain the water that is surely sitting in the vent inside the house

I just took some more pics (but can't post them till my daughter gets home to help me post them :blush: - haven't quite gotten the hang of photobucket yet.....

If you wouldn't mind taking a look back here late tonight/tomorrow and tell me what you think, t'wood be nice :-)

Thanks again for your kind consideration/help/advice.

Peace,
M_Y_H

[Stinky The Clown]

7. Ahhhhhhh ....... if that furnace 'pipe' goes outside then it is likely your flue ......

.... contrary to what I said above. Does it have a cap on it? Something like this?



or this



These let the smoke/gases out and prevent rain from getting in. If it is missing or damaged, then rain is free to get in the chimney and collect at the low spot (you leak in the basement).

My advice is the same ..... call a furnace guy. If you do it yourself, and get something wrong, carbon monoxide could build up in the house.

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

8. You are most welcome

And the pleasure is mine. I will be interested in viewing the pics. It seems to me you have found the problem area. The water most likely comes in where the ducting goes out. . Is the wood wet or damp around the ducting on the inside behind the insulation? And is the insulation wet or damp ?

Also is there a vent cover on the end of the ducting and is it broken or detached? And does the duct end just on the outside or does it go up or extend further?

And is that the only place in your basement you have noticed water or irregular dampness?

It seems power comes into the house in that area. Is your panel box below the conduit in the pic, I also see what appears to be conduit running to various locations plugs lights switch's etc. Electricity has strange ways of jumping. Where electrical lines cross water lines or touch there will be abnormal corrosion around the water lines where the power lines cross. Electrical conduit helps but as I said electricity has strange and mysterious ways of jumping.Although there in theory. In the trouble shooting process that is indeed a probable to consider,all things taken into consideration. Or that's the contractor thinking.

From what you have told me the solution just may very well be a simple one.
But as you know we have already discussed that.By the way everything looks good.

[Mind_your_head]

9. Okay - sorry it took so long to get back here, but.....

A) My daughter's been on a really tight/busy schedule (typical for end of the school year) and still hasn't uploaded the pics for me to post here. *sigh* (Learning to upload pics myself SOON is definitely on my TO DO LIST - it can't be that hard, right.) But I don't have to do that anymore because:

B) The city needed to do some replacement work on my water meter in the basement today. The guy was a really nice guy, so I asked him if he wouldn't mind taking a quick look at my little problem there and telling me what he thought (I figured since he could see the whole set-up in person)....

His response: I need to put a dryer vent cover that's angled down on the outside of the house where that round pipe comes out. There's just like a little louvered cover on it now that's flush with the house. The other thing I need to do is a FRENCH DRAIN in that problem area and he indicated how it should be angled away from the house & such. (He asked me if I knew what that was and I said "yes"...I didn't tell him I just found out what that was a day or two ago here on DU though ;-) lol)

So, Wash. state Desk Jet you guessed EXACTLY right from looking at those two pics what needed to be done. I'm very impressed! Again, Thank you so much for taking the time to think about my problem and come up with the solution. I truly appreciate it.

I'm really thrilled too that this won't be a costly fix. The guy from the city told me a good place to go locally to get what I need for the french drain. He felt that I could do it myself....I do a fair amount of work myself, but that diggin' thing....I gotta think about that for a day or two. I like your idea of hiring a college kid or some such to do it. lol

H2S thank you too for all your valuable input. I was so relieved that someone actually answered me on Mother's Day morning...I was very distraught when I saw that water down there. I'm sorry to read on the other thread you posted about your and Sparkly's water pipe problems That really stinks. :-( Although I'm sure that all of that clean-up was a pain, it doesn't sound like there was any real big damage to all of your new work, thankfully.

[Stinky The Clown]

6. I must say, I'm really not certain, even looking at the picture

That *could* be a flue, but it could also just be a duct running off the end of a plenum.

I'd call a furnace guy.

As to the puddling ..... the cheapest fix is, as you note, simply regrading. That may mean adding some dirt to the low spots next to the house. You really con do it yourself. It is just simple grunt labor. You want to slope it so any standing water runs at least ten feet away from the house.

I'd bet the water puddling and the furnace dripping are unrelated. But since I can't see it ..... my real advice is to get a furnace guy now and then maybe talk to someone about getting a load a good dirt in there.

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

10. You see,you can do it!

Pay one of the local kids to dig down about three feet there there about. Post a picture of the side of the house and some of the yard -regards directing the water away from the house. Sometimes when I come across that I poor concrete! It makes the problem go away!

Concrete can be angled ! And concrete paving stones can do it too! Fill the cracks with mortar.

(If you do not have a problem with water in the basement other than the sub standard vent cover ,than super saturated ground close to your foundation is what you might call a potential problem.)*** It is most likely not necessary to put in a french drain ,but redirecting the rain water away from the foundation is always a good idea.

Take a look at concrete paver blocks ,a inexpensive fix.
And one more question, where is your gutter down spout in relation to the area effected?

And I forgot to say, happy Mothers Day to you.