"Calibrated draft control" = Emergency?

March 6, 2013 3:25 PM

Something called a "calibrated draft control" has fallen off the main pipe of my oil-fired hot water baseboard furnace. Is this something I need to panic about, or can I leave it on the floor and use the furnace until I can call the oil company tomorrow morning?
posted by JanetLand to Home & Garden (4 answers total)

Best answer: Can you not put it back on? The draft control is a flapper that has a screwdrive adjustable weight on it - my thought would be you'll be okay, other than the system running inefficiently and sending an excess of heat up the flue, instead of heating your water...

http://inspectapedia.com/heat/DraftRegulators.htm#FAQ
posted by stenseng at 3:35 PM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I suspect I could; because I don't know anything about it, I was afraid I might put it in wrong and make the furnace explode or something.
posted by JanetLand at 3:55 PM on March 6, 2013

It should insure that the fumes from oil combustion go up the chimney - you want that, without that they (and most importantly they contain carbon monoxide) can flump into your basement and then filter into the rest of your house.
So call furnace repair (do you have a maintenance contract?) and have them fix it.
Interim use? If you have a CO monitor and use the furnace sparingly. And of course shut it off if the CO alarm sounds or you smell oil smoke.
posted by From Bklyn at 12:29 AM on March 7, 2013

Agree, the nice thing is, with the flapper completely off, it's like it's wide open, which should guarantee negative inflow of exhaust, it'll just make everything run really inefficiently...
posted by stenseng at 9:26 AM on March 7, 2013