How can I check if the water heater vent/exhaust is working?

Question

My water heater is in my laundry room. There is no air in this room so it is normaly warm. But it is very hot in there. I was changing the cat litter and looked to see if the vent inside is hooked to the ceiling. It is. But looks like one of the screws is out and a little bent.

We had 90 mile hour wind storm about 2 weeks ago.

I know the pipe goes out to the roof. It may also be in a small crawl space of our attic. The over hang part? I am not sure.

Is there anyway I can check it? And how do i check it?

Oh a few years ago the contractors that put it in and my new floor messed up so bad I fired them. They made so many mistakes ripped my door my walls up and ran over my bushes in back yard. Plus they came high to work at 8pm instead of 9am.

I can not afford anyone to come see it now.

Answer 1

If the vent were not working the fumes would be in your house and cellar.

Try this to be extra sure. When the hot water heater is NOT running. Get a piece of cardboard or newspaper. Light it on fire and put it in the space where the exhaust pipe rises out of your heater. The smoke should rise out of the pipe because of the draft created by the pipe rising through your roof. If the smoke which is very light rises you are ok. If not you got a problem. I'm almost sure it will be fine.

The s***w is only there to hold the pipes together and really are mostly unnessecary. I assume you are talking about the size 10 sheetmetal s***w.

Answer 2

The professional way to check the vent would be to do a draft test, with a draft gauge.  Another quick & dirty way to check it is to hold a cigarette (or something else, like a blown out match) near the draft hood (thing between the heater and the vent pipe) and see if it draws the smoke.  It should draw the smoke up if it's been firing for a minute or two.

Another thing to consider is that any gas fired appliance requires combustion, or makeup air - air to mix with the gas for combustion.  Unless the room is very large, it should come from outside.  Kinda hard to explain the requirements here, but the internet search below should fill the gap.  If you don't have adequate combustion air, you run the risk of making carbon monoxide.

Answer 3

you will have to get on the roof, to see if the vent pipe is bent or pluged, you must have a gas heater, if so alll air to flow into the room,