When you're talking about venting two furnaces through the same chimney, one out of two can't be that bad, can it?
After all, the best baseball lifetime batting average for all time was Ty Cobb's .366. That's barely better than 1/3! His average is the best ever, and he failed 2 out of 3 times!
So, how can .500 be so bad?
These two oil-burning furnaces in this remodeled house were jammed to tightly into a small closet that in order to even see the vents I had to lean forward and hold my camera out at an angle.
Taking many photos, this one was very useful!
Obviously one of the two exhaust vents is not connected to the chimney! Hey, at least they are batting .500!
Might that be the reason we smelled oil in the house?
It could also be the fact that the two furnaces were in horrible condition.
The space in front of each was about 15", so getting into there to do any service to the units requires a very small man!
It could be no tech can fit in there!
Certainly there has to be enough room in front of furnaces for any service to be performed or the closet that houses them is inappropriate, unthinking and would not be approved by any jurisdictional authority.
Hence my suspicion that there was no permit for any of the remodeling!
I immediately wanted the doors and a couple of windows opened for the rest of the time we were there. Carbon monoxide has no odor and I was not going to take any chances. I had a long drive afterward and did not want to get sick or sleepy! I have experienced CO poisoning before, obviously minor, and it is no picnic. That previous time left me feeling like I had a serious flu and severe headache.
My recommendation: on inspections it is important that the entirety of appliances be investigated. And particularly gas or oil-fired appliance vents! Disconnections, corrosion, rust and holes are NOT uncommon! They MUST, MUST, MUST be identified if present.
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