My favorite hood is this one below. Modernaire I am wishing and dreaming planning to buy this one below. And here are some other amazing ones. ~boxer KitchenandBathDesigner WoodwiseCountryCraft FallsChurchReno Homes Ken Mason DHW Kitchen Dial Brook Giannetti Ready to hang SS backs Scrap Book Blogs

Wow... "power direct vent" was a new one for me. I had to look it up. It looks like a power vent (uses fan to exhaust) with a coaxial outside air intake to draw combustion air from outside. Of the two, I would use a power direct vent since it's getting air from outside instead of inside the heated space. The answer to your question about hot water if power goes out is "no". The odd thing is that the efficiency ratings aren't great (.67). Consider a condensing gas tankless for the same amount of money and .92 energy efficiency.

I think my vent is 4", I have a Bryant Plus-80 furnace, and I just replaced my hw heater, (I'm in BC Canada so YMMV) - the flue hat for the hw heater is sized for the vent that's there, I hadn't thought of that aspect - if I replace my furnace with a HE one - since I just shelled out on the new hw I wouldn't want to change it just yet (but I guess I would run the plumbing for a he hw heater when I do the furnace- Both furnace and hw heater Y into a single vent of course, if it was hw only, would there be a reducer that runs off the flue hat? I could certainly see a difference if it was only one appliance using the vent, but I've never seen any condensation coming back down....I wonder if OP's issue might also be some negative pressure....which could be dangerous. jmnoelle13, can you try a test for us? Get a stubby candle like a tealight, and place it right next to the flue hat on top of your hw heater, when the heater's at work, and see if the flame of the candle is drawn towards the flue hat? If it is, all is well in terms of airflow, if not, your system or parts of the ventilation system in your house is drawing combustion products back down the vent, which is very dangerous. Your new furnace should have two side vents, one for exhaust, one for combustion air. You probably didn't have direct combustion air feed before, so you should be better off in that regard. As for reducing the vent size, can you drop a sleeve down inside the vent from above?

justgottobeme-Oh, that sounds like a good idea! So funny how we will do projects around the house for our pets! Well, in this case, I guess it is for your DH. :) But still...we just got a new dog at the Humane Society about 2 weeks ago...a 40 lb black lab mix. i ADORE her and she has been sleeping in bed with us...but after seeing the BLANKET of black hairs on the sheets, DH and I decided she MUST sleep on the dog bed on the floor, next to the bed. Hope your cats don't mind being shut out of your room...but at least they have each other! I know what you mean, I like a few different styles, too. Just want to make sure that a scrolly wall vent will match my 70s faux spanish ranch. Now, I can assure you...no one I know had a decorative wall vent when I was groing up in SoFla in the 70s. Just like crown molding...NO ONE had it. So, since I am trying to stay true to the era (within reason) I feel silly putting the decorative wall vent in. However...if someone KNEW about these things in the mid 70s, and had the option...they probably would have done it, too. I am figuring that a scrolly black design will look spanish, so I will be ok...I am staying true to the "spanish" part, if not to the 70s ranch part. Hope that makes sense! jill-Goodness, those pics are just SICK! Saw the one you mentioned...thing is, there is soooo much to look at , I could see where some people would think in *that* case it would be ok! Anyway, thanks for sharing, definitely pretty and along the lines of what I want!