TL;DR
A direct-vent terminal is the exterior fitting where a sealed-combustion appliance's intake and exhaust meet the outdoors, usually a concentric assembly or a paired-pipe plate on a sidewall or roof. Codes and manufacturer instructions dictate its clearances, distances from operable windows, doors, gas meters, grade, and inside corners, so exhaust cannot re-enter the building or the intake swallow its own flue gases.
What it means
A direct-vent terminal is the exterior fitting where a sealed-combustion appliance's intake and exhaust meet the outdoors, usually a concentric assembly or a paired-pipe plate on a sidewall or roof. Codes and manufacturer instructions dictate its clearances, distances from operable windows, doors, gas meters, grade, and inside corners, so exhaust cannot re-enter the building or the intake swallow its own flue gases. Snow burial is the winter failure mode in northern states, shutting appliances down on pressure-switch faults, which is why terminations get mounted above expected drift depth.
Where it sits in the glossary
Direct-vent terminal is part of the Trade jargon group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
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