Air vent in my living room is freezing !!

sunshinetours

Gizmosmum wrote: »

You can get a vent with a baffle in the middle that deflects the air a bot giving the air flow without hypothermia Don't block it up carbon dioxide kills

No Carbon MONOXIDE kills so get a CO alarm if you are even thinking about blocking it up. If Carbon dioxide killed us we would all be dead every time somone breathed out

Could it also be because you have a boiler in the living room as well by the sounds of it that the vent is required?

suisidevw

Can anyone confirm what size vent is needed for an Open Fire in average size living room? I assume a hit and miss would not be suitable as it must be 'continually open'? At present I just have the airbrick and a monoxide alarm.

vegasvisitor

We had one in our living room floor when we bought our house, like one of those plastic things screwed down onto the floorboards but sitting on top of the carpet. When we lifted the carpet it left a gaping hole. When we had the joiner in for the kitchen, we had him put some floorboard down to cover it (along with the other approx 4 inch square hole that was on the opposite wall but had been covered by carpet. I think it was to ventilate from under the house, but there's vents from outside, so I don't really want musty air coming in the living room!

I hope it doesn't cause any problems. We also got new windows which have now got vents, so maybe we should open them now and again. One double glazing company offered to do the windows without vents, but the other 2 said we needed them (by law I think)

Ben84

dander wrote: »

Is the vent high up then? With a low vent it can work quite well to lean a board over it, at an angle so you're not actually blocking the vent - so the air has to circulate round the sides, rather than blowing straight out in an icy blast. It keeps the ventilation, but diffuses the air flow.
Unfortunately I can't think of a way to achieve the same effect if the vent is above floor level.

Thank you for this, I'll try this with mine as I have a gas fire and back boiler in the sitting room, and you can imagine the size of the vent to meet current regulations. I have an old paving slab I could use. Only thing I'd be worried about is bridging the damp course? I guess I could put a bit of plastic against the top edge of the slab so it doesn't directly touch the wall.

savemoney

My front room has a double vent under the floorboards which are in itself laminated.

At rear of the house we have a single airbrick above floorboards for log burner which has a plastic grill over it.

We do have air brick all over house but they must be under the floorboards

suisidevw wrote: »

Can anyone confirm what size vent is needed for an Open Fire in average size living room? I assume a hit and miss would not be suitable as it must be 'continually open'? At present I just have the airbrick and a monoxide alarm.

ormus

All heating appliances and particularly open fires need air to work efficiently and safely. Ensure that the appropriate permanent air supply as required by the appliance manufacturer and Building Regulations is provided into the room where the appliance or fire is situated. As a guideline a permanent air vent with an opening or openings giving a total free area of at least 550mm2 per kW of rated output above 5 kW must be provided for open fires.
Generally the same size of ventilation is used for room heaters or stoves, but always refer to the appliance manufacturers recommendations and Building Regulations.

BS6461 for solid fuel fires.

Bettie

I had a new central heating boiler fitted two years ago and they added a vent to my house as per regulations. It vents into my larder, the door of which then vents into the kitchen. If the larder door is open it is quite cold and draughty, I can well imagine how your front room must feel. Outside of the house there is a plastic hood that shields the vent from wind - this helps with the stronger draughts.
To diffuse further I could buy a hooded louvre vent.

Canucklehead

Bettie wrote: »

I had a new central heating boiler fitted two years ago and they added a vent to my house as per regulations. It vents into my larder, the door of which then vents into the kitchen. If the larder door is open it is quite cold and draughty, I can well imagine how your front room must feel. Outside of the house there is a plastic hood that shields the vent from wind - this helps with the stronger draughts.
To diffuse further I could buy a hooded louvre vent.

Hi,

I'm curious as to what boiler you had fitted.
Are you on oil?

GSR.

Igol

I've just had cavity wall insulation fitted and due to the woodburner was told that I needed a 4" vent even though I already have an airbrick vent that comes up under the floorboards.

Room is approx 4mx3.5m and not being imperially minded I didnt think too much of it til I saw the 110mm core box drill.

I am at something of a loss to undrstand the benefit of cavity insulation in an old house when theres a gaping hole in the wall that, as it was windy, a gale was blowing through!

I appreciate the need for vetilation but to me it seemed like just another slavish adherance to rules without consulting reality.

Needless to say the hole has now gone and the fire is drawing perfectly well, as it did before, CO alarms arent going off and I'm not dead.

suisidevw

So a fire under 5kw (open fire) doesn't need a permanent air vent and the airbricks are sufficient?!