Building Regulations Regarding Air Bricks with a Gas Fire

Leodogger

Hi there

We bought an 18 yr old bungalow belonging to a housing association. We have had a bad problem with damp in the bedroom but there is no air brick in the bedroom. Also in the living room we have a gas fire, a large patio door with vents in the double glazing above the door but no air bricks or ventilation other than this. It has a concrete floor.

We have noticed that some of the bungalows on the development do have air bricks fitted but some haven't.

Is this legal especially if you have a gas fire in the room?

TIA

alleycat`

This is something i found:-

-- <Quote> --
In the EU, regulations require that gas fires with an input of less than 7 kiloWatts do not require additional ventilation by way of air bricks provided they are installed according to manufacturer's specification. This assumes that rooms have "normal" ventilation, but many modern homes have virtually sealed environments (through double glazing, uPVC draught proof doors, draught-proofing, no chimneys, etc), and you should consider fitting an air brick in such an environment as an extra precaution.

-- </Quote> --

Good practice rather than a requirement back in the early 1990's I'd suspect.

I'd, personally, fit a carbon monoxide alarm in the room (with regards to the gas safety aspect of it).

How you tackle damp is a much more complicated problem and it depends on what is generating the moisture.

Leodogger

alleycat` wrote: »

This is something i found:-

-- <Quote> --
In the EU, regulations require that gas fires with an input of less than 7 kiloWatts do not require additional ventilation by way of air bricks provided they are installed according to manufacturer's specification. This assumes that rooms have "normal" ventilation, but many modern homes have virtually sealed environments (through double glazing, uPVC draught proof doors, draught-proofing, no chimneys, etc), and you should consider fitting an air brick in such an environment as an extra precaution.

-- </Quote> --

Good practice rather than a requirement back in the early 1990's I'd suspect.

I'd, personally, fit a carbon monoxide alarm in the room (with regards to the gas safety aspect of it).

How you tackle damp is a much more complicated problem and it depends on what is generating the moisture.

Thanks for the info. We do have a carbon monoxide alarm but we have it in the kitchen as the British Gas inspector suggested it as the boiler is 18 yrs old and there is no air brick in there either. As for the gas fire, I think it is only about 2.5kw, not very hot really but there is a large patio door with trickle vents in above. We will consider having a vent fitted though.
I did ring the local authority building regulations as a precaution and they said there are no rules now in new buildings to fit air bricks but that is because the D/G units have to have trickle vents and as long as there is a window or patio door and we have followed the gas fire manufacturer's specifcation then there is no need for an air brick. He could not explain the damp problem, pointing only to a possible roof leak as the damp is along the ceiling line on the external wall above the window. We have already checked this and we were told by the housing association surveyor that the roof is fine. She said it was probably , by the property being empty for 18 months but we have now treated it and sealed it and re-papered and it is starting to come through again in the one corner above our fitted wardrobes. However, we have not been using the radiator through the winter as it has no thermostat on it and the room is quite small, also it is directly behind my dressing table and I was afraid it would melt the glue in the back of the table. We are now going to get thermostats fitted and will try using it during the winter as the radiator is directly below the damp problem.

Hopefully that will cure the problem ! Thanks for the help

iamcornholio

Building regulations wont be relevant. The property would have been built to the standards of the day it was built, and if these have subsequently changed, there is no requirement to upgrade to latest building regulations

Ventilation to gas appliances is covered in the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. If you have concerns, then have the installation checked by a Gas Safe Engineer

rustyboy21

OP

If you tell me what manufacturer and model your fire is, I will be able to tell you if an air vent is usually required for the fire.

2.5 kw doesn't really mean anything as it would be the output of the fire not the input.

Tell me and I will do some checking for you.

Leodogger

rustyboy21 wrote: »

OP

If you tell me what manufacturer and model your fire is, I will be able to tell you if an air vent is usually required for the fire.

2.5 kw doesn't really mean anything as it would be the output of the fire not the input.

Tell me and I will do some checking for you.

The model of the gas fire is a Magiglo Aria I believe

MX5huggy

But thermostatic rad valves don't change the temperature that the rad runs at so the sofa will get just as hot. They just turn the rad off when the room is up to temp.

Leodogger

MX5huggy wrote: »

But thermostatic rad valves don't change the temperature that the rad runs at so the sofa will get just as hot. They just turn the rad off when the room is up to temp.

Yes I am aware of that but we also have a hall thermostat which is not really working efficiently as it is right opposite the boiler cupboard so we have to turn the temp on that stat right up to get it to bring the radiators on at all which means when they come on they are red hot and stay that way as the hallway where it is sited is always warm from the boiler cupboard so we feel we need individual radiator thermostats to control the level of heating in each room and so we can turn the thermostate down when needed.

Otherwise what do we do ?