Lockable outside air vent cover

stator

Odd request. My house has a 120mm diameter air vent to let air in for the fire and boiler.
It has the circular tube and two circular grills on either end.

I need to make the outside grill removable but lockable, so in an emergency the grill can be unlocked and pulled off.

I'm guessing a product like this doesn't exist, so rather than get something custom built, anyone got ideas for what to put over it?
Some sort of metal gate that's about 15cm would work, but I've never seen such a thing.

I'm not intending to block up the vent, whatever goes over the top has to be grill like.

Ectophile

There are plenty of wire mesh flue guards/covers/grilles on the market. Just try typing "flue guard" into Google to see what I mean. These are intended for fitting over gas boiler flues for protection, but there must be some that are the right size for you.

All the ones I've seen are intended to be screwed to the wall. Are there any likely circumstances where you would have an emergency, but no access to a screwdriver?

Ruski

And I'd also like to know why you would need 'emergency access' to a 120mm vent pipe??

Cheers

Russ

stator

Ruski wrote: »

And I'd also like to know why you would need 'emergency access' to a 120mm vent pipe??

Cheers

Russ

So the borrowers can escape if there's a fire.

Or for pets.

Ebe_Scrooge

If pets need to escape a fire, surely it's going to be a lot quicker for the person who would unlock and remove the cover, to just smash a window or a door to save the pets ? Or have I misunderstood what you're meaning ?

stator

Ebe_Scrooge wrote: »

If pets need to escape a fire, surely it's going to be a lot quicker for the person who would unlock and remove the cover, to just smash a window or a door to save the pets ? Or have I misunderstood what you're meaning ?

I really don't think it would be easy to smash open a double glazed window and then extract a pet through broken glass. If the house is on fire I don't see many neighbours being brave enough to do this.

To unlock a padlock and then give a plastic handle a good yank sounds pretty simple to me.

Owain_Moneysaver

If there's a fire the pets are unlikely to be waiting patiently to be rescued next to the inside of a vent. More likely to be hiding under a bed.

wrightk

this is possibly one of the most bizarre posts i have ever seen

stator

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

If there's a fire the pets are unlikely to be waiting patiently to be rescued next to the inside of a vent. More likely to be hiding under a bed.

If they're trained to come in and out of the vent and they are trapped in a room and the only open exit is the vent, they will come out.

Alter_ego

I wonder why the grill needs to be lockable.

wrightk

The only possible solution i can think of would be to fit a vent with a hood on the outside and fit a fine mesh inbetween the vent and pipe to deter potential rodents and leave the inside open with no vent cover. That way in an emergency it could just be ripped off the wall.

It just seems really odd why you would want a lockable cover on the outside. And if there was a fire do you think in the chaos you'd;
-remember the key for the vent
-be able to coax small frightened/disorientated animals through a vent pipe whilst trying to keep yourself and everyone around you safe/call the fire brigade