Vent for gas fireplace?

IvyFlood

Hello

Just wondering if someone can help me on this one.

We are looking at getting new flooring in our lounge but we have a hole in the floor which we believe is a vent for our gas fireplace.

The floor is a suspended timber floor and the hole is above where the airbrick is underneath the floor. I thought it was something to do with the airbrick as there is no hole on the other side of the room where the other airbrick is and so I assumed it could just be covered up but the floor fitter said it’s to do with the fireplace.

I have never come across this before and wondering if it can be blocked up as it lets in a lot of draft!

The fireplace itself is quite new (we inherited it when we bought the house) and its one of these living flame ones that’s suspended into the chimney breast.

When we have taken the old carpet up we have noticed a load of concrete in front of the chimney breast which suggests something to do with the old fireplace that used to be there. Could the vent be to do with the old fire too?

Thanks

EssexExile

If you have a gas fire above a certain power rating you should have an air brick of specified dimensions. There are some details here: https://apexchimneysweeps.co.uk/does-my-fire-need-an-air-vent/

malky39

If you have the manufactures installation instructions or know the make and model to find these it will tell you in them whether the fire require additional ventilation. Anything over 7kw always requires additional ventilation of some sort. With exception of a decorative fuel effect fire which require minimum of 100cm2 ventilation no matter what the kw size

mmmmikey

Hi - it's very important to ensure that the gas fire has sufficient ventilation but as others have said this varies and you need to find the manufacturers recommendation. The hole in the floor does sound a bit Heath-Robinson. I would guess the air bricks were originally there to ventilate the under floor space to stop the floor timbers rotting and the hole is someone's later idea to provide ventiltaion for the fire, but who knows? One thing I would recommend if you don't already have one is to fit a CO alarm - not very expensive, easily available from Argos, B&Q, etc. and may save your life.....