Efficient gas fire insert with air intake from below the floor?

We have an open gas fire in an old coal fireplace that sucks the air out of the room & blows it up the chimney. I'd like to replace it with something that meets the following specifications.

  • closed front, fairly efficient

  • exhaust goes up the existing chimney (which is in a party wall, so a through-the-wall balanced flue is impossible)

  • air intake through the floor (the cellar below is ventilated to the outside) so it doesn't suck in any of the warm air from the living room

  • can be connected to a gas pipe that already comes up through the floor

  • flame failure & any other good safety features

Does such a thing exist? If so, what are the magic words^W^W correct terms that I need to search or ask for to find it?

(Although this is a DIY newsgroup, I have no intention of installing the thing myself. I have a gasfitter that I like from a previous job. I just need help figuring out how to find what we need.)

Thanks, Adam

Reply to
Adam Funk
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Google "Room sealed gas fires" Eg

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They have balanced draught flues like most domestic gas boilers .

Reply to
harryagain

There might some form of split system but normal balanced flue isn't useful here.

TBH I'm not sure what:

Means. Is he after a "flame effect" gas fire that looks like a wood burning stove (one of the trendy modern ones not traditional)? Anything that has a flame effect isn't going to be very effcient as to get the flames the gas isn't being burnt at best effciency. I'd expect the radient element type gas fire and more or less blocking the fire opening would have the desired results. Open fireplaces really do suck the air out of a room.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

If "normal balanced flue" means the through-the-wall kind, that won't work for me. Are there split systems with heat exchange between the air intake & exhaust?

I don't need dancing flames. I meant that I do not want the fire to suck any air out of the living room itself.

Reply to
Adam Funk

I think you'll struggle to find something with separate air inlet and flue outlet which relies just on convection (other than an open fire) - too unpredictable with wind and pressure differences. There are boilers that can have separate inlet/flue, but they're all fanned flues AFAIK. You can (or could at one point) get room sealed fanned flue fires, mainly for the case when a long balanced flue run is needed.

I have an open gas fire in an old fireplace. It doesn't require any extra ventilation, but I put a vent in the hearth in front of it (but behind it's decorative grill) to the underfloor area, so it draws the air intake mostly from the subfloor space rather than across the room. Having said that, it's hardly ever used (it predated installing central heating).

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

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When you say "relies just on convection", you mean that the fire doesn't need an electrical connection? I wouldn't mind if it needed electricity --- I assume that the fanned ones do?

Reply to
Adam Funk

I've only come across one fan flued gas fire before. It was irritatingly noisy.

Tim

Reply to
Tim+

Thanks for the warning.

Reply to
Adam Funk

According to my gas safe man (who might be wrong but I doubt it as he's pretty well informed on many things), it's no longer allowed to draw combustion air through the floor void, so we had to install a through the wall black hole thingy to provide the dedicated air flow required. It seems to work fine (no obvious noise or draught problem, but then the layout may have helped). Seems a bit counter-intuitive to vent to the outside for cold air to run a fire but that's how the rules work apparently.

Reply to
GMM

Interesting. I think I'll have to consult my gas man on what will work for us.

Is the through-the-wall vent in another wall, or behind your gas fire?

Reply to
Adam Funk

It's on a wall perpendicular to the wall the fire's on, about 2m away and just in front of being parallel with the front of the fire. Fortunately the only thing between the vent and the fire is the TV so in principle air is drawn across that and to the fire.

I must say it's not a bad arrangement. I had visons of it being draughty and noisy etc which I'me sure a 'straight through' vent would be. This black hole design (although a copy from Screwfix - not very expensive) baffles the flow internally so there doesn't seem to be a gale flowing into the room and noise seems to be suppressed.

Reply to
GMM

Thanks for the info.

Reply to
Adam Funk

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