Venting a room with a gas fire.

[Alasdair]

When I called an engineer to service my gas fire, he refused to do it saying the fire was illegal as there was no vent from the living room to the outside of the house.

There is a vent from the living room into the hallway of the house above the door but the engineer says that is not sufficient.

I am rather surprised that this was not noticed when the fire was installed initially by a previous owner of the property. Can someone tell me what exactly are the rules about this? The fire has worked quite happily for several years but now needs servicing.

[Malcolm Stewart]

I had the same problem some years ago, despite my flued CH boiler having its dedicated air supply to its under-stairs boiler room. The rules have changed, and from memory there's a British Standard setting it all out. (And CORGI sort of ensures that "the professionals" now take their responsibilities more seriously. I think this is the biggest change.) You will probably find the relevant BS at your local library (Google and/or Groups may tell you what number it is.) You will need so much area of vent per effective kW or BTU of your gas fire or boiler - it should be on the rating plate. Grills in different designs, with the "certified" vent area moulded on them are available from B&Q etc. They may have suitable guidance sheets if you're lucky. Lucky that it's not too cold at the moment!

In my case, I had to make 4 holes, 2 top and 2 bottom in my boiler room door, and get a suitably sized hole cut in a window pane in the lounge off which the boiler room was sited. Then they turned my boiler back on for me, and removed their statutory notice.

[Andy]

Is it just a gas fire or a gas fire/back boiler unit?

It all depends on the total heat input of all the appliances in the room.

andy

[Alasdair]

It's a gas fire and back boiler unit.

[Phil Anthropist]

My Corgi plumber drilled holes in a floorboard and covered them with a metal grille to ventilate a Baxi Bermuda gas fire and back boiler unit. Obviously not an option if you have a concrete floor. My understanding is that ventilation from another room is not acceptable. It may have been acceptable when the unit was installed originally, which was the case with my fire/boiler.

[the_constructor]

I have just had a Baxi Bermuda SR2 back boiler and fire removed and a radiant fire installed. I have a vent in the wall, the size of 2 bricks high by 1 brick wide. It blows a gale through when wind in that direction. I asked my CORGI installer whom I have known for many years and trust, about the vent. His reply was that because the new Gas Fires was below 6Kw heat output, I could brick up the vent. My new fire runs at 4.8Kw at full power. He also advised that because of the gas appliances that we have in the house, we should invest in a Carbon Monoxide Detector.

-- the_constructor

[hlmw]

I did not know about this venting problem until one very cold evening when I decided to turn on the gas fireplace even though the furnace was on and the fan pulling air. I also decided to put a few clothes in the dryer - within a minute the air that should have been going up the chimney was pulled back down and across the room by the fans of the 2 appliances. I had to quickly turn off the gas fireplace and open doors and windows to clear out the acrid smell from the chimney. Quite an experience. I too was advised to provide some external air via a vent. As to carbon monoxide detectors, I have one of those also although they do not have a very good reputation here in Canada as to accuracy . It just makes me feel better to know it is there, I guess. Lorna