Air Vent For Bigger Stove?

[Logged On]

Our house is slightly elevated and has a 2ft 'void' between the joists and the actual concrete 'base'.....

 

This void is fed / vented by air bricks from the outside, so my thinking is.....

 

If I fit a bigger (should say better), stove that needs a vent, would I only need to put the vent down through the floorboards to feed off the air coming into that void from the outside???

 

Or does the vent have to be more 'direct', instead of having to 'travel' through other places first...?

[openspaceman]

Our house is slightly elevated and has a 2ft 'void' between the joists and the actual concrete 'base'.....

 

This void is fed / vented by air bricks from the outside, so my thinking is.....

 

If I fit a bigger (should say better), stove that needs a vent, would I only need to put the vent down through the floorboards to feed off the air coming into that void from the outside???

 

Or does the vent have to be more 'direct', instead of having to 'travel' through other places first...?

 

It depends on why the suspended floor is there in the first place, if it's because there is a risk of radon seeping up through the ground then you shouldn't let any of the air into the house, if it's a traditional wooden floor then there is no reason you should not take air from the vented void.

[Alycidon]

This would come down to the opinion of the person signing the installation off as safe to use.

 

If you can show that the air entering under the floor is of an adequate volume ( this is about a 22mm gas pipe diameter per kw over 5kw so really no big issue) and that this air can flow in under the floor unrestricted then I dont think you will have an issue with that, Be aware that some stoves can be connected straight to a vent thus preventing unwanted drafts in the room.

 

Never come across a Radon issue, as far as I am aware there is nothing about that in the building regs Doc J. Connecting the vent straight to the stove would prevent any possibly issue anyway.

 

A

Edited December 22, 2016 by Alycidon

[openspaceman]

This would come down to the opinion of the person signing the installation off as safe to use.

 

If you can show that the air entering under the floor is of an adequate volume ( this is about a 22mm gas pipe diameter per kw over 5kw so really no big issue) and that this air can flow in under the floor unrestricted then I dont think you will have an issue with that, Be aware that some stoves can be connected straight to a vent thus preventing unwanted drafts in the room.

 

Never come across a Radon issue, as far as I am aware there is nothing about that in the building regs Doc J. Connecting the vent straight to the stove would prevent any possibly issue anyway.

 

 

 

A

 

Good points, I never did the HETAS qualification as I only dealt with commercial installations.

 

I should also have specified the air brick area necessary to supply the air must be adequate.

 

I am in a sandy soil area so nor have I dealt with radon, it is a decomposition product from granite I think, so houses built over ground in these areas have to vent any rising from below and prevent it from entering the house. As I understand it it accumulates in sumps and if inhaled its break down products can cause cancer.

 

I take the point about a room sealed system but what if the stove door were left open?

[Stubby]

It depends on why the suspended floor is there in the first place, if it's because there is a risk of radon seeping up through the ground then you shouldn't let any of the air into the house, if it's a traditional wooden floor then there is no reason you should not take air from the vented void.

 

The air ( radon or otherwise ) wont go into the house . Only the stove , then up the flu .

[Logged On]

House is knocking on 80 years old (I think), so not really a 'newer build' that's worrying about radon gas etc....

 

The water table IMO, is quite high round here, so maybe it's was a 'back up' built into the house for if the damp proofing ever failed.

 

The air can even free flow between the partition supporting walls under the floor boards... Best explanation is that it looks like a chequered flag under there.

 

From pavement to front door, you rise / climb about 2ft... Trying to give you an idea of house height....

[Remora107]

The wall you are referring to is known as a "honeycombed sleeper wall " and , not surprisingly , is designed so that air can flow all the way under the floor . Is there any insulation between the joists under the floor boards ? If not it would certainly be worth your while putting some in . If you can get to the underside , that is .

[Logged On]

Maybe next time the carpet's up....

 

Which I hope is not too soon....

 

Just got the bathroom finished in time for Christmas, and that was a nightmare....

 

Found doors behind plasterboard, bare (LIVE!!) wires behind ceiling cladding, kinked / ready to burst water pipes under the floorboards.

 

And the radiator? I just don't know how that worked with the amount of kinks and bends in it's pipes also...?

[Haironyourchest]

A vent to the void with also keep the underneath of the house healthier as it will draw fresh air in from the outside to replace the air burned in the stove. There will be some air movement through the vented bricks obviously but the assistance of the stove will increase the air flow - can only be a good thing, keep down mould etc.