AIR FOR COMBUSTION
AND VENTILATION
Continued
While it is good to make your home energy effi- cient, your home needs to breathe. Fresh air must enter your home. All
Exhaust fans, fireplaces, clothes dryers, and fuel burning appliances draw air from the house to operate. You must provide adequate fresh air for these appliances. This will insure proper venting of vented
PROVIDING ADEQUATE
VENTILATION
The following are excerpts from National Fuel Gas Code, ANSI Z223.1/NFPA 54, Section 5.3, Air for Combustion and Ventilation.
All spaces in homes fall into one of the three fol- lowing ventilation classifications:
1.Unusually Tight Construction
2.Unconfined Space
3.Confined Space
The information on pages 5 through 7 will help you classify your space and provide adequate ventilation.
Unusually Tight Construction
The air that leaks around doors and windows may provide enough fresh air for combustion and ven- tilation. However, in buildings of unusually tight construction, you must provide additional fresh air.
Unusually tight construction is defined as construction where:
a. walls and ceilings exposed to the out- side atmosphere have a continuous water vapor retarder with a rating of one perm (6 x
b. weather stripping has been added on openable windows and doors and
c. caulking or sealants are applied to areas such as joints around window and door frames, between sole plates and floors, between
If your home meets all of the three criteria above, you must provide additional fresh air. See Ventilation Air From Outdoors, page 7.
If your home does not meet all of the three criteria above, proceed to Determining
Confined and Unconfined Space
The National Fuel Gas Code, ANSI Z223.1/ NFPA 54 defines a confined space as a space whose volume is less than 50 cubic feet per 1,000 Btu per hour (4.8 m3 per kw) of the aggregate input rating of all appliances installed in that space and an unconfined space as a space whose volume is not less than 50 cubic feet per 1,000 Btu per hour (4.8 m3 per kw) of the aggregate input rating of all appliances installed in that space. Rooms com- municating directly with the space in which the appliances are installed*, through openings not furnished with doors, are considered a part of the unconfined space.
*Adjoining rooms are communicating only if there are doorless passageways or ventilation grills between them.
DETERMINING FRESH-AIR FLOW FOR FIREPLACE LOCATION
Determining if You Have a Confined or
Unconfined Space
Use this work sheet to determine if you have a confined or unconfined space.
Space: Includes the room in which you will install fireplace plus any adjoining rooms with doorless pas- sageways or ventilation grills between the rooms.
1.Determine the volume of the space (length x width x height).
Length x Width x Height =__________cu. ft. (volume of space)
Example: Space size 20 ft. (length) x 16 ft. (width) x 8 ft. (ceiling height) = 2,560 cu. ft. (volume of space)
If additional ventilation to adjoining room is supplied with grills or openings, add the volume of these rooms to the total volume of the space.
2.Multiply the space volume by 20 to determine the maximum Btu/Hr the space can support.
___________ (volume of space) x 20 = (Maxi- mum Btu/Hr the space can support)
Example: 2,560 cu. ft. (volume of space) x 20 = 51,200 (maximum Btu/Hr the space can support)
3.Add the Btu/Hr of all fuel burning appliances in the space.
__________ Btu/Hr | |
Gas water heater* | __________ Btu/Hr |
Gas furnace | __________ Btu/Hr |
Vented gas heater | __________ Btu/Hr |
Gas fireplace logs | __________ Btu/Hr |
Other gas appliances* | +_ ________ Btu/Hr |
Total | =_ ________ Btu/Hr |
*Do not include
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