AIR FOR COMBUSTION

AND VENTILATION

WARNING: This heater shall not be installed in a confined spaceorunusuallytightconstruc- tion unless provisions are provid- ed for adequate combustion and ventilation air. Read the following instructionstoinsureproperfresh air for this and other fuel-burning appliances in your home.

Todayʼs homes are built more energy efficient than ever. New materials, increased insulation, and new construction methods help reduce heat loss in homes. Home owners weather strip and caulk around windows and doors to keep the cold air out and the warm air in. During heating months, home owners want their homes as airtight as possible.

While it is good to make your home energy effi- cient, your home needs to breathe. Fresh air must enter your home. All fuel-burning appliances need fresh air for proper combustion and ventilation.

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 fuel-burning appliances.

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

Theinformationonpages6 through 8 will help you clas- sify 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 10-11kg per pa-sec-m2) or less with openings gasketed or sealed and

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 wall-ceiling joints, between wall panels, at penetrations for plumbing, electrical, and gas lines, and at other openings.

If your home meets all of the three criteria above, you must provide additional fresh air. See Ventilation Air From Outdoors, page 6.

If your home does not meet all of the three criteria above, proceed to Deter- mining Fresh-Air Flow for Fireplace Location, below.

Confined Space 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 HEATER 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) = 2560 cu. ft. (volume of space)

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Vanguard Heating VSGF-28PTE AIR for Combustion Ventilation, Providing Adequate Ventilation, Unusually Tight Construction