Questions about Gas Safety

[SLacKer]

Hi

Having just had a new boiler installed and having seen the setup of the flue etc. I was wondering why you are allowed an open gas flame from say a cooker and yet a heating boiler has to have the flue to seal it from the room. Why doesn't a gas cooker hob create the CO that the boiler does? I am just curious by the way.

Also, we have the lounge on the first floor and a large radiator under the window and behind that a vent which when cold and windy cools the rad and blows cold air at floor level. We have a gas open fire in the lounge (hardly ever used) is this why we have an air vent. If this is the case would say a solid fuel stove need the vent as well or even a gas stove. It seems ridiculous that we have cavity insulation, loft insulation, loft conversion insulation and a bloody hole in the wall.

Thanks in advance

[Ferg]

A gas cooker, which is deemed a flueless appliance, requires an openeable window for ventilation. Due to the limited time it's in use this is all that's required. Commercial kitchens, where the cookers etc are more powerful and running continuously require an extraction hob AND an air replacement system in many cases. Correctly burning boilers making complete combustion really aren't that dangerous, but incomplete combustion is far easier to attain in a boiler than an open flued cooker.

All fuel burning appliances require combustion air. Gas, wood, coal, etc. Gas fires can be fitted without a vent if under 7kW.

[Simpo Two]

SLacKer said:

It seems ridiculous that we have cavity insulation, loft insulation, loft conversion insulation and a bloody hole in the wall.

True but you still have to breathe

Vents either in or above windows seem to be standard now, but weren't always.

I think the ideal solution would be a heat exchanger (I think of this every time I empty the bath), but they cost thousands.

[SLacKer]

Thanks for the info. I have a six burner hob although will rarely use all of them and when I do I open a window as it gets pretty hot in the kitchen especially if I have the oven on as well.

Just wondering if I could fit some kind of wind shield to the air brick to avoid the direct blowing of cold air into the lounge but still allow the room to breath in case we use the fire.

[Ferg]

SLacKer said:

Just wondering if I could fit some kind of wind shield to the air brick to avoid the direct blowing of cold air into the lounge but still allow the room to breath in case we use the fire.

http://www.stadium-ventilation.co.uk/vents/downloads/Blackhole_BM720.pdf