Open Fire in Airtight House?

K

keyo

Registered User
Messages
17
I want an 'Open Fire' in my new house, can this be achieved without reducing the BRE energy rating of the house?
 
Your chimney vent is already calculated in the BER rating so that doesn't change.The inefficiency of an open fire will affect the rating and if you work your space heating system from the fire this will also affect the rating.Once your fire is not the main source of space heating which it obviously will not be - your rating will not alter significantly.
 
keyo said:
I want an 'Open Fire' in my new house, can this be achieved without reducing the BRE energy rating of the house?
Click to expand...

An open fire will affect your BER. If you have good air tightness result the energy value will change significantly if you include an open flue.

From a performace point of view it makes no sense whatsoever to try to achieve high levels of air tightness only to spoil all this by including an open fire.
include a room sealed stove, or gas fire instead.

The open flue will also effect the performance of your HRV system.
 
sydthebeat said:
include a room sealed stove,...
.
Click to expand...

Syd, this is what I would like to do. Does this entail a special chimney or no chimney at all but rather a sealed opening to the outside to bring in outside air for the flu?

Who should I speak to first about this - chimney manufacturers, architect, etc.. (have not yet started to build)?
 
Barney,

The best way to understand the impact of your choices is to get a building energy assessment completed of the dwelling and make sure an independent assessor explains the pros and cons of the chimney choices you have.

You can then consider the various options with an energy expert to see what makes most sense looking at the dwelling as a whole - they should use DEAP methodology and clearly explain to you the changes in the overall building efficiency.
 
There must be some system on the market that allows you have an open fire, even if it has to be a large stove style fire with a glass door?
 
if its open then there a hole in your construction envelope... thats what you dont want in an air tight house......

there are room sealed stoves, designed for these purposes...
 
The definition of a room sealed appliance from Bord Gais:

A room-sealed appliance obtains its combustion air via a special flue arrangement. The flue configuration allows for the flue products to be discharged via one flue direct to atmosphere and a second separate flue draws the combustion air, from atmosphere, into the appliance. The appliance is therefore sealed from the room. No air from the room enters the appliance and no flue products can exit the appliance into the room.

The stove in that link draws combustion air from the room and the space would need an uncloseable vent to comply with the building regs.
 
1. Every fire needs to have somewhere to send its exhaust. If you want yours to go up a chimney, that is perfectly fine. The flue from the top of a stove can simply poke up into a conventional chimney opening, and it can be made airtight by wadding rockwool all around.

2. Every fire needs to take in air to support combustion. You do this by bringing an outside air vent in under\in your floor and connecting straight into your sealed fire appliance (stove). The "Clearview" stove linked to above takes its air in from the bottom of the stove, so it is a simple matter of bringing a vent in to underneath the stove and then sealing the gap between the top of the vent (in your hearth floor) and the air intake of the stove- which is simply a metal ring to bridge the gap to the bottom of the stove from the floor (i.e. the gap is the same height as the stove legs).
 
DavyJones said:
The stove in that link draws combustion air from the room and the space would need an uncloseable vent to comply with the building regs.
Click to expand...

Not if you use the external air kit. Look to the right-hand column:

"External air kit, for direct connection to outside air supply."

This particular stove requires a 50mm vent if I recall correctly.
 
Is the air damper just for show? would it require a vent in the room if you added the external air kit?
 
Has any one installed this clearview stove?
How is it
interested as it has the air kit that connects to outside air source
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register