"S Viemeister" wrote in message
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Spamlet wrote:
"S Viemeister" wrote in message
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Roger Mills wrote:
jal wrote:
We have an open fire, which we use occasionally during the winter. I
rather fancy opening up a vent in the floor, near the hearth, in order
to feed the fire with air from the vent, rather than it sucking
draughts in via the doors to the room.

Does anyone have experience of this? Is my thinking along the right
lines? And what would I look for, at Screwfix, Wickes, etc?


I don't know whether you can retro-fit them - maybe you can if you have
suspended wooden floors, but it would be a bit more difficult with
solid floors.

My in-laws' bungalow (built in about 1960) had solid floors with
under-floor ventillation for the open fire built in. ISTR that there
was an airbrick in an outside wall, with a metal duct below the
screed - terminating under the fireplace. I think the relevant bits
were made by Baxi - but I doubt whether they make them now!
With suspended floors, and airbricks in the outside walls, is it
necessary to use ducting? I would have thought that some sort of
sliding grid to open and close a hole in the floor near the fireplace,
would be sufficient.

Cold feet?


The idea would be to help avoid cold feet, by providing airflow next to
the fire, thus (hopefully) minimising the rush of cold air across one's
feet.

Ah, but without that connecting duct: would you not be drawing cold air from
outside, into the *whole* floor space? Thus, trying to reduce the direct
draft across your feet might make the whole room colder.

Incidentally, when I had the floors up in our 1900s house, that had
originally had fire places in all rooms - each with a stone slab beneath - I
found the ends of all the cross beams supporting the floors where they
abutted the hearth stones, had been charred, and, what with some of the full
length beams having rotted where they rested in the wall, this made for a
very springy floor indeed! Moral: be careful, and don't let any hot ashes
get under the floor - which that duct you mention might have been intended
to prevent.

Not by any means an expert on this though. Have similar dilemma after being
conned into the benefits of a flueless fire. Ours may or may not be
consuming its own emissions, but it sure does very quickly use up all the
air in the room, so just tends to suffocate rather than poison. Like you, I
am wondering how to get an air supply to this to make it safe, without
causing the drafts. As the room is also getting musty as a result of the
blocking up of the chimney when this wondrous new item was fitted, it may
look pretty but in effect it has been a dangerous mistake.

S