Hi

I have a question.. In my basement I have my gas furnace and hot water
heater... there is one window there... I currently do not have any
fresh air access... The gas company said I should have some fresh air
coming in with louver or vent.. Question:

do I need to run tubing so it sits 12 inches from the floor? Someone
said I should.

what is the simplest way to do this air louver?

wont the room get cold?
Thanks

KOS wrote:
Hi

I have a question.. In my basement I have my gas furnace and hot water
heater... there is one window there... I currently do not have any
fresh air access... The gas company said I should have some fresh air
coming in with louver or vent.. Question:

do I need to run tubing so it sits 12 inches from the floor? Someone
said I should.

what is the simplest way to do this air louver?

wont the room get cold?
Thanks
Ji,
Furnace insaller should take care of that when it was installed.
Is your basement air TIGHT when the window is closed?
Do you have any problem running furnace and hot water tank now?
Do you hve CO detector in the house?

On Jan 5, 4:50*pm, KOS wrote:
Hi

I have a question.. In my basement I have my gas furnace and hot water
heater... there is one window there... I currently do not have any
fresh air access... The gas company said I should have some fresh air
coming in with louver or vent.. Question:

do I need to run tubing so it sits 12 inches from the floor? Someone
said I should.

what is the simplest way to do this air louver?

wont the room get cold?
Thanks

The gas guy you talked to is an idiot. If your home was not drafting
or Co is present. and thats about impossible with a properly working
heating system, then he could be possibly be justified in making that
assesment . Read UP

One way to figure out what you need for combustion air requirements is to
look up the installation manual for the type of gas furnace you have. The
amount of space you need depends on how many btu's the furnace has, whether
the source of air is outside air or inside air from within the building,
etc.

For example, you could look at this installation manual (or one from a
heater unit that is similar to yours):

http://www.whirlpoolcomfort.com/Uplo...AND%20WFLU.pdf .

How big is your basement? Often, if the heater and hot water are in a
regular size "full basement", the room size is sufficient without needing
outside air to be brought in.


"KOS" wrote in message
...
Hi

I have a question.. In my basement I have my gas furnace and hot water
heater... there is one window there... I currently do not have any
fresh air access... The gas company said I should have some fresh air
coming in with louver or vent.. Question:

do I need to run tubing so it sits 12 inches from the floor? Someone
said I should.

what is the simplest way to do this air louver?

wont the room get cold?
Thanks

On Jan 5, 6:12*pm, "RogerT" wrote:
One way to figure out what you need for combustion air requirements is to
look up the installation manual for the type of gas furnace you have. *The
amount of space you need depends on how many btu's the furnace has, whether
the source of air is outside air or inside air from within the building,
etc.

For example, you could look at this installation manual (or one from a
heater unit that is similar to yours):

*http://www.whirlpoolcomfort.com/Uplo...AND%20WFLU.pdf.

How big is your basement? *Often, if the heater and hot water are in a
regular size "full basement", the room size is sufficient without needing
outside air to be brought in.

"KOS" wrote in message

...



Hi

I have a question.. In my basement I have my gas furnace and hot water
heater... there is one window there... I currently do not have any
fresh air access... The gas company said I should have some fresh air
coming in with louver or vent.. Question:

do I need to run tubing so it sits 12 inches from the floor? Someone
said I should.

what is the simplest way to do this air louver?

wont the room get cold?
Thanks- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Run a dryer hose from outside the house to the furnace area, floor,
ceiling, or wall mount the hose. Put an always open but screened
cover over the vent on the outside to keep critters out. As long as
you have a carbon monoxide detector somewhere in the vicinity of the
furnace, everything should be fine.

?
"KOS" wrote in message
...
Hi

I have a question.. In my basement I have my gas furnace and hot water
heater... there is one window there... I currently do not have any
fresh air access... The gas company said I should have some fresh air
coming in with louver or vent.. Question:

do I need to run tubing so it sits 12 inches from the floor? Someone
said I should.

what is the simplest way to do this air louver?

wont the room get cold?
Thanks

Millions of houses have been built like that, but times are a changing. New
burners are made to use fresh air intakes for combustion. You can buy a
vent made for that purpose and either run dryer vent or PVC pipe to the
heater. The advantage is you are not taking the heated inside air and
burning the fuel and then exhausting it up the chimney. Fresh air enter,
combusts, and then is vented while inside air is recirculated.

Oh, use a flapper if it is not direct connected so the cold air does not
come in unless sucked it.

On Jan 5, 10:09*pm, "Ed Pawlowski" wrote:
?"KOS" wrote in message

...

Hi

I have a question.. In my basement I have my gas furnace and hot water
heater... there is one window there... I currently do not have any
fresh air access... The gas company said I should have some fresh air
coming in with louver or vent.. Question:

do I need to run tubing so it sits 12 inches from the floor? Someone
said I should.

what is the simplest way to do this air louver?

wont the room get cold?
Thanks

Millions of houses have been built like that, but times are a changing. *New
burners are made to use fresh air intakes for combustion. *You can buy a
vent made for that purpose and either run dryer vent or PVC pipe to the
heater. *The advantage is you are not taking the heated inside air and
burning the fuel and then exhausting it up the chimney. * Fresh air enter,
combusts, and then is vented while inside air is recirculated.

Oh, use a flapper if it is not direct connected so the cold air does not
come in unless sucked it.



My unit is 15 years old... There was a problem with the vents...there
was a flapper vent connected to the furnace, but the flapper got
stuck... Furnace was not venting, was getting very very hot.. CO
detector came on..

?
"KOS" wrote in message
...
On Jan 5, 10:09 pm, "Ed Pawlowski" wrote:
?"KOS" wrote in message

...

Hi

I have a question.. In my basement I have my gas furnace and hot water
heater... there is one window there... I currently do not have any
fresh air access... The gas company said I should have some fresh air
coming in with louver or vent.. Question:

do I need to run tubing so it sits 12 inches from the floor? Someone
said I should.

what is the simplest way to do this air louver?

wont the room get cold?
Thanks

Millions of houses have been built like that, but times are a changing.
New
burners are made to use fresh air intakes for combustion. You can buy a
vent made for that purpose and either run dryer vent or PVC pipe to the
heater. The advantage is you are not taking the heated inside air and
burning the fuel and then exhausting it up the chimney. Fresh air
enter,
combusts, and then is vented while inside air is recirculated.

Oh, use a flapper if it is not direct connected so the cold air does not
come in unless sucked it.



My unit is 15 years old... There was a problem with the vents...there
was a flapper vent connected to the furnace, but the flapper got
stuck... Furnace was not venting, was getting very very hot.. CO
detector came on..


On the intake?
I was talking about the intake but they do have motorized flappers that open
on the flue when the heat comes on. Yes it can cause a serious problem if
it stops working.

On Wed, 5 Jan 2011 22:43:57 -0500, "Ed Pawlowski"
wrote:

?
"KOS" wrote in message
...
On Jan 5, 10:09 pm, "Ed Pawlowski" wrote:
?"KOS" wrote in message

...

Hi

I have a question.. In my basement I have my gas furnace and hot water
heater... there is one window there... I currently do not have any
fresh air access... The gas company said I should have some fresh air
coming in with louver or vent.. Question:

do I need to run tubing so it sits 12 inches from the floor? Someone
said I should.

what is the simplest way to do this air louver?

wont the room get cold?
Thanks

Millions of houses have been built like that, but times are a changing.
New
burners are made to use fresh air intakes for combustion. You can buy a
vent made for that purpose and either run dryer vent or PVC pipe to the
heater. The advantage is you are not taking the heated inside air and
burning the fuel and then exhausting it up the chimney. Fresh air
enter,
combusts, and then is vented while inside air is recirculated.

Oh, use a flapper if it is not direct connected so the cold air does not
come in unless sucked it.



My unit is 15 years old... There was a problem with the vents...there
was a flapper vent connected to the furnace, but the flapper got
stuck... Furnace was not venting, was getting very very hot.. CO
detector came on..


On the intake?
I was talking about the intake but they do have motorized flappers that open
on the flue when the heat comes on. Yes it can cause a serious problem if
it stops working.
Last furnace I had with the power damper would not let the furnace
fire at all untill the damper was fully open. It was a Lennox IIRC,
and about 34 years ago

On Jan 6, 5:06*am, wrote:
On Wed, 5 Jan 2011 22:43:57 -0500, "Ed Pawlowski"
wrote:





?
"KOS" wrote in message
....
On Jan 5, 10:09 pm, "Ed Pawlowski" wrote:
?"KOS" wrote in message

....

Hi

I have a question.. In my basement I have my gas furnace and hot water
heater... there is one window there... I currently do not have any
fresh air access... The gas company said I should have some fresh air
coming in with louver or vent.. Question:

do I need to run tubing so it sits 12 inches from the floor? Someone
said I should.

what is the simplest way to do this air louver?

wont the room get cold?
Thanks

Millions of houses have been built like that, but times are a changing.
New
burners are made to use fresh air intakes for combustion. *You can buy a
vent made for that purpose and either run dryer vent or PVC pipe to the
heater. *The advantage is you are not taking the heated inside air and
burning the fuel and then exhausting it up the chimney. * Fresh air
enter,
combusts, and then is vented while inside air is recirculated.

Oh, use a flapper if it is not direct connected so the cold air does not
come in unless sucked it.

My unit is 15 years old... There was a problem with the vents...there
was a flapper vent connected to the furnace, but the flapper got
stuck... Furnace was not venting, was getting very very hot.. CO
detector came on..

On the intake?
I was talking about the intake but they do have motorized flappers that open
on the flue when the heat comes on. *Yes it can cause a serious problem if
it stops working.

*Last furnace I had with the power damper would not let the furnace
fire at all untill the damper was fully open. It was a Lennox IIRC,
and about 34 years ago- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Ah, you Yanks have primitive devices. :-0

On Jan 5, 9:27*pm, KOS wrote:
On Jan 5, 10:09*pm, "Ed Pawlowski" wrote:





?"KOS" wrote in message

....

Hi

I have a question.. In my basement I have my gas furnace and hot water
heater... there is one window there... I currently do not have any
fresh air access... The gas company said I should have some fresh air
coming in with louver or vent.. Question:

do I need to run tubing so it sits 12 inches from the floor? Someone
said I should.

what is the simplest way to do this air louver?

wont the room get cold?
Thanks

Millions of houses have been built like that, but times are a changing. *New
burners are made to use fresh air intakes for combustion. *You can buy a
vent made for that purpose and either run dryer vent or PVC pipe to the
heater. *The advantage is you are not taking the heated inside air and
burning the fuel and then exhausting it up the chimney. * Fresh air enter,
combusts, and then is vented while inside air is recirculated.

Oh, use a flapper if it is not direct connected so the cold air does not
come in unless sucked it.

My unit is 15 years old... There was a problem with the vents...there
was a flapper vent connected to the furnace, but the flapper got
stuck... Furnace was not venting, was getting very very hot.. CO
detector came on..- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Im sure it was an Exhaust damper, a saftey should have not let it
fire.

On Wed, 05 Jan 2011 22:09:39 -0500, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
Millions of houses have been built like that, but times are a changing.
New burners are made to use fresh air intakes for combustion. You can
buy a vent made for that purpose and either run dryer vent or PVC pipe
to the heater.

Ours is 2" PVC pipe, as per the furnace manual (when I think of dryer
vent I think of 4" stuff, which might be overkill if the furnace doesn't
need it)

Oh, our home depot has a Kidde smoke alarm + CO alarm package at $26 at
the moment - not sure if it's a national offer. The CO alarm runs from AC
with battery backup, which is nice (although it won't take a rechargeable
battery and charge it)

cheers

Jules

On Jan 6, 9:39*am, Jules Richardson
wrote:
On Wed, 05 Jan 2011 22:09:39 -0500, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
Millions of houses have been built like that, but times are a changing.
New burners are made to use fresh air intakes for combustion. *You can
buy a vent made for that purpose and either run dryer vent or PVC pipe
to the heater.

Ours is 2" PVC pipe, as per the furnace manual (when I think of dryer
vent I think of 4" stuff, which might be overkill if the furnace doesn't
need it)

Oh, our home depot has a Kidde smoke alarm + CO alarm package at $26 at
the moment - not sure if it's a national offer. The CO alarm runs from AC
with battery backup, which is nice (although it won't take a rechargeable
battery and charge it)

cheers

Jules

A furnace with a 2" PVC vent works because it has a draft inducer to
pull the air
through the pipe and vent the exhaust back out. If the OP has a
furnace that works
with a traditional chimney, that size pipe isn't going to move enough
air to amount
to anything.

KOS wrote the following:
Hi

I have a question.. In my basement I have my gas furnace and hot water
heater... there is one window there... I currently do not have any
fresh air access... The gas company said I should have some fresh air
coming in with louver or vent.. Question:

do I need to run tubing so it sits 12 inches from the floor? Someone
said I should.

what is the simplest way to do this air louver?

wont the room get cold?
Thanks


My oil burner and LP gas water heater is in the basement under the
stairs in the center of the house.
That area is closed in and has a louvered folding door for access.
I do not have any fresh air access from the outside.
It has been that way for 26 years.
My office/workshop is in the basement and that is where I am at the moment.
I spend hours down here and have never seen or heard the burner or
heater gasping for air, nor have I ever felt any ill effects from a lack
of oxygen.
Any air it needs is sucked out of the house from various openings
between the basement and the rest of the house up to the attic where the
flue passes through to the roof.
I smoke down here and I have a window mount double fan sucking air out
of the basement. When that fan is operating, I can smell what my wife is
cooking in the kitchen above by the aroma being sucked down, so any air
the heaters need can take the same path. I do have a wired CO detector
down here and it has never gone off.
I don't know what the code says about outside air access, but it wasn't
code when this house was built, so I'm grandfathered.

--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
In the original Orange County. Est. 1683
To email, remove the double zeroes after @

KOS wrote:
Hi

I have a question.. In my basement I have my gas furnace and hot water
heater... there is one window there... I currently do not have any
fresh air access... The gas company said I should have some fresh air
coming in with louver or vent.. Question:

do I need to run tubing so it sits 12 inches from the floor? Someone
said I should.

what is the simplest way to do this air louver?

wont the room get cold?
Thanks

Old buildings were quite leaky and combustion air was not a problem.
Buildings have gotten tighter over the years, and for a new house here
(MN) now they are very tight I would certainly want a combustion air
intake (required by code anyway). Could be a problem with an older house
if air is being exhausted in some way (large exhaust fan, 30" living
space to attic exhaust fan, fireplace).

When the boiler was replaced here (in my leaky house) many years ago
they added a vent. It was a screened outside opening with a 6" flexible
duct. If the duct just goes down to the floor you can get cold air
coming in. If you bend it in a U so it goes down and then goes up it
forms a trap. I don't notice any cold air.

A CO detector is a real good idea in any case. The code here is near the
bedrooms.

--
bud--

On 1/5/2011 4:50 PM, KOS wrote:
Hi

I have a question.. In my basement I have my gas furnace and hot water
heater... there is one window there... I currently do not have any
fresh air access... The gas company said I should have some fresh air
coming in with louver or vent.. Question:

do I need to run tubing so it sits 12 inches from the floor? Someone
said I should.

what is the simplest way to do this air louver?

wont the room get cold?
Thanks


My old 1950's era house had a gas furnace/water heater. When they drew
cold air into the house mostly through the upstairs windows. Those
windows weren't all that great. I put a fresh air vent into the
furnace cold air plenum. This brought the outside air into the house
directly into the furnace where it was heated before moving into the
rest of the house to replace the air lost through combustion. What it
did was to reduce the cold drafts coming in through the windows
upstairs. I could have just brought the outside air into the furnace
room but didn't like the idea of -40 deg air dumping directly on the
basement floor.

I built my new house above code. It's almost twice as big as the old
one. The new house is heated with an electric furnace and of course
has an electric water heater. My highest monthly electric bill in the
new house is still lower than my winter monthly gas bill was in the
old place and I moved out of there four years ago. By the way I paid
as I used not payment on a equalized monthly budget.

LdB

On Jan 5, 5:50*pm, KOS wrote:
Hi

I have a question.. In my basement I have my gas furnace and hot water
heater... there is one window there... I currently do not have any
fresh air access... The gas company said I should have some fresh air
coming in with louver or vent.. Question:

do I need to run tubing so it sits 12 inches from the floor? Someone
said I should.

what is the simplest way to do this air louver?

wont the room get cold?
Thanks

You don't specify the basement layout. One room, closed. Door ?
You also do not specify the furnace. Closed system or partially
closed,
fan in/out or draft.

There are many many many basements without fresh air vents to the
outside.
Its typically leakage loses that vent. There are usually vents, or
should be,
on a room in the basement via the door via the upstairs.
Carbon monoxide detectors usually warn against putting them in the
furnace room,
but I would anyway as far from the furnace as possible.

How big is the room? Is it insulated ? How is it connected to the rest
of the building ? Are the ducts sealed, and are they insulated well ?