Make Up Air Kit For Fireplace
The chimney cap buying guide and the chimney pipe buying guide will help you find out what your options are and how.
Make up air kit for fireplace. These are through the wall systems that balance the amount of outgoing air with an equal amount of incoming air. The design of the fireplace itself plays a big role in the level of satisfaction it provides. This is not the same scenario as an air tight wood stove and more comparable to an atmospheric drafted furnace only bigger with greater volumes of dilution air than is used to control flue condensation with fossil burners. Fireplace air vent installation can sometimes be difficult to figure out which air intake vent kit is right for you.
The fireplace has a fresh air vent in the hearth. This air comes from all the usual cracks around windows doors and framing members as well as through the ventilation intake ports. Our eco steel outside air kits are designed for use with isokern fireplaces which burn wood liquid propane or natural gas. Follow manufacturer s instructions for installation instructions and refer to local building code for proper sizing.
In fact even in a house with an air leakage rate of 0 6 ach50 makeup air usually finds its way in to the house when a bathroom exhaust fan is turned on or when wood smoke goes up the chimney. Outside air kits should be installed and used in accordance with requirements of the standard for fireplaces under national code nfpa 211. They assist your isokern fireplace in burning more evenly and help prevent back draft smoking caused by negative pressure from tightly sealed homes. Ul 127 standard says the cross sectional area of the air inlet must be 50 of the cross sectional area of the flue or 25 in 2 whichever is smaller.
Proper research prior to installation is the key to simplifying the process. There is other air that can be part of combustion air such as ventilation air which is used to ventilate or exhaust an appliance or fireplace and dilution air which mixes with the exhaust gases to dilute them. Make up air vent is the same thing as a fresh air intake vent. I ve got both a fireplace and a free standing wood heater spaced 15 feet apart from one another in my open kitchen and living area.
Connect an outside air duct to the plenum on the furnace if the house has a forced air heating and cooling system. This would prevent depressurization and solve the smoky fireplace problem. This kind of makeup air system would force air into the house to compensate for the kitchen range exhaust flow. Incoming air can be heated with electric resistance strips.
The code also references make up air and inside air. We have several resources to help.