www.desatech.com
123779-01C
7
AIR FOR cOmBUSTION AND VENTILATION
WARNING: This heater shall
not be installed in a room or
space unless the required vol
-
ume of indoor combustion air
is provided by the method de
-
scribed in the
National Fuel Gas
Code, ANSI Z223.1/NFPA 54,
the
International Fuel Gas Code,
or
applicable local codes. Read the
following instructions to insure
proper fresh air for this and
other fuel-burning appliances
in your home.
Today’s homes are built more energy efficient
than ever. New materials, increased insulation
and new construction methods help reduce
heat loss in homes. Home owners weather
strip and caulk around windows and doors
to keep the cold air out and the warm air in.
During heating months, home owners want
their homes as airtight as possible.
While it is good to make your home energy
efficient, your home needs to breathe. Fresh
air must enter your home. All fuel-burning ap-
pliances need fresh air for proper combustion
and ventilation.
Exhaust fans, fireplaces, clothes dryers and
fuel burning appliances draw air from the
house to operate. You must provide adequate
fresh air for these appliances. This will insure
proper venting of vented fuel-burning appli-
ances.
PROVIDING ADEQUATE
VENTILATION
The following are excerpts from N
ational Fuel
Gas Code. ANSI Z223.1/NFPA 54, Air for
Combustion and Ventilation.
All spaces in homes fall into one of the three
following ventilation classifications:
1. Unusually Tight Construction
2. Unconfined Space
3. Confined Space
The information on pages 7 through 9 will help
you classify your space and provide adequate
ventilation.
The air that leaks around doors and windows
may provide enough fresh air for combustion
and ventilation. However, in buildings of un
-
usually tight construction, you must provide
additional fresh air.
Unusually tight construction is defined as
construction where:
a. walls and ceilings exposed to the out
-
side atmosphere have a continuous
water vapor retarder with a rating of
one perm (6 x 10
-11
kg per pa-sec-m
2
) or
less with openings gasketed or sealed
and
b. weather stripping has been added on
openable windows and doors
and
c. caulking or sealants are applied to
areas such as joints around window
and door frames, between sole plates
and floors, between wall-ceiling joints,
between wall panels, at penetrations
for plumbing, electrical and gas lines
and at other openings.
If your home meets all of these three cri-
teria, you must provide additional fresh
air. See
Ventilation Air From Outdoors
,
page 9.
If your home does not meet all of the three
criteria above, proceed to
Determining
Fresh-Air Flow For Fireplace Location
,
page 8.
Confined and Unconfined Space
The National Fuel Gas Code, ANSI Z223.1/
NFPA 54
defines a confined space as a space
whose volume is less than 50 ft
3
per 1,000
Btu/hr (4.8 m
3
/kw) of the aggregate input
rating of all appliances installed in that space
and an unconfined space as a space whose
volume is not less than 50 ft
3
per 1,000 Btu/hr
(4.8 m
3
/kw) of the aggregate input rating of
all appliances installed in that space. Rooms
communicating directly with the space in
which the appliances are installed*, through
openings not furnished with doors, are consid
-
ered a part of the unconfined space.
* Adjoining rooms are communicating only if
there are doorless passageways or ventilation
grills between them.
