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7
200044-01A
AIR FOR COMBUSTION AND VENTILATION
WARNING: This heater shall
not be installed in a confined space
or unusually tight construction
unless provisions are provided
for adequate combustion and
ventilation air. 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
The following are excerpts from
National 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:
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 appliances.
PROVIDING ADEQUATE VENTILATION
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.
Unusually Tight Construction
The air that leaks around doors and windows may
provide enough fresh air for combustion and ven-
tilation. However, in buildings of unusually tight
construction, you must provide additional fresh air.
Unusually tight construction is defined as
construction where:
a. walls and ceilings exposed to the outside
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, electri-
cal and gas lines and at other openings.
If your home meets all of these three criteria,
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 Heater 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 cubic feet per
1,000 Btu/hr (4.8 m
3
per 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 cubic feet per
1,000 Btu/hr (4.8 m
3
per 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
considered a part of the unconfined space.
* Adjoining rooms are communicating only if
there are doorless passageways or ventilation
grills between them.
