4
104463
VENT-FREE NATURAL GAS STOVE HEATER
AIR FOR
COMBUSTION AND
VENTILATION
Today’s homes are built more energy effi-
cient 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
appliances need fresh air for proper com-
bustion and ventilation.
Exhaust fans, fireplaces, clothes dryers, and
fuel burning appliances draw air from the
house to operate. You must provide ad-
equate fresh air for these appliances. This
will insure proper venting of vented fuel-
burning appliances.
PROVIDING ADEQUATE
VENTILATION
The following are excerpts from Na-
tional Fuel Gas Code, ANSI Z223.1/
NFPA 54, Section 5.3, Air for Combus-
tion 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 4 through 6 will
help you classify your space and provide
adequate ventilation.
Unusually Tight Construction
The air that leaks around doors and win-
dows may provide enough fresh air for
combustion and ventilation. However, in
buildings of unusually tight construction,
you must provide additional fresh air.
Unusually tight construction is de-
fined as construction where:
a. walls and ceilings exposed to the
outside atmosphere have a con-
tinuous water vapor retarder with
a rating of one perm (6 x 10
-11
kg
per pa-sec-m
2
) or less with open-
ings 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, be-
tween sole plates and floors, be-
tween wall-ceiling joints, be-
tween wall panels, at penetra-
tions for plumbing, electrical, and
gas lines, and at other openings.
If your home meets all of the three
criteria above, you must provide ad-
ditional fresh air. See
Ventilation Air
From Outdoors
, page 6.
If your home does not meet all of the
three criteria above, proceed to
De-
termining Fresh-Air Flow For Heater
Location,
page 5.
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 per hour (4.8 m
3
per kw)
of the aggregate input rating of all appli-
ances installed in that space and an uncon-
fined space as a space whose volume is not
less than 50 cubic feet per 1,000 Btu per
hour (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 in-
stalled*, 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 ventila-
tion grills between them.
WARNING: This heater shall
not be installed in a confined
space or unusually tight con-
struction unless provisions are
provided for adequate combus-
tion and ventilation air. Read
the following instructions to in-
sure proper fresh air for this
and other fuel-burning appli-
ances in your home.