Air Vent on internal wall

[jedari6551]

Hi
I have recently moved into a house built in th 70's. Downstairs of the house is an open plan "L" shaped living room/dinner with a solid load bearing wall around the kitchen. The wall seems pretty solid unsure if single or double layer but there is currently an unsightly metal air vent in the bottom corner of the wall which is closest to the middle of the house.

I was wondering if anyone had any advise on if removing, boarding up and plastering over would likely cause any issues with damp etc. The wall only has the kitchen behind it and above is the boiler cupboard so I am not really sure why there is a vent there anyway

 

[JohnD]

Take the vent off and look behind it. What do you see?

Does it go under the concrete floor? Does it go up the wall? Is there airflow? Are there pipes?

 

[OwainDIYer]

Possibly the vent is/was required for an open flued boiler?

 

[jedari6551]

Had a go at taking it off but there is a radiator pipe in front of it so I am not able to see where it is going without removing the radiator. not something I really want to do as I only just fixed it

The is no significant air flow coming through it, I was just wondering if anyone had any ideas as to why it is there as it seems a bit strange having an air vent on an internal wall in a central location and not on an external one.

It is a concrete floor and I cant see anywhere it would exit outside unless it goes to the the attic. The heating was changed to a combi boiler in 2006 before that I am not sure, i think it had a tank etc in the attic. Is it important to keep vents like this open?

 

[Newboy]

Because the boiler cupboard may need to be vented or, as suggested, an open flued boiler will need an air supply otherwise is may not have sufficient air to burn cleanly leading to CO emissions

 

[Alastairreid]

Probably a redundant heating vent but will still need investigated before you remove it.