Blocking an air brick?

[CaptainJack88]

We've been renovating our house which was built at around the same time as our parents, roughly 1995.

In our lounge, we have an airbrick in the corner of the room, and originally we have a Magiglo gas fire. We've since replaced this fire with a Kinder fire (standard flue).

The question is, do we need the air brick still? My parents have the same setup as us (same fire and flue) but have no air brick. The reason I ask is because theres a bloody big draft coming from it, and even with the fire on full whack, you can feel the draft.

 

[crossleymarko]

no expert on this but heres my take .
new build houses dont have air bricks and are pretty well air tight to meet regulations. your property will have draughts / ventilation all over id imagine. get your self a carbon monoxide alarm or 2 and block it up is what id do personnally.
i reckon the draught is greater drawing up the flu when the fire is on ..

 

[CaptainJack88]

no expert on this but heres my take .
new build houses dont have air bricks and are pretty well air tight to meet regulations. your property will have draughts / ventilation all over id imagine. get your self a carbon monoxide alarm or 2 and block it up is what id do personnally.
i reckon the draught is greater drawing up the flu when the fire is on ..

I wasn't exactly sure what the airbrick was for to be honest.
I know when I had the old one serviced(decommissioned) and the new one fitted, both engineers said "your flue's fine, it's pulling like a bloody steam train"

I'm assuming from your comment that the airbrick does the same job as the flue when the fire is on, and that's just to remove carbon monoxide?

 

[theprinceofdarkness]

If you go here :- http://www.kindergasfires.co.uk/products , select your product, then go to more information, you get the technical stuff. I checked the "Camber" model and it said no air bricks are required.
Frank

 

[CaptainJack88]

If you go here :- http://www.kindergasfires.co.uk/products , select your product, then go to more information, you get the technical stuff. I checked the "Camber" model and it said no air bricks are required.
Frank

It's the Oasis HE. It says not normally required, so there is still a chance it needs one, but not sure what those requirements are

 

[bernardgreen]

If the fire takes in air from the room to burn the gas and that air and combustion products go out of the house via the flue then the air has to be replaced by air from outside the house finding it's way into the room. With a small fire it seems acceptable for the replacement air to get to the room via other rooms and through gaps under doors. With larger fires this is not acceptable as lack of adequate replacement air means the fire cannot get enough air for proper combustion of the gas. Also the drawing of fumes up the chimney is reduced and this can result in toxic fumes getting into the room.

 

[theprinceofdarkness]

With wood burners they come clean, under 5KW output, no air vent required. Now for gas you need more air so the rating will be lower, but how much?, 4.9 KW or 2??? Check the rating of your parents fire for a comparison.
Frank