Many houses we deal
with, whether they are old or new and have open fireplaces, tend to
have issues with cold air coming down the chimney. This is what is
referred to as negative pressure where the pressure inside the house
is lower than the outside. The interior is in a state of vacuum.
If there are enough
appliances in a house that are evacuating air from the space, then the
house slowly depressurizes. Some of these appliances include bathroom
fans, dryers, central vacuum systems, hot water heaters, hot water
boilers, the burning of open wood or gas fireplaces but the number one
culprit is the large exhaust hoods that are being installed over
today's large gas ranges in the kitchen. Merely running one of these
hoods for a half hour can evacuate half the air from the ground floor
of a house. To do simple math, some of these hood will take out 1000
cubic feet of air per minute. That's the equivalent of an average
bedroom in one minute. By leaving it on for that half hour, one can
see how the house quickly loses its air.
The chimney is
essentially the week link in the chain and can become the point where
the house tries to make up that air. Even after turning the appliance
off, the house could take days to make up that air through natural air
infiltration.
Fireplace Concepts has
the expertise to solve these problems through a make up air system
installed somewhere in the house. We can assess the appliances and
determine the size of system that is required.
