10265 Pellet stufa - can it go near a bedroom?

We have bought a pellet heater but haven't yet had it installed (long story). When my husband went over to talk to the plumber about getting it installed, the plumber expressed some concern about putting the stufa on the same level as a bedroom (we have a bedroom on the ground floor and were thinking of putting the stufa in the kitchen, next door). Unfortunately a lot of info got lost in translation - I'm the Italian speaker and I wasn't there - and there's only so much my husband and the plumber could convey to one another by playing charades and drawing pictures! However the gist of it seemed to be something to do with possible leaks of noxious gases. Has anyone else been told anything like this??

Category
Building/Renovation

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 08/25/2008 - 17:41

Well - struggling with dodgy translations, and not having plans and sections of your house in front of me - I'll have a go at explaining the issues!

Any solid fuel burning appliance needs a supply of fresh air for combustion. If this isn't available, the appliance will use the air in the habitable space, and deprive that air of oxygen, leading to an environment unfavourable to life. In addition, the flue gases (smoke) need to be evacuated to the fresh air - obviously outside the room.

So: you have mentioned that your location for the pellet stove is on the ground floor. Perhaps this is semi-subterranean, presenting problems for a fresh air intake, and possibly also for the flue gases (let's call it a chimney). Now pellet stoves often are sold as running 'on a balanced flue' (which means that you have a double pipe - one bit lets in fresh air, and the other pipe takes out exhaust gases). There is usually a 'maximum length' for such a pipe - and it is possible that your plumber has decided that this cannot be achieved. Alternatively, there is perhaps a 'fresh air intake' already in the kitchen, but the stove will run on a 'conventional' chimney, and this situation would also worry the plumber (for less fundamental reasons, but according to le norme it wouldn't be acceptable).

On the other hand, if you are certain that you can install this stove with a (double) pipe which can get into fresh air in less than a metre in length, (and if the outlet isn't directly under a first floor window), then you are free to argue with the plumber.

Basically, I wouldn't completely ignore the advice of the plumber - but there is probably a compromise solution.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 13:23

Whatever the outcome Fox, if you have a solid fuel appliance burning [inc open fire] it may make sense to get a Carbon Monoxide detector that sounds an alarm in the event of anything reaching a danger level. I haven;t seen them in Italy but they must be around in the Brico or similar stores.

We bought one out from the UK to check there wasn;t anything sinister going on as we burn our stufa which drives the central heating all night in the very cold weather and were waking up with a "thick head". Turns out not to be carbon monoxide but perhaps a little too much vino! Better safe than sorry though.