Blocking air vents

unkel

I blocked some of the air vents as they were very noisy and let in a lot of cold air / drafts. The house is 11 years old and not very well insulated otherwise. House has converted attic with open stairs to it and the house has a large extention, a conservatory, at the back

The outside doors are open many times during the day and we open plenty of windows as we like fresh air during the day (when the heating is not on)

All internal doors in the house are always open. At least one bedroom window is open during the night and we never use central heating at night. We never use central heating in any of the bedrooms

Gas boiler is in the kitchen which is large and vented

Gas fire is in the living room - gas fire is used up to a couple of hours in the evening in the winter. The door of the living room is always open

I will install a CO alarm in the living room

Did I forget anything?

DoneDL

hyperbaric chamber.

WhatNowForUs?

unkel wrote: »

I blocked some of the air vents as they were very noisy and let in a lot of cold air / drafts. The house is 11 years old and not very well insulated otherwise. House has converted attic with open stairs to it and the house has a large extention, a conservatory, at the back

The outside doors are open many times during the day and we open plenty of windows as we like fresh air during the day (when the heating is not on)

All internal doors in the house are always open. At least one bedroom window is open during the night and we never use central heating at night. We never use central heating in any of the bedrooms

Gas boiler is in the kitchen which is large and vented

Gas fire is in the living room - gas fire is used up to a couple of hours in the evening in the winter. The door of the living room is always open

I will install a CO alarm in the living room

Did I forget anything?

To close the doors and open the vent.

bbam

It's hard really...
One would say this is fine, providing no vents in rooms with fires/heating are blocked.. I think I'd not block these fully, maybe reduce and leave a 2" hole open just in case...

For the bedrooms, we blocked our in our last house and no bother... Since you dont use heating in the bedrooms I'd worry about mould/condensation issues.. We always had the heating on in the bedrooms in the evenings.

BryanF

OP it sounds like your not dealing with actual problem...

unkel wrote: »

The house is 11 years old and not very well insulated

blocking the wall vents is a big no no. what you may find is by sealing the vents, there will be an increase in moisture which (because of your lack of insulation) will condense on the external walls and cause mould. mould is bad, ventilation is good. unfortunately there is no simple solution you need to insulate your building.
as a matter of interest do you have suspend timber floors?

creedp

BryanF wrote: »

OP it sounds like your not dealing with actual problem...blocking the wall vents is a big no no. what you may find is by sealing the vents, there will be an increase in moisture which (because of your lack of insulation) will condense on the external walls and cause mould. mould is bad, ventilation is good. unfortunately there is no simple solution you need to insulate your building.
as a matter of interest do you have suspend timber floors?

What I don't fully understand why you blocked the vents because they left in drafts and cold air and yet sleep with a least one open window in you bedroom and never turn on ther heat. Surely thats a recipe for frost bite that no amount of sealing of vents can cure.

You sound like what we would call in the old days as a 'hardy fecker' if you leave external doors and windows open during the heating season. I would prefer to leave the vents open and close the windows and throw on the heat for a couple of hours. As BryanF says if your house is cold then it needs to be better insulated but why then are windows left open and no heat turned on?

unkel

creedp wrote: »

You sound like what we would call in the old days as a 'hardy fecker' if you leave external doors and windows open during the heating season. I would prefer to leave the vents open and close the windows and throw on the heat for a couple of hours. As BryanF says if your house is cold then it needs to be better insulated but why then are windows left open and no heat turned on?

Maybe I didn't explain myself very well

The house is warm during the day, mainly because of the sun shining on the large south facing conservatory roof. This heats up pretty much the whole ground floor of the house. Because of this, and because of leaving windows open during cooking, kids going in and out of the house all day, means there is plenty of ventilation during the day.

At sunset the house cools down quickly and the enormous holes in the walls cause drafts and cold air coming in to such an extent that the heat needs to be on constantly

So basically my question is, is the house ventilated enough during the day (and during the night with one open bedroom window) that I do not need ventilation through the air vents as well (except the ones in the rooms with gas appliances)?

bbam

unkel wrote: »

So basically my question is, is the house ventilated enough during the day (and during the night with one open bedroom window) that I do not need ventilation through the air vents as well (except the ones in the rooms with gas appliances)?

It's a question no one can answer fully.. It's exactly what I did and lived like that for about 10 years with no mould/condensation issues... But that doesn't mean you won't have those issues..
It is important as you have stated that the rooms with appliances need their ventilation open at all times..

The only danger in the bedrooms is mould, no CO dangers there as there is no source, and the rooms with the sources are ventilated...

But there are those who will say you must have ventilation no matter what..:rolleyes:

DoneDL

unkel wrote: »

Maybe I didn't explain myself very well

The house is warm during the day, mainly because of the sun shining on the large south facing conservatory roof. This heats up pretty much the whole ground floor of the house. Because of this, and because of leaving windows open during cooking, kids going in and out of the house all day, means there is plenty of ventilation during the day.

At sunset the house cools down quickly and the enormous holes in the walls cause drafts and cold air coming in to such an extent that the heat needs to be on constantly

So basically my question is, is the house ventilated enough during the day (and during the night with one open bedroom window) that I do not need ventilation through the air vents as well (except the ones in the rooms with gas appliances)?

1 No you didn`t explain yourself very well.

2 "Gas fire is in the living room - gas fire is used up to a couple of hours in the evening in the winter. The door of the living room is always open"

Massive fail on so many levels.

3 plenty of ventilation during the day. Ventilation is not something you can save for when you need it

4 Ventilation should be constant and consistent and dependant on the appliances in use and the layout of the property.

5 There are baffled vents available which will still give good quality ventilation without the draught.

2 stroke

You have gas boiler, gas heater & presumably a gas cooker, desregard any advise that encourages blocking vents. Close some doors.

bbam

bbam wrote: »

But there are those who will say you must have ventilation no matter what..:rolleyes:

See......
The thing is older houses were bad from an airtight perspective. Then stupid vents were left in the Walls as well sometimes leaving the rooms uncomfortable.
There is always some risk from carbonmonoxide if you block some vents. It is impossible to quantify the risk so the rule is plenty of ventilation.

Some safeguards such as your detector and servicing appliances will help but you need to be happy that each vent you block will increase the risk.

I feel those wall vents cause draughts rather than ventilation.
We blocked some. And others we streached light material behind the grill which significantally reduced draughts and allowed some "ventilation".

Bens

Some day you're going to be rooting in the back of the wardrobe and find mold all over your stuff. Then you'll know why vents are needed, whether the house is insulated or not. Especially in the room you sleep in. Look up how much water vapor comes from a sleeping person at night.

BryanF

bbam wrote: »

See......
The thing is older houses were bad from an airtight perspective. Then stupid vents were left in the Walls as well sometimes leaving the rooms uncomfortable.

if the air-tightness was improved.. as in reduce the uncontrolled ventilation: suspend Ground floor, around windows /doors etc, then the wall vents would not be causing drafts

bbam wrote: »

There is always some risk from carbonmonoxide if you block some vents. It is impossible to quantify the risk so the rule is plenty of ventilation.

i total agree.. so why do you go on to state

bbam wrote: »

Some safeguards such as your detector and servicing appliances will help but you need to be happy that each vent you block will increase the risk.

surely if its hard to quantify! then you should stick with the wall vents as per the Building regulations?

and then this :

bbam wrote: »

I feel those wall vents cause draughts rather than ventilation.
We blocked some. And others we streached light material behind the grill which significantally reduced draughts and allowed some "ventilation".

this is advice is against building regulations, common sense and should not be listened too..
why not reduce the uncontrolled ventilation/ air infiltration and leave the calculated required ventilation (the wall vents) well enough alone

bbam

BryanF wrote: »

this is advice is against building regulations, common sense and should not be listened too..

Bryan.. I think if you read my posts I don't advise to block the vents...
I gave my opinion on ventilation and the effectivness of these vents,
I commented on what I've done in the past..
I pointed out the danger of carbonmonoxide and the need for ventilation and the potential problems from mould with poor ventilation...

Please don't accuse me, read the posts..
Just putting out the pro's/con's for OP rather than barking what must be done :rolleyes:

unkel

bbam wrote: »

Just putting out the pro's/con's for OP rather than barking what must be done :rolleyes:

And I much appreciate someone willing and able to think and discuss rather than some of the rude rule followers that frequent this forum. Befehl ist Befehl, much? :rolleyes:

I don't know where Irish building regulations are coming from but these regulations are retarded. Does anyone think homes in Scandinavia (where it gets a little bit colder in winter, compared to Ireland) have 20cm by 20cm holes in the walls as a way to ventilate the house? Ehhr, no.

BryanF

unkel wrote: »

And I much appreciate someone willing and able to think and discuss rather than some of the rude rule followers that frequent this forum. Befehl ist Befehl, much? :rolleyes:

I don't know where Irish building regulations are coming from but these regulations are retarded. Does anyone think homes in Scandinavia (where it gets a little bit colder in winter, compared to Ireland) have 20cm by 20cm holes in the walls as a way to ventilate the house? Ehhr, no.

the op ended by asking "did i forget anything".. it was pointed-out the health issues due to mould often behind wardrobes etc can be an issue.. and that insulation & air-tightness should be addressed as they are things 'that have been forgotten'.. and that by increasing the air-tightness the wall vents wont cause such drafts.. and that gas needs careful venting.. and it was pointed out that the vents must remain open to comply with Building regs

I agree wall vents are stupid. so another option to complying with building regulations: would be to consider installing a demand controlled mechanical ventilation system? this would allow you to have wall vents that only open on demand (hooked-up to RH & Co2 sensors)

Grawns

Sorry MODS but I had to dig this up as I am currently experimenting with blocking air vents in some north facing bedrooms. I just put old pillow stuffing in them to stop pollution and freezing cold air coming in from the street. The dirt they let in is incredible.

I am concerned about mould so will be keeping an eye on things. However there are large sash windows which let in enough air as far as I am concerned and there are no carbon monoxide sources nearby ( except for whats coming in the window.. )The boiler is in the basement 3 floors down.

The house is georgian and is very hard to heat but by simply blocking this vent the room is already reasonably warm without the radiator on. Less street noise too. Win win so far but i will keep an eye on things.

unkel

As you can see from my thread, I closed the vents in all 3 bedrooms 3 years ago. No mould, the rooms are warmer, there is less draft and the rooms are much, much quieter

I do regularly open the windows to air out the house and also regularly leave the window in the master bedroom open at night

Imho it is ridiculous that houses in this country are / were built with gaping holes in the walls :rolleyes:

beauf

unkel wrote: »

...Imho it is ridiculous that houses in this country are / were built with gaping holes in the walls :rolleyes:

Couldn't agree more.

There more than enough ventilation in the badly fitted doors and windows.

Lex Luthor

I replaced my vents that came with the house with the ones that slide open/closed.
Ok they never fully close but I think its always good to keep some ventilation through them for fresh air in the room.

For the rooms with the fire and boiler I would keep them open at all times.

What I do find is there is absolutely no consistency in the size of the holes behind the vents. It looks like someone just smashed their way through with a hammer and said "grand I can see through, that'll do Johnny"

Would prefer if they had put maybe a 2-3" pipe from the outside vent to inside wall vent and filled around it which is probably something I might do when I get some time

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Hi All, I've only recently looked at fixing the draft issue with the vents in our house. Big horrible giant white (some are now painted) on the walls in each room. I've swapped most out with adjustable vents and this has helped significantly.

My question - there's a horrible draft coming through all the sockets, switches, skirting etc. The wall vents have no ducting from external vent to internal vents and I'm guessing the draft is coming from the external vent and through the cavity in the wall. Is this normal? Or can I get a vent kit (some plastic tubing of some kind) so that the air cannot flow into the cavity?

bbam

Kameron Quick Textbook wrote: »

Hi All, I've only recently looked at fixing the draft issue with the vents in our house. Big horrible giant white (some are now painted) on the walls in each room. I've swapped most out with adjustable vents and this has helped significantly.

My question - there's a horrible draft coming through all the sockets, switches, skirting etc. The wall vents have no ducting from external vent to internal vents and I'm guessing the draft is coming from the external vent and through the cavity in the wall. Is this normal? Or can I get a vent kit (some plastic tubing of some kind) so that the air cannot flow into the cavity?

Air will also enter the cavity through the outer leaf of block so I'm not sure if what you are describing will work..
Maybe getting the cavity pumped would be a good idea... reduces air circulation and insulates all in one go..

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

I wouldn't mind if there was still some flow, just not the "gale" that we currently have. It makes heating the house useless as they house is cold again within 30mins if it's at all windy outside.

bbam wrote: »

Air will also enter the cavity through the outer leaf of block so I'm not sure if what you are describing will work..
Maybe getting the cavity pumped would be a good idea... reduces air circulation and insulates all in one go..