Vent in our house

[itsmehere1]

Hi. Just moved into a Victorian terraced house and our first time living in one. The house is bloody freezing. We noticed this vent in the dining room towards the garden. And have realised the outside cold wind is coming into the house through it. Does anyone know what is its purpose? Can we tape it off? Please help before we freeze :)

Do you have a gas fire in the room? It's an air vent to allow the escape of gas fumes. My son has one in his flat and also complains that it's freezing. Could you replace the vent with one that you can close?

If it's for a large gas fire or bbck boiler it is not allowed to be a closable or blockable as the boiler needs a good supply of air to burn the gas. If the boiler has been removed then it's ok to fit a closable one. Check with your gas installer.

Thanks Spickle and johnd2, you’re right, I can see a gas fired boiler. By any chance would you know how much would it cost to replace this? And typically what do you replace it with so that the vent is no longer needed? Thanks again

What's the outside of the vent like? Also you can put a piece of furniture in front of it if it's really draughty.

I believe if the gas fire is below 5kw, you don't have to have a vent, but regulations do change so might be worth asking an expert in gas appliances.

Show us some photos of your boiler, and of the flue on the outside of the house. Modern boilers don't usually need a vent.

However a gas fire, open fire, or stove probably will.

BTW if air is coming in through that vent, an equal amount will be escaping somewhere. Possibly round the loft hatch or up a chimney. You can use Joss sticks to see where the draught is going.

If somebody has cut holes in your ceilings, probably up there.

Thanks for your replies. I’m attaching the pic of the boiler and the back of the vent. I’m not sure if there’s a hole in the ceiling but there might be. We asked our neighbours and they said you keep a piece of furniture in front of you have a car box monoxide checker which we do have, but we latent entirely sure if that’s the right way to go.

Eeks so many typos. We asked our neighbours and they said we can keep a piece of furniture in front of it if we have a carbon monoxide checker which we do have, but we aren’t entirely sure if that’s the right way to go.

I can see a gas fire, but if there is a boiler behind it I think it will be a Baxi Bermuda or similar, and it does need a permanent open vent.

This is rather an old appliance so it would be wise to have it serviced and safety-checked, including the flue (chimney). I'd suggest a local, older, independent gasman who will be very familiar with them. Larger companies may just want to sell you a new one. Have a look on the gas-safe register search page, it shows photos of the registered person if you click "view our engineers" and you can look to see if they are qualified on both gas-fires and boilers

p.s.

about "holes in the ceiling" I meant this will encourage and worsen draughts.

It is an oblique way of describing downlighters and spotlights that some people like.

Agreed that the vent should not be covered at this stage. Replacing the boiler would be into the thousands rather then hundreds but you'd need a quote. Another option which would be cheaper in the short term is to get the vent much closer to the fire so that the draught doesn't flow across the room.