old time floor vents?

[rombi]

I built a new room and I was wondering if any of you HVAC guys could help me out. The new room has a full basement (unheated at the moment) under it that one day will be finished and heated. Hooking it up to our current forced air is going to be $2000 so I thought it is a good time to look at options like a pellet stove in the bsement. Are those floor vents safe? I mean in a fire I would think that they would be a bad thing. Do they make vents that have a fire hinge on them? Like when a fire starts it shuts the hole. The placement of the vent (vents) would be over the the pellet stove and it should hat our 225 sq. ft room and also the rest of the basement. I do not want to do this if there isn't an approved vent. I grew up in a house that had a floor grate and it actually was pretty good for the bedroom above it. I live in WI and this room started cooling off already. Unheated our basement (part garage area) stays about 45 unless it -20 for a few days then it gets below freezing. A little electric wall heater will heat it up so I think a pellet stove will do great. If I keep the door open from the upstairs it will warm up down there in time.
Thanks
Tom







9

 

[begreen]

What you'll need is a fusible link fire damper in conjunction with the floor register. Click on the fire dampers link here for examples:

http://www.atlantasupply.com/firesafety.htm

Be sure to match sizing with the appropriate floor register.
http://www.atlantasupply.com/floor-register-vents.htm

That said, this approach is often less than satisfactory due to heat loss, (insulation can help a lot here), and poor convective flow.