Did I make a mistake? Floor Registers.

[mgh-pa]

So, if you read my other post I made, I have a woodstove in the basement of our home. We placed a floor register about 7 ft away from the stove through the main living floor. There is no damper in place. We then placed two returns on the other end of the room (42ft away). Now, I'm reading on here about the spread of CO gases, and the fact that fire will spread very quickly with holes in the floor. My insurance company gave me the go ahead to do this (the home is listed as having a woodstove as primary heat), but now of course, I'm concerned.

I have smoke detectors in every room and in hallways, but I don't have any CO detectors. What's my next movie/option here?

 

[KarlP]

I have smoke detectors in every room and in hallways, but I don't have any CO detectors. What's my next movie/option here?

Mine would be to replace half of the smoke detectors with combination smoke/CO detectors and otherwise keep doing the same thing.

 

[Todd]

You should have CO detectors whether you have floor registers or not. You can also buy registers with the fire dampers on line.

 

[jwscarab]

Add CO detectors. I understand some peoples concern, but I stove in basement and have a 3'x6' hole in my floor - its my stairway with no door!

 

[mgh-pa]

Thanks, guys. I think I'm going to add those dampers, as well as a few CO detectors. Where do you recommend the detectors being places? In the basement as well as on the ceiling of the first floor above the register?

 

[Chris_N_Westvirginia]

At least one of each in bedrooms . and or hallway . I have a CO Detector in basment by the stove area , and one upstairs along with smoke alarms.

 

[kalevi]

Here the code says you need a CO detector on the same floor as the bedrooms. It is also a good idea because you can die in your sleep from CO poisoning. If you are awake, you usually figure out something is wrong.

 

[raybonz]

In Massachusetts it's a law that all homes have carbon monoxide detectors on every level of the home unless you are all electric.. Even older homes are required to have them.. No grandfathering on this law.. I added battery powered Kidde units and feel it's a good idea that cn save your family's lives!

Ray

 

[LLigetfa]

I don't see any connection between floor registers and CO production. If you do have CO, it will spread faster through the vents but it won't make CO where none was before unless you have badly managed stack effect and pressure deficit. A central air furnace would spread CO as well.

You should however consider firestop fusible dampers.

 

[albertj03]

What is the connection with a stove in the basement and CO? Does this somehow have the potential to produce more CO than a stove in the main living area? I bought CO detectors when I had my stove installed and have one in the basement near the stove on the first floor and one in our bed room just to be safe.

 

[littlesmokey]

The OP raised two issues and they sort of got twisted. I don't think the basement install affects CO, he said he was installing sensors and where. More important to me are the floor registers. Stairs are one thing, but holes in the floor act like extra chimneys. There are now three, warm up, and two cold down. Definitely damper, if not remove them. I can't believe your insurance OK'd this install. Did they OK a woodstove install, or the extra holes. IF you have a fire, they will probably deny coverage. You should get the approval in writing just to be sure, and get approval from the code inforcement folk.

We all have to live with comromises. If you consider things logically, a staircase is a compromise. It doesn't mean that it is safe. In new construction I think the stairs in multistory building must be closed at each floor. Why, so they don't act like chimney stacks. Forced air heating systems are mostly closed loops, they are still a compromise. An unrestricted openning from one floor to another just makes both floors as vunerable to a fire on either one. No you won't have issues until......" crap, that's flames. " shreaks from someone's mouth.

I would vote for being more safe than more daring. I have been in one of those kinds of fires and seen 32,000 square feet go up in less than twenty minutes because a business couldn't be bothered to sweep dust and shavings, build fire walls, put in explosion proof lights and simply empty the dust collector. It's quite shocking to see something so large disappear in 20 minutes, a small cup of coffee take longer to drink.

 

[LLigetfa]

What is the connection with a stove in the basement and CO?

Two issues...

A stove without an OAK can suck air out of a space and if that space is a basement with a gas furnace or water heater, unless they are closed systems, can have their flues reversed.

Heat rising from a wood stove can magnify stack effect and if not properly balanced, create a pressure deficit in the basement, again reversing flues.

 

[littlesmokey]

What is the connection with a stove in the basement and CO?

Two issues...

A stove without an OAK can suck air out of a space and if that space is a basement with a gas furnace or water heater, unless they are closed systems, can have their flues reversed.

Heat rising from a wood stove can magnify stack effect and if not properly balanced, create a pressure deficit in the basement, again reversing flues.

Good points about drafting. I had not thought that way when posting above. I was referring to the stove generating CO. Points well taken.

 

[mgh-pa]

My insurance company approved the cutting and adding additional registers in the floor (I spoke directly with my agent). With all due respect, I know plenty of people who have their woodstove heat being redirected like mine for years with no problems, but I guess that doesn't make it right. I have NO way to plug these holes from the top side without re-doing the floors (hardwood, so no way). I also have NO way of getting this heat to my first floor without these openings (no stairway).

Here's a diagram of what we did:

 

[btuser]

You shouldn't cut holes in your floors. Not because you have a wood-burning appliance, but because fires start by accident.

As a licensed fire alarm installer I wouldn't do it in my home. My next door neighbor used to have a fan mounted right in the floor above his wood stove in the basement. He tied it to a dimmer switch on the wall so he could control the speed of the fan. It worked "pissar", but after a couple of fires you realize how crazy it gets when things are NORMAL. Personally I think all residential air handlers should be equiped with duct smokes, and set up to drop out on fire/smoke alarm.

Your floor is a fire-rated system, which now has a rating of zero. Even just covering the holes will not bring back the original rating. If you've alread cut the holes I'd leave it the way it is and add smokes in every room (CO with wood?) of the house except the bathrooms, and especially inside/outside the bedrooms. I also wouln't worry about carbon monoxide unless I had a gas appliance. That's been a very lucrative little gem driven by a product-driven electrical code.

 

[LLigetfa]

Retrofit fusible link dampers into the openings you cut.

 

[pen]

Retrofit fusible link dampers into the openings you cut.

Have you got a link?

I've done some searching but am not happy with the results I've found.

pen

 

[mgh-pa]

Ugh, seriously, now I'm a bit disheartened. How will this effect my house if I am to sell it?

Do I have any options to put in another heat source utilizing the existing openings with ductwork like a wood furnace?

 

[albertj03]

Holy sh!t...here I am worrying about chimney fires, creosote, clearances, moisture contents, flue temps and now I have to worry about reversed drafts and stack effects sending CO into my house??? I have my stove in my basement where I also have an oil furnace and hot water heater that runs off the furnace. Maybe I should sell my 3 cords of seasoned red oak, maple and birch and use the money to keep my oil tank filled. Maybe every year I'll just cut and split a few cords off my property and sell it for oil money instead of all this worrying about 100 different things that can burn my house down or worse.

 

[LLigetfa]

Retrofit fusible link dampers into the openings you cut.

Have you got a link?

I've done some searching but am not happy with the results I've found.

pen

http://www.mtlfab.com/media/L2539.pdf

 

[pen]

Holy sh!t...here I am worrying about chimney fires, creosote, clearances, moisture contents, flue temps and now I have to worry about reversed drafts and stack effects sending CO into my house??? I have my stove in my basement where I also have an oil furnace and hot water heater that runs off the furnace. Maybe I should sell my 3 cords of seasoned red oak, maple and birch and use the money to keep my oil tank filled. Maybe every year I'll just cut and split a few cords off my property and sell it for oil money instead of all this worrying about 100 different things that can burn my house down or worse.

Well, if you weren't so far away I'd help take that oak off your hands.

I too am a basement wood burner. My grandparents were as well. Each of us had good luck with it.

However, in my case and theirs, the basements weren't air tight. They had a leaky window that we used to throw wood in through (leaky mostly because I couldn't help but hit the frame as a little young buck) and mine because of an old door on the other side of the basement.

Now, for my home, my boiler is from 1962. Considering this technology it would probably still fire on about 30% of it's optimal air intake! The chimney wouldn't look pretty but I bet it would do it.

Now, advance things a bit to a more modern era. My parents, w/out a draft sucking wood stove in the basement just had to upgrade to a new propane water heater. The old girl (it's predecessor) operated w/out so much as a hitch for 24 years. The new water heater kept shutting down about once a day to every 2 days. To make this new more efficient water heater work it took a 10 foot addition on their chimney, a blower in the chimney, and a oak.

Joke as you may, but these new units are VERY finicky by nature of being efficient. Whether you think it's right or not.

pen

 

[LLigetfa]

Holy sh!t...here I am worrying about chimney fires, creosote, clearances, moisture contents, flue temps and now I have to worry about reversed drafts and stack effects sending CO into my house??? I have my stove in my basement where I also have an oil furnace and hot water heater that runs off the furnace. Maybe I should sell my 3 cords of seasoned red oak, maple and birch and use the money to keep my oil tank filled. Maybe every year I'll just cut and split a few cords off my property and sell it for oil money instead of all this worrying about 100 different things that can burn my house down or worse.

Maybe you should.

 

[Beetle-Kill]

Pen- totally off-topic, but how's that baffle you built working out. Sorry, I'll not hitchhike again.- But it was insperational for me.

 

[pen]

Retrofit fusible link dampers into the openings you cut.

Have you got a link?

I've done some searching but am not happy with the results I've found.

pen

http://www.mtlfab.com/media/L2539.pdf

Thank you but that's what i keep finding. Brochures but no actual sales. I'm looking for a "order xxx at xxxx size for xxxxx"

I'd love to upgrade the vents in my house but haven't found enough vendors to feel as though I could comparison shop.

pen

 

[LLigetfa]

Froogle is your friend.

http://www.google.com/products?q=fusible+link+fire+damper&aq=f