Can I add a vent to this room to aid fireplace?

[neverbilly]

I bought my parents' 2500 sq ft brick home from my brothers that is 58 years old. The carport/garage was remodeled by my dad over 40 years ago, converting it to a gameroom with pool table. It is non-insulated, has a window A/C and a large fireplace. The fireplace burns better if I leave the door open leading to the rest of the house. The chimney is on the outside of the room; after renovation, that wall became the outside wall (brick) of the house. The ceilings are the norm around here, 8' ceilings and the door leading to the rest of the house is the norm, it's about 6'8" (80") tall.

Above this wooden door that I speak of, there is room to put a vent about 10" tall. Is this ever done? I can't leave the door open all the time because a dog I inherited will go out there and do bad things. He is destructive. Plus, forgetting the dog, the gameroom becomes slightly smokey if I don't leave the door open. Hmmm... I just thought of something... could put a child gate up. But it would need to be easy to open/close. I was thinking that with a vent I could open/close, it might work well. Is this ever done? Any way to know how much vent I would need to cause the fireplace to draw well?

Point being, I would close this vent in the warm months, as my central a/c unit is not designed to cool that (non-insulated) gameroom, too.

 

[begreen]

Sounds like the fireplace needs an outside air supply. Transom windows were common long ago, but you don't see them much these days. That should also work.

 

[electrathon]

Sounds like the fireplace needs an outside air supply. Transom windows were common long ago, but you don't see them much these days. That should also work.

If you watch old movies and/or visit the old part of major cities you see these windows a lot. Theory of heat rising and moving along the ceiling. It would be good to put a cold air return in the lower part of the door to allow for better heat movement. And I have to agree, you need outside air to the fireplace too.

 

[neverbilly]

If you watch old movies and/or visit the old part of major cities you see these windows a lot. Theory of heat rising and moving along the ceiling. It would be good to put a cold air return in the lower part of the door to allow for better heat movement. And I have to agree, you need outside air to the fireplace too.

What do you mean by 'cold air return?' I am pretty ignorant on carpentry, lol. You mean a vent at bottom of door?

And also 'outside air'... what would I add and where? I can open a window a little bit but if it's freezing outside, cold air rushes in and makes it harder to heat the gameroom where the fireplace is.

 

[electrathon]

What do you mean by 'cold air return?' I am pretty ignorant on carpentry, lol. You mean a vent at bottom of door?

And also 'outside air'... what would I add and where? I can open a window a little bit but if it's freezing outside, cold air rushes in and makes it harder to heat the gameroom where the fireplace is.

Yes, a vent through the door. Hot air rises, will migrate along the ceiling, the cold air sinks and will migrate along the floor. Sort of in a slow moving circle to the fireplace.

Look up OAK, on here. There are a lot of discussions on bringing in outside air to the fire. The issue is you have air moving up the chimney, the room needs an equal amount of air to replace what went up the chimney.

 

[neverbilly]

Yes, a vent through the door. Hot air rises, will migrate along the ceiling, the cold air sinks and will migrate along the floor. Sort of in a slow moving circle to the fireplace.

Look up OAK, on here. There are a lot of discussions on bringing in outside air to the fire. The issue is you have air moving up the chimney, the room needs an equal amount of air to replace what went up the chimney.

If anyone else is curious and doesn't know, I finally figured out that OAK is an acronym for Outside Air Kit. I just knew that if I searched for 'oak' on here, I would get a bazillion hits, and I googled after guessing that OAK is an acronym and it probably stood for outside air something.

Perhaps I could add a transom window and see if that solves it. If not, at a door bottom vent. If that doesn't solve it, look into the OAK idea. Or just open a window, lol. One window has a window A/C in it but the other window can be raised/lowered.

 

[bholler]

If you watch old movies and/or visit the old part of major cities you see these windows a lot. Theory of heat rising and moving along the ceiling

yeah we have them and they work well especially in the summer to get the hot air out of the house but they work in the winter to.

 

[yooper08]

A vent above the door may not really help you vent the fireplace. If it does, my guess is that it'll be marginal.

Like others have said, you'd probably be better off with an outside air supply feeding the fireplace directly or use your child gate idea. The child gate is easy, cheap, and a lot less work. They make them where you can open/close them or put up/take down is pretty easy.

 

[begreen]

It might be simplest to make a rectangular cutout in the lower part of the door and then put a metal return air grill on both sides to cover the hole.