GB2213577A - Convection space heating arrangement for a flame effect gas fire - Google Patents

Abstract

A convection space heating arrangement for a flame effect gas fire includes a convector chamber or chambers (10) arranged substantially vertically and being open to incoming air in its or their lower regions. The convection chamber or chambers terminate at an upper portion thereof, suitably in a manifold (11), from which extend at least two upwardly, laterally and forwardly extending outlet conduits (12), which terminate in an upper front region of the fire. A fan can additionally be provided to assist in the convection process. In the embodiment shown, the chamber (10) is defined by a plurality of tubes. <IMAGE>

Description

CONVECTOR ARRANGEMENT FOR COVECTOR CHAMBER TYPE FLAME-EFFECT GAS FIRES The present invention relates to convector chamber type flame-effect gas fires in which, in order to improve the efficiency of a flame-effect gas fire, convection means are provided for improving the heat output.

Conventional types of flame-effect gas fires utilising a convection chamber provide such convection chamber at the rear of the gas fire and oDerate such that cold air is drawn in at the bottom of the fire beneath the fire tray and then passes upwardly through the convection chamber, where it is heated by the flame-effect gas fire, and is then output through a vent in an upper region of the fire surround.

The difficulty with this type of fire is that the heated convection air must be brought from behind the fire to the front of the fire in an upper region thereof, whilst at the same time allowing for an adequate flue to be provided for exhaust gases from the gas fire itself. In general, two alternatives are utilised, the first of which is to provide a flue slot or flue pipe extending through the upper region of the convection chamber, or alternatively a conventional flue opening can be provided and the convection chamber may be provided by means oft plurality of pipes carrying the convection air from the bottom of the fire to the top of the fire, which pipes then extend across the flue opening in the front of the upper portion of the fire surround.

The disadvantage of both of these two alternative arrangements is that in each instance the flue opening is at least partially obstructed, so that over a great period of time, possibly years, debris in the flue may become lodged out of sight, restricting and possibly eventually partially blocking the flue opening. This is a potentially dangerous situation in that, since the exhaust gases from the flame effect gas fire may not be readily visible nor detectable by smell, and it may not be apparent to the occupants of a room in which such a fire is installed that there is any problem with the flue of the fire and it would be possible for such occupants to be asphyxiated by the fumes without realising. In addition, since such arrangement restricts the flue opening, such renders the chimney more difficult to clean.

It is the object of the present invention to provide an alternative convection arrangement for convector chamber type fires, which enables adequate convection air to be cirdulated behind the fire, without obstructing the flue opening for exhaust gases from the fire.

According to the present invention there is provided a convector arrangement for a flame-effect gas fire comprising a convector chamber or chambers arranged substantially vertically and being open to incoming air in its or their lower regions, said convection chamber or chambers being closed at an upper portion thereof, at least two upwardly and forwardly laterally extending outlet conduits extending so as to terminate in an upper front region of a fire, when installed.

The convection chamber may be either a single chamber extending across the full width of the rear of the fire and terminating in an upper wall from which extends the outlet conduits, or alternatively the convector chamber may comprise a plurality of vertical pipes of any suitable cross section and terminating in an upper region in a manifold to which said outlet conduits are connected.

In addition, in the lower region of the convector chamber, an inlet chamber may be provided into which air is drawn by means of a fan to assist the convection and improve the efficiency further. The convector chamber arrangement may be constructed in combination with a fire tray with associated burner and fan assembly as a single unit, and further, such arrangement may be contained within a selfcontained fire box assembly.

The present invention will now be described further with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 shows a front view of the convector assembly for a fire; and Fig. 2 illustrates schematically in cross-section the functioning of convector arrangement.

Referring firstly to Fig. 1, a convector arrangement is shown in which a plurality of convector tubes 10 are provided extending vertically upwardly in the rear region of the fireplace said convector tubes 10 being open at their lower end and extending into a manifold 11 at their upper ends, whilst a pair of outlet conduits 12 are provided extending from said manifold upwardly laterally and forwardly and terminating in an upper front region of the fire place. In order to make the outlets of the conduits 12 as unobstrusive as possible, these may be terminated by decorative horns or may terminate behind a hood incorporating suitable vents as desired.

As can be seen from Fig. 2, cold air is drawn into the lower portion of the fireplace then drawn upwardly through the convection tubes 10 and into the manifold 11.

While the air is travelling upwardly through the tubes 10, the heat from the burning gas of the flame-effect gas fire heats the air, which is then output back into the room in which the fire is installed via the outlet conduits 12.

In order to improve convection, a fan may be provided in the lower region of the fire to increase the throughflow of air to improve the convection effect.

As can be seen from Figs. 1 and 2, the lateral arrangement of the outlet conduits 12 does not in any way obstruct the exhaust gases from the flame effect gas fire from escaping in the direction of arrow E into a standard class 1 flue. The dimensioning of the arrangement, spacing of the vertical tubes and their relative flow cross-sections compared to that of the outlet conduit 12, can be suitably optimised to provide the required throughflow in combination with a fan, if required.

As mentioiied above, as an alternative to a plurality of vertical convector tubes, a single vertical convector chamber may be provided at the rear of the fire, such convector chamber being closed at its upper end from which the outlet conduits 12 may extend in the manner as described above.

It would be appreciated that the arrangement of convector means provided by the present invention enables the benefits of convector chamber 5 to be achieved without increasing the risk of blockage of the flue which would cause exhaust gases to spill into the environment in which the fire is to be placed.

Claims (7)

1. A convector arrangement for a flame effect gas fire, comprising a convector chamber or chambers arranged substantially vertically and being open to incoming air in its or their lower regions, said convection chamber or chambers terminating in an upper region thereof, at least two upwardly and forwardly laterally extending outlet conduits extending from such upper region of said chamber or chambers so as to terminate in an upper front region of the fire, when installed.

2. A convector arrangement as claimed in claim 1, in which the convector chamber comprises a single chamber extending across the full width of the rear of the fire and terminating in an upper wall from which extend the outlet conduits.

3. A convector arrangement as claimed in claim 1, in which the convector chamber comprises a plurality of vertical pipes of suitable cross-section and terminating in an upper region in a manifold to which said outlet conduits are connected.

4. A convector arrangement in which, in the lower region of the convector chamber, an inlet chamber is provided into which air is drawn by means of a fan to assist convection.

5. A convector arrangement as claimed in any preceding claim, in combination with a fire tray having an associated burner and fan assembly.

6. A convector system as claimed in claim 5, in which the combined arrangement is contained within a self-contained fire box assembly.

7. A convector arrangement for a flame effect gas fire substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.