GB2315122A - Wall ventilator - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a wall ventilator, that is to say a device for establishing a ventilation passage through the wall of a building. The wall ventilator of the present invention comprises a lining (1) for insertion into an aperture formed in a wall from the internal surface of the wall; a grill or louvre (2) secured to the distal end of the lining (1) for passage through the aperture to a location substantially flush with the external surface of the wall; and an internal grill or louvre (3) securable to the lining (1) and to the internal surface of the wall so as to maintain the wall ventilator in an operative position. The wall ventilator of the present invention may be therefore located in an operative position without the need to access the external surface of a wall, and consequently, is more convenient to install than prior art wall ventilators.

Description

WALL VENTILATOR This invention relates to a wall ventilator, that is to say a device for establishing a ventilation passage through the wall of a building.

Wall ventilators are extensively used in the building trade to provide a ventilation passage through the wall of a building, for example to provide combustion air for a fuel burning appliance or to ventilate an otherwise unventilated area of a building.

Wall ventilators can be built into a building in the course of construction, but are commonly retro-fitted by providing an appropriate aperture through the wall of the building, positioning a lining in the aperture, and fitting grill or louvre assemblies to the inside and outside surfaces of the wall to overlie the lining. The present invention relates to a wall ventilator which can be built into a building, but which is particularly suited to retro-fitting.

Existing wall ventilators suitable for retrofitting in a building have a number of disadvantages.

One particular disadvantage is that fitting of such ventilators requires access to both the internal and the external surface of the wall in which the ventilator is being fitted. This is necessary because the grill or louvre assemblies are secured to the wall by appropriate fixings, for example screws driven into masonry plugs located in holes drilled in the wall. Whilst such arrangements can be tolerated when wall ventilators are fitted to ground floor or first floor locations, the requirement for access to the external surface of the wall becomes progressively more difficult as the position of the wall ventilator becomes higher within a building.

Accordingly, one aspect of the present invention provides a wall ventilator which comprises a lining for insertion into an aperture formed in a wall from the internal surface of the wall; a grill or louvre assembly secured to the distal end of the lining for passage through the aperture to a location substantially flush with the external surface of the wall; and an internal grill or louvre securable to the lining and to the internal surface of the wall to maintain the wall ventilator in its operative position.

With such an arrangement the external grill or louvre may be secured to one end of the lining and the internal grill or louvre secured to the other end. The entire assembly may then be offered up to a previously formed aperture in the wall and pushed into the aperture so that the external grill or louvre passes through the aperture to lie substantially flush with the external surface of the wall. The internal grill or louvre is then secured to the wall to secure the entire assembly in position. Accordingly, access to the external surface of the wall is not required for the purpose of installing the wall ventilator.

Preferably, registration means are provided for ensuring that, as the various components are assembled, they maintain a known angular relationship to each other relative to the axis of the lining. For example, the lining may be formed with an internal key which mates with appropriate keyways provided on the external grill or louvre and the internal grill or louvre to ensure that all the components assume a known angular position relative to each other. By this means, the angular position of the external grill or louvre is determined by the angular position of the internal grill or louvre and accordingly the external grill or louvre can be placed at the optimum angular orientation by appropriate corresponding positioning of the internal grill or louvre before it is fixed to the wall.

In an alternative arrangement a universal grill or louvre is provided for use on both the internal and external surface of a wall. Accordingly, if conventional installation of the wall ventilator is required (that is by securing both the internal and external grills or louvres to the wall) a complete wall ventilator can be provided utilising a lining and two identical grills or louvres.

If desired, a universal wall ventilator kit can be provided by packaging a single lining, an external grill or louvre of the type which can pass through a wall aperture, and two grills or louvres of the type which are secured to a wall surface. By an appropriate combination of the components a wide range of installation requirements can be fulfilled.

Preferably, the lining incorporates an external water deflector for the purpose of preventing the flow of water along the external surface of the lining. The deflector can conveniently be provided by a radially outwardly extending rib formed on a joint member which is used to secure lengths of lining tube together. Accordingly, by appropriately cutting the lining tube both the overall length of the lining and the position of the water deflector relative to the ends of the lining can be adjusted as required. Preferably, each length of lining tube is formed with means for providing positive angular location of the joint member and the lining tube. If the lining tube is formed with a internal key as referred to above the joint member is formed with appropriate keyways which receive the keys of the respective lengths of lining tube which it joins.

Preferably, the wall ventilator is provided with a flow restricting baffle which may be used to reduce the effective cross-sectional area of the ventilator. In a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention the baffle is supplied as a separate component having one or more lines of weakness along which the baffle may be broken to remove portions of the baffle to vary the cross-sectional area reducing effect of the baffle. Prior art wall ventilators have been provided with baffles formed integrally with one or more of the components of the ventilator. Such arrangements accordingly depend on conscientious installation to ensure that appropriate portions of the baffle are broken away to provide the required flow area. However, it will be appreciated that in some instances those installing such ventilators fail to break away the baffle and accordingly the flow area of the ventilator is less than required. By providing the baffle as a separate component poor quality installation will tend to result in the baffle being omitted completely and this, from the safety standpoint, is a preferable situation to that of the prior art when the baffle may have been left in place resulting in a smaller than required flow area.

The invention will be better understood from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof given by way of example only, reference being had to the accompanying drawing wherein Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of one embodiment of the invention; and Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view of an alternative configuration making use of the same components as those used for the arrangement of Figure 1.

Referring firstly to Figure 1 the preferred embodiment of wall ventilator according to the present invention comprises: a lining 1 which is installed in an aperture which is being formed in the wall of a building, e.g. by core drilling; an external louvre 2, an internal louvre assembly 3 and a baffle 4. The lining 1 is formed by two discrete lengths of lining tube 5 interconnected by a joint member 6. The joint member 6 includes two spigot portions 7 which are pushfits within the tube 5 and also provides a radially outwardly extending flange 8 which forms a water deflector for the purposes of preventing the flow of water along the external surface of the lining. The flange 8 preferably has an external diameter no larger than that of the tubes 5 so that the presence of the flange 8 does not impede mounting of the lining 1 in a pre-drilled hole. To this end, in the preferred embodiment of this invention the joint member 6 includes means for maintaining the adjacent ends of the tubes 5 spaced apart, even when the spigot portions 7 are pushed fully into the tubes. The means for keeping the tubes apart can conveniently be in the form of a pair of shoulders. The gap between the tube ends can accordingly be used to accommodate the flange which, in association with the valley between the flange and the tube end of the outer tube will act as a barrier against the flow of water along the surface of the lining 1.

It will be appreciated that theslining 1 may be provided pre-assembled as illustrated, or may be provided in the form of one or more lengths of tube 5 and a joint member 6. In any event, the tube 5 may be cut to length on site in light of the actual thickness of the wall in which the ventilator is to be fixed.

The external louvre 2 includes a spigot 9 which is a push-fit in the internal of the tube 5. A flange 10 limits the extent to which the external louvre may be pushed into the tube 5 and covers the cut end of the tube 5. The flange 10 is preferably flexible and preferably has an overall diameter slightly larger than that of the tube 5. Accordingly, if the hole for the tube 5 is drilled using a core drill or the like to be slightly oversized the flange 10 acts as a closure at the outer end of the hole. Preferably, the flange is flexible so that as the assembly of the external louvre 2 and tube 5 is pushed through the hole the flange is bent slightly rearwardly and resiliently engages the walls of the hole to provide a seal between the hole and the external louvre at the outer end of the fitting hole.

In order to provide positive angular location of the external louvre relative to the lining 1 the tube 5 is formed with a continuous internal key 11 and the spigot 9 is provided with a keyway 12 which must be aligned with the key 11 before the spigot 9 can be pushed into the tubing 5. Similarly, the joint member 6 is provided with keyways which must be aligned with the keys 11 of the tube 5 during assembly of the lining.

The internal louvre assembly 3 comprises a base plate 13 and a louvre member 14. The base plate 13 includes a spigot 15 which is a push-fit within the tube 5. The spigot 15 includes a keyway 16 which must be aligned with the key 11 of the tube 5 before the spigot 15 can be pushed into the tubing. The base place 13 is provided with fixing holes 17 (for example one at each corner) through which suitable fixings may pass to secure the base plate 13 to the internal surface of the wall to which the ventilator is being fitted. In the illustrated embodiment screws 18 are used simultaneously to secure the louvre member 14 to the base plate 13 and to secure the entire assembly to the internal wall. It should be appreciated, however, that the screws or other fixings may be used to secure the base plate to the wall and the louvre 14 may be a snap fit onto the base plate 13.

It will be appreciated that the use of the key 11 and the associated keyways on the external louvre 2, the joint member 6 and the base plate 13 ensures that the angular position of the external louvre 2 is fixed relative to that of the base plate 13. Accordingly, the entire assembly of external louvre 2, lining 1 and base plate 13 may be made up and pushed through a preformed aperture from the inside and then, by appropriate alignment of the base plate 13 the external louvre 2 may be positioned at the correct orientation.

The components of the ventilator may be preassembled or supplied as separate components for assembly on site. In addition to the components referred to above a baffle 4 will be supplied which, if required, is secured to a bar 19 which extends across the spigot 15. For this purpose, the baffle 4 is provided with apertures 20 which receive pins 21 formed integrally with the bar 9 if the baffle 4 is to be mounted. Even if the components of the ventilator are supplied preassembled the baffle 4 will be supplied as a separate component.

As best seen in Figure 2, the baffle 4 is provided with at least one line of weakness 22 along which the baffle may readily be broken to reduce its size. Accordingly, the effective cross-sectional area of the ventilator may be varied by either positioning the entire baffle on the bar 19 (in which case the flow area will be restricted to an annular zone between the peripherally of the baffle 4 and the spigot 15), or by breaking away a portion of the baffle and then installing the larger of the broken portions to produce a larger flow area than that provided by the complete baffle, or by positioning the smaller of the broken away portions to produce yet a larger flow area, or by omitting the baffle completely to provide the maximum flow area. It will be appreciated that because the baffle is supplied as a separate component, poor installation is liable to result in complete omission of the baffle resulting in a fail-safe maximum flow area.

In installations where access to the external surface of the wall is readily available, the alternative combination of components as illustrated in Figure 2 may be used in order to provide a wall ventilator. In this case, a second louvre assembly 3A identical to the louvre assembly 3 is provided for use on the external wall of the building. The remaining components are as described aboye with reference to Figure 1. It will be appreciated that a universal ventilator kit can be provided if a single lining 1 and baffle 4 is packaged with a single external louvre 2 and two louvre assemblies 3. Such a kit provides both one sided and two sided installation of the ventilator from either side of a wall.

All the components referred to above may be manufactured from suitable plastics material by injection moulding or, if desired in the case of the tube 5, by extrusion. The various components may be push-fitted together, or, if required, the push-fit joints may be rendered permanent by solvent welding or by means by a suitable adhesive.

Claims (12)

CLAIMS:

1. A wall ventilator comprising a lining for insertion into an aperture formed in a wall from the internal surface of the wall; a grill or louvre secured to the distal end of the lining for passage through the aperture to a location substantially flush with the external surface of the wall; and an internal grill or louvre securable to the lining and to the internal surface of the wall so as to maintain the wall ventilator in an operative position.

2. A wall ventilator as claimed in claim 1, wherein registration means are provided for ensuring that components of the wall ventilator are assembled with a predetermined angular relationship to each other relative to the longitudinal axis of the lining.

3. A wall ventilator as claimed in claim 2, wherein the registration means incorporates a key which mates with a keyway.

4. A wall ventilator as claimed in claim 3, wherein the key is provided on the lining.

5. A wall ventilator as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the lining incorporates an external water deflector adapted to prevent the flow of water along the external surface of the lining.

6. A wall ventilator as claimed in claim 5, wherein the external water deflector is provided as a radially outwardly extending rib.

7. A wall ventilator as claimed in claim 6, wherein the rib is located on a joint member securing lengths of the lining together.

8. A wall ventilator as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the wall ventilator further comprises a flow restricting baffle adapted to reduce the effective crosssectional area of the ventilator.

9. A wall ventilator as claimed in claim 8 wherein the flow restricting baffle is a separate component from the remainder of the wall ventilator and is mountable to the remainder of the wall ventilator to effect flow restriction.

10. A wall ventilator as claimed in claim 8, wherein the flow restricting baffle comprises one or more lines of weakness along which the baffle may be broken so as to remove portions of the baffle and thereby vary the effective cross-sectional area of the ventilator and reduce the effect of the baffle.

11. A wall ventilator substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as shown in, the accompanying drawings.

12. A universal wall ventilator kit comprising a wall ventilator according to any preceding claim together with a further grill or louvre assembly identical to the internal grill or louvre assembly and securable to the lining as an alternative to the grill or louvre assembly secured to the distil end of the lining.