Gas appliances and flues?

Hi,

Why is it that my gas fired water heater has to have a flue, but my gas oven does'nt need one?

After all, it's just as likely that anything I take out of my oven is just as hazardous to your health (not yet proven!) as anything that comes out of my water heater. I'm not really trying to make light of this. I just don't understand it. They are both running from the same gas supply, so why is one dangerous without a flue and the other not?

Regards, Febe

hi febe,

your cooker and hob are known as open flued appliances. these appliances should be installed in an open space of 10m2 or more. this allows any harmfull toxins to dispers into the atmosphere before they can become harmfull. the cooker also has safety devises on it to aid in its safe use.(too long winded to go into in detail). also cookers and hobs only have a low kilowatt rating around 2-3kw any appliance with a kilowatt reading under 7kw does not require additional ventilation.(kilowatts KW is the unit used to measure the heat output of an appliance) however your your water heater is a sealed unit and will have a kilowatt reading of around 24kw. being a sealed unit it therefore needs the flue to take in air to create the correct combustion for the gas burner and allow it to run efficiently. the water heater has a safety device linked to the combustion of the appliance if it does not have the correct combustion the water heater should over heat and cut out. this is just a quick simple answer as there are other factors. also the two appliances coming off of the same gas pipe has no bearing on flue regulation.

roko.