(Combustion appliances and fuel storage systems) of the Building Regulations

208 Pages·2009·2.54 MB·English

Proposals for amending the Approved Document J
(Combustion appliances and fuel storage systems) of
the Building Regulations
Consultation
www.communities.gov.uk
community, opportunity, prosperity
Proposals for amending the Approved Document J
(Combustion appliances and fuel storage systems) of
the Building Regulations
Consultation
September 2009
Department for Communities and Local Government
Communities and Local Government
Eland House
Bressenden Place
London
SW1E 5DU
Telephone: [phone]
Website: www.communities.gov.uk
© Crown Copyright, 2009
Copyright in the typographical arrangement rests with the Crown.
This publication, excluding logos, may be reproduced free of charge in any format or medium for research,
private study or for internal circulation within an organisation. This is subject to it being reproduced accurately
and not used in a misleading context. The material must be acknowledged as Crown copyright and the title
of the publication specified.
Any other use of the contents of this publication would require a copyright licence. Please apply for a Click-Use Licence
for core material at www.opsi.gov.uk/click-use/system/online/pLogin.asp, or by writing to the Office of Public Sector
Information, Information Policy Team, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU
e-mail: [email protected]
If you require this publication in an alternative format please email [email protected]
Communities and Local Government Publications
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [email protected]
Online via the Communities and Local Government website: www.communities.gov.uk
75%
September 2009
Product Code: 09 BD 06075
ISBN: 978-1-4098-1798-7
Contents
Summary of Consultation 5
Chapter 1: Introduction 8
Chapter 2: Proposed new edition of Approved Document J 15
Chapter 3: Consultation stage Impact Assessment 144
Annex A: Consultation criteria 196
Annex B: Response form 198
Summary of Consultation | 5
Summary of Consultation
Scope of the consultation
Topic of this This consultation relates to proposed changes to the Approved
consultation: Document for Part J (Combustion appliances and fuel storage
systems) of the Building Regulations that are planned to come into
force in 2010. Please see Chapter 1 for an overview of the proposals.
Scope of this The key measures to be considered relate to:
consultation:
• Air supply for combustion in air tight homes
• Better guidance on bio-fuel technology
• Carbon monoxide alarms
• Concealed flues
• Pluming from condensing boilers
• Bunding of domestic oil tanks.
Geographical The proposals in this document will apply to England and Wales if
scope: taken forward.1
Impact A consultation stage Impact Assessment is being published alongside
Assessment: this consultation and can be found in Chapter 3.
Basic Information
To: This consultation is aimed at:
• Property developers and builders
• Property owners and occupiers
• Construction industry professionals
• Manufacturers and suppliers of construction products
• Building control bodies
• Environmental organisations.
Body/bodies Department for Communities and Local Government (Sustainable
responsible Buildings and Climate Change Directorate).
for the
consultation:
Duration: Consultation published August 2009 and closes November 2009.
1  A transfer of functions order which would transfer to Welsh Ministers the power to make building regulations in respect of buildings in 
Wales was laid in Parliament on 20 July 2009. If approved the transfer will not come into effect until,31 December 2011. The proposals
in this Consultation Document, if they are taken forward, are likely to come into effect before that date so would apply in Wales.
6 | Proposals for amending the Approved Document J (Combustion appliances and fuel storage systems) of the Building Regulations
Enquiries: If you have any questions about the content of the consultation please
contact: Brian Martin.
[email protected]
How to Responses can be submitted by email (preferred) to:
respond: [email protected]
Alternatively, hard copy responses should be sent to:
BSRIA Ltd
Old Bracknell Lane West
Bracknell
Berkshire
RG12 7AH
Marked: For attention of: Reginald Brown
Additional The Department intends to organise consultation events during the
ways to consultation period. If you would like to be involved in such events,
become contact:
involved:
Georgina Fuller
Sustainable Buildings Division
Department for Communities and Local Government
Eland House
Bressenden Place
London SW1E 5DU
[email protected]
After the We will aim to publish a summary of responses to the consultation on
consultation: the Department’s website within three months of the closing date.

Information on the Department’s consultations is available from:
www.communities.gov.uk/corporate/publications/consultations/
Following its consideration of responses, the Department will publish
revised technical guidance in advance of the changes coming into
force in 2010.
Summary of Consultation | 7
Background
Compliance This consultation complies with HM Government’s Code of Practice 
with the Code on Consultation.
of Practice on
Consultation:
Previous To help inform this consultation exercise, industry stakeholders have
engagement: been engaged since 2008 in discussion on revising the Part J guidance.
A backward and forward look exercise was completed on 20
February 2009. This involved face to face meetings, questionnaires
and an interactive website to canvass the views of Part J users and
stakeholders on the impact of the changes to Part J made in 2002 and
on potential changes to a revised edition. The report will be published
alongside the consultation.
A working party under the Building Regulations Advisory Committee
(BRAC) was established for the review of Building Regulations Part J.
This working party provided technical advice and comments on the
range of issues addressed in the course of the review.
8 | Proposals for amending the Approved Document J (Combustion appliances and fuel storage systems) of the Building Regulations
Chapter 1
Introduction
1. Part J of the Building Regulations and its supporting Approved Document, provides
a regulatory framework and technical guidance on the installation of combustion
appliances in buildings, and how these can be designed to ensure an adequate air
supply and safe discharge of the products of combustion. Part J also addresses the
protection of liquid fuel storage systems and protection against pollution. The current
Approved Document J (AD J) dates from 2002.
2. In line with regular appraisals of the Approved Documents, and particularly to take
account of proposed new energy efficiency provisions under Part L of the Building
Regulations, AD J has been reviewed to ensure that combustion appliances can
continue to function safely in homes with higher standards of air tightness. A
consultation to raise the current energy efficiency standards under Part L of the
Building Regulations was published on 18 June and you can view the consultation
proposals via the link: www.communities.gov.uk/publications/planningandbuilding/
partlf2010consultation. Other main drivers of the review are commitments made by
the Government to consider guidance on biomass boilers and the provision of carbon
monoxide (CO) alarms.
3. Also, since the publication of AD J in 2002, developments in building standards,
appliance design and fuel types have given rise to certain issues that need to be
addressed in order to ensure public health and safety. In addition, a small number of
areas in the existing guidance have been identified where clarification would be useful.
4. The process began with a stakeholder review. Stakeholders were questioned on their
views on the operation of the current AD J guidance. The review also sought the views
of industry on the areas they feel require attention in the update of AD J on the basis
of their experience. The summary report of this stakeholder review, entitled Review
of Approved Document J – Backward and Forward Looks, presents a summary of the
views expressed and draws out the main themes. This will be available soon on the
Department’s Building Regulations research webpage.
5. Broadly, the majority of stakeholders agree that the existing AD J guidance is working
well, the concepts of AD J are valid, the method of delivery is understandable and
that AD J requires only changes in respect to a number of specific areas. Significant
changes to the Approved Document are not necessary and, in fact, would be viewed
as unhelpful.
Chapter 1 Introduction | 9
6. Aside from airtight buildings, CO alarms and biomass, other issues that were
considered were whether the advice in AD J should be revised where it related to
compliance with chimney information notices, bunding (secondary containment) of oil
tanks, exempt buildings, room sealed solid fuel appliances, concealed flues, the plume 
from condensing boilers, flues locations, and separation distances for biofuel boilers.
7. Taking account of the stakeholder review, the approach adopted to the proposed
revision of AD J is to preserve the existing guidance, making amendments only where
required or merited based on robust evidence in order to minimise disruption and
any additional compliance costs or administrative burdens on any stakeholder group.
The policy objective is to provide an updated AD J that maintains the valid and well-
working provisions of the existing guidance whilst including additional clarifications
and/or requirements to address a small number of identified issues.
8. A working party was set up in 2008 by the Building Regulations Advisory Committee
(BRAC) to oversee the review of Part J. This working party provided technical advice
and comments on the range of issues addressed in the course of the review.
9. The new AD J should increase compliance rates with building regulations by making
the ways to achieve compliance with the regulations clearer and increasing flexibility 
where possible. It is also intended to further protect public health and safety by
providing new guidance and setting out the necessary requirements.
Format of draft approved document
10. The proposed amendments to AD J are set out in Chapter 2. As the changes proposed
to the current Approved Document are relatively small in number, for the purposes
of consultation we have shown proposed new text in magenta, and deleted text is
shown as struck through.
Impact assessment
11. Detailed consideration of the costs and benefits of the proposals and a detailed
discussion of their rationale is set out the Impact Assessment in Chapter 3. A summary
of the main issues is set out below.
Main issues covered in the review and consultation
Air supply for combustion in air tight homes
12. Changes in energy efficiency provisions will inevitably result in increasingly high
standards of air tightness in new homes. The current guidance on air supply in AD J
is based on assumptions about adventitious (uncontrolled) ventilation from cracks
and leaks in the building fabric. The air supply provisions in AD J have therefore been
reviewed to ensure that combustion appliances can continue to function safely in
homes with very high standards of air tightness.
10 | Proposals for amending the Approved Document J (Combustion appliances and fuel storage systems) of the Building Regulations
13. There was no clear consensus amongst the experts on the working party or amongst
the wider industry on how this matter should be resolved. The Department has,
therefore, commissioned a research project to explore this subject in more detail and
to gather a robust evidence base. The objectives of this project are:
•  Make initial recommendations from a desk based study to be incorporated into a 
wider public consultation on proposed changes to Part J
•  Carry out an experimental study to test the assumptions regarding the sufficiency
of adventitious permanent ventilation for combustion of open flue appliances. 
This should include consideration of:
– different building characteristics and construction methods
–  the influence of different internal/external pressure differences and external 
wind speeds
– different types of appliance and fuels.
14. The draft AD has been amended such that adventitious ventilation is ignored for
dwellings with an air permeability of less than <5.0 m³/hr/m2. These proposals will be
amended and refined in response to the findings of this research and any comments
received to this consultation.
Better guidance on bio-fuel technology
15. The Government response to the report from the Biomass Task Force
(www.berr.gov.uk/energy/sources/renewables/explained/biomass/response/
page28196.html ) committed Communities and Local Government to revisit how
Part J regulates the installation of biomass boilers. The Taskforce concluded that the
existing regulations and accompanying guidance did not take account of the specific
requirements of biomass such as flue size and location specifics and did not reflect all 
biomass technologies, therefore it acted as a barrier to using biomass and increased
costs unnecessarily.
16. The BRAC Working Party agreed that a separate section on biomass was not
necessary. However the guidance on solid fuel appliances has been amended to
take account of the much wider range of appliances and technologies that are now
available. This takes a more flexible approach, recognising that some protective 
measures are not necessary for some appliances.
Carbon monoxide alarms
17. The Department commissioned a research project to examine available detector
technology and the costs and benefits of their use. The research concluded that it
would not be cost effective to provide CO alarms in all homes but that it may be cost
effective to require the provision of CO alarms where solid fuel appliances are installed.