(a) A brazier, salamander, space heater, room heater, furnace, water heater or other burner or heater using wood, coal, coke, fuel oil, kerosene, gasoline, natural gas, liquid petroleum gas or similar fuel, and tending to give off carbon monoxide or other harmful gas:
(1) When used in living quarters, or in any enclosed building or space in which persons are usually present, shall be used with a flue or vent so designed, installed and maintained as to vent the products of combustion outdoors; except in storage, factory or industrial buildings which are provided with sufficient ventilation to avoid the danger of carbon monoxide poisoning;
(2) When used as a portable or temporary burner or heater at a construction site, or in a warehouse, shed or structure in which persons are temporarily present, shall be vented as provided in subsection (a) hereof, or used with sufficient ventilation to avoid the danger of carbon monoxide poisoning.
(b) This section does not apply to domestic ranges, laundry stoves, gas logs installed in a fireplace with an adequate flue, or hot plates, unless the same are used as space heaters.
(c) Subsection (a) hereof does not apply to any liquid petroleum or natural gas-fired space heater equipped with an oxygen depletion shut-off system, and that has its fuel piped from a source outside the building in which it is located, and is approved by an authoritative source recognized by the State Fire Marshal in the State Fire Code adopted under Ohio R.C. 3737.82.
(d) Unvented heaters, as defined in subsection (c) hereof:
(1) Shall be of the approved wall-mounted type and shall not be free-standing or floor mounted, and
(2) Shall not be the sole source of heat in a building, and
(3) Shall not be unattended while it is operating, and
(4) Shall not be located within three feet of any furniture, drapery, curtain, decorative material, accessory, appliance, equipment, merchandise, goods or fixture, or anything that is or may become combustible, and
(5) Shall not be installed or used in any area where flammable or combustible liquids are stored or used, and
(6) Shall not be installed or used in any business or mercantile building unless such building is separated from any other building by an approved fire wall, and
(7) Shall at all times, have a minimum fresh air supply of not less than fifteen square inches for ventilation.
(e) The Chief of the Fire Department may promulgate additional rules to insure the safe use of unvented liquid petroleum and natural gas-fired space heaters exempted from subsection (a) hereof when used in business buildings, mercantile buildings and R-4 residential buildings as these buildings are defined in rules adopted by the Board of Building Standards under authority of Ohio R.C. 3781.10. Such rules shall be supplementary to but not intended to substitute for regulations of the State Fire Marshal's office.
(f) Rules made by the Chief of the Fire Department or any change, amendment, revocation or addition to rules shall go into effect ten days after a public notice has been published twice fifteen days apart, in a newspaper of general circulation, and shall be available for inspection at Fire Department office during business hours, with copies available at reasonable cost.
(g) No person shall negligently use, or being the owner, person in charge, or occupant of premises, negligently permit the use of a gas fired heater in violation of any restrictions adopted under this section, nor regulations pertaining thereto made by the Chief of the Fire Department as described herein. Inspection of heating equipment is part of the duties of the Fire Safety activities of the Fire Department, and may be conducted at any reasonable time upon reasonable notice. Refusal of such inspection shall be deemed a violation of this section.
(h) No person shall modify or otherwise change and then continue to use any unvented gas heating unit which previously has been inspected and passed with approval by the representative of the Fire Department, unless such equipment has been reinspected and approved at the owner's or user's request.
(i) Upon inspection and written order, a member of the Fire Department Fire Safety Division may direct that use of a noncomplying unvented heater forthwith be discontinued, or the unit itself removed from the premises, if it is determined that threat to life or property exists. Failure immediately to comply with such order is deemed a violation.
(j) Whoever, being the owner, person in charge, or occupant of the building in which the heating unit is located, violates any provisions of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree, each day of continuing violation following service of summons on complaint being a separate offense.
(Ord. 89-42. Passed 8-7-89.)