04.04 Should the room be ventilated?

The issue of ventilation in tank rooms will be addressed in local building codes. Typically the ventilation for a tank room is separated from the other ventilation systems for the building. The issues are these: (a) since people enter the tank room, ventilation is required, (b) since fuel is present in the room, air quality monitoring such as a hydrocarbon sensing is often required, c) since fuel vapors are heavier than air, exhaust systems need to be effective at the floor level, (d) if there is a fire in the room the ventilation should stop to prevent air from feeding the fire, and (e) since the exhaust air may have fuel vapors it should be separated from the other ventilation for the building.