Air intake to wood stove

[johnk]

You have to remember with a vented system, chimneys, flues etc , create a negative pressure in the house. The more the heat is on and venteing up the chimney etc the more neg the air gets inside causing air to seep in around windows, doors or any possible route to balance the air pressure. With the ouside air intake this solve most of the problem of negative air because it is using outside air yo go out the flues etc instead of the air in the premisis. Hope this helps.. Using outside air will definitely boost your efficency..

 

[94BULLITT]

I think it may improve inefficiency but I thought most of the time you needed a outside air kit was due to a draft problem so if you stove is working fine you probably don't need it but I am not a expert.

 

[rockinmywaypa]

94bullit thanks from me too for the link, read lots,learned lots, confirmed some thoughts, created some more questions. The thing for me is that I hope to eliminate a draft that's being drawn in at some opposite end of the house from the stove. That is the draft that makes the house feel cold. If I can eliminate those drafts and still keep the draft working in the stove then I'm sure that it's going to result in a warmer feeling house. I'm going to bury about 30 to 50 feet of pvc while I build the porch and then the air can warm up underground before it enters the house. I think this should lessen the amount of energy that is needed to bring it up to room temperature. Thanks for all the helpfull comments.

 

[94BULLITT]

Your welcome. If it does not work out it would be easy to do away with.

 

[CalG]

Under ground air pipes breed all types of nasty bugs, molds and fungi. Careful!

IIRC, I recently read that outdoor direct make up air did not significantly improve the "heating efficiency" of contemporary air tight wood stoves. I am certain that "cold air intake" has nothing good to be said about it. Pre heated air is where it's at. Don't mix open fire places with wood stoves! The air requirements are different. Heck! On a cold night, just the fact that my house is heated makes a huge chimney out of the entire building.

Defeating drafts is a Great idea, as is fresh air into any closed space occupied by humans.

 

[skipmarcy]

My house is also very tight and I used to have some problems with my airtight woodstove, had to open the door to get the fire started most the time. I installed a dryer vent kit and just stopped the pipe near the air intake on the stove and it works just great now. With the location of the vent outside, I get no breeze coming in unless the stove is actually drawing air. I too took the flap door out of the dryer vent and covered with fine screen to keep critters out and even with it open all the time I don't get a draft out of it unless the stove is burning strong and with the proximity of the pipe to the stove the air doesn't seem to affect the room (attached garage ) temp/draft.

 

[rd_macgregor]

My airtight built-in stove came with an outside air kit that brings outside air in to just next to the stove's intake. There is a little airtight door that closes off the vent tube when the stove isn't in use.
I would like to modify my setup a bit to make a positive connection of the outside air tube to the draft/inlet of the stove. Moreover, I'd like to mount a small fan in the air line (like a computer fan) to boost airflow temporarily when I'm getting a fire started.
One potential concern with a buried air line is that it might fill up with water over time from condensation in the summer months.
BOB