Finally installed an OAK - 4 years later

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dsnedegar3

Member
Jul 4, 2008
134
Southern Connecticut
I purchased my Mount Vernon AE in 2008 after seeing my neighbors Accentra insert. He had an OAK through the chimney and when I bought my stove I asked the dealer what about an OAK-- he said there was no kit. So this summer I had the dealer do an annual cleaning and the person who came out said they were now installing OAKs on the Quads.

Since I've had the stove, my wife always complained about it being cold and drafty, even though it was 72 in the house. One day I was walking past my front door and felt a cold breeze coming in, even though it was closed. When I dead bolted the door, the breeze went away (probably sucking air from somewhere else in the house). I should also say, my house is 15 years old, 2x6 construction and double pane windows.

I called the dealer and he said it wouldn't solve the problem, but if I wanted to have them install, it would be $200. They came out today, and all I can say is it made a huge difference. No more cold breezes like before, and the stove was able to heat the room to a much higher temp without taking forever (had it set on 75 and it was NICE!). I never told my wife that I was having the OAK installed, because I've been married long enough to know that if the OAK did nothing, I'd never hear the end of the waste of $189. Anyway -- no complaints this evening about drafts. For less than $200, it was well worth the investment!
 
Congratulations .. .. .. ..

Another great OAK story. Just wait and see how much easier it heats (a larger area)...

Been heating the great outdoors for 4 yrs. Time to start heating the house. ;-P
 
Daves said:
I called the dealer and he said it wouldn't solve the problem, but if I wanted to have them install, it would be $200. They came out today, and all I can say is it made a huge difference. No more cold breezes like before, and the stove was able to heat the room to a much higher temp without taking forever (had it set on 75 and it was NICE!). I never told my wife that I was having the OAK installed, because I've been married long enough to know that if the OAK did nothing, I'd never hear the end of the waste of $189. Anyway -- no complaints this evening about drafts. For less than $200, it was well worth the investment!

You are a smart man. Keeping it from the wife until you knew the outcome is definitely the way to go.

I am very happy to read about this, considering the aggravation I dealt with during my stove install because of the whole mix-up in regards to the OAK install. I now feel 100X better that I persisted and fought to get my OAK.

Did they run it up the chimney? If so, I'd like to hear some specifics in regards to the layout. My OAK is out through the back wall of my fireplace since I have an external chimney.
 
The ran the flex pipe about 8 feet into the chimney and inserted spacers in the chimney cap to allow air to flow down into the chimney. They recommended this approach vs running the the pipe all the way up to the top of the chimney --- something about issues with pressure (even though installs in Canada require it to run to the chimney cap).

The $190 was well worth it because there was no way I was going to go on the roof of my house which required extending their ladder about 30 feet.
 
Daves said:
.....I called the dealer and he said it wouldn't solve the problem......They came out today, and all I can say is it made a huge difference. No more cold breezes like before, and the stove was able to heat the room to a much higher temp without taking forever (had it set on 75 and it was NICE!)........

So much for the "all knowing dealer". >:-(
 
Good for you and a lot of others who are converts. For us converts, is like one and one equal two. But there are still others that will say it remains to be seen. Ugh! I put my OAK in after two years, now on my second year with OAK. Cost me about $50, and 30 mins time. For me, one plus one really does equal two, and OAK is a good thing.
 
Daves said:
The ran the flex pipe about 8 feet into the chimney and inserted spacers in the chimney cap to allow air to flow down into the chimney. They recommended this approach vs running the the pipe all the way up to the top of the chimney --- something about issues with pressure (even though installs in Canada require it to run to the chimney cap).

The $190 was well worth it because there was no way I was going to go on the roof of my house which required extending their ladder about 30 feet.

That sounds like a great approach. I wish my dealer suggested something like that instead of focusing on trying to talk me out of the OAK.
 
Congrats on the OAK install, your stove is now breathing clean air. Keep us posted on the performance of your stove!
 
is this an easy install? We don't have and oak and would like to see if this helps. Sounds like we have the same situation and could run this pipe up our chimney.
 
The dealer made their own kit rather than buying it from Quadrafire. I have an insert, so the biggest effort was pulling the stove out and then getting on the roof. Once again, they lifted the chimney cap and used some angle bar to create some space for the air to come down the chimney. It took them less than 45 minutes and pretty much just charged me for a service call. I think if you ran the flex pipe all the way up the chimney the effort would be much more significant.
 
Four seasons using my NPS40. After the first two years without, I installed an OAK.
The stove performs better in every way for the next two years!
I think that sum's it up.
 
Funny, , two seasons ago I helped my neighbor instal a Harman insert and we discussed the oak or no oak subject. At the time I had two wood stoves not oaked. His dealer had those chimney kits that oak through the cap, but they had already sold him all the pipe without the oak. I suggested trying it without an oak. He has had no problems, in fact he loves the insert but I wonder if he would also greatly benefit from an oak. For me, it was a no brainer, I installed my pre-owned Windsor with an oak right off the bat! I went with a free piece of 2" EMT straight through the thimble, my duravent also has a vertical run outside of about 5 feet so no worries about sucking in exhaust. The previous owner of my stove also said he ran the stove without an oak originally, but it worked better once he had one installed.

Daves, Im glad things are working better for you now. It must be a relief to have the stove realize its full potential after four years! Thanks for sharing.
Burn on!
 
I know I am still very new to the pellet world but in the first 2 weeks of using without and then with an OAK, homemade in my case, the difference is incredible. Mine is simply a 3" flexible dryer vent pipe running outside. I can put my hand on it from outside and feel the air being drawn into it so I know it is working well. Heating a 1500 square foot garage, the thermostat keeps it on a nice 60 degrees easily.
 
Thanks VCBurner I'll always take praise! What I meant to say is: Two years without an OAK. Two with an installed OAK.
Making a total of four years of NPS40 usage.
The OAK makes the heater work properly as the factory originally designed.
 
I had my original pellet stove installed years ago by a certified chimney sweep, very well versed in woodstoves and pellet stoves, and he was of the frame of mind that OAK weren't necessary and only installed them if the customer really wanted it or if they ran into a problem situation.

I recently bought a new Harman stove and the dealer had pretty much the same opinion - most of the time they didn't bother with OAK. Recently the Harman tech was at my house checking out another issue and he mentioned that I didn't have an OAK on my stove and said that it might help and certainly wouldn't hurt anything. So I just ordered a new Simpson OAK off a dealer on ebay for $51. Seems simple enough to install myself, so I'll post an update after I get it installed.
 
Now I've got a real problem! I still haven't told her about the "enhancements" to the pellet stove, and she just complained it's too hot in the house! She never has said that in the four years we've had the stove. Even when it was 72 degrees she would say it's cold. This time the thermostat only said 70. Coincidence? -- I think not. :)
 
I knew two days in I needed one. I hadn't even really thought about it when installing, even though I read and understood the manual... I thought. I was to the point of stuffing a towel at my front door because so much air was being sucked in. I also couldn't get above 71-72 in our living room on medium overnight, even on mild nights.

Like others, I questioned the Santa Fe airbox design but I think its working great at this point. The air tube is cold too, so I know its drawing, and from outside I can hear it quite well.

I made my own flange and bought some 2" flex from Woodlands, and installed on Christmas Day. I now hit 74 downstairs overnight and have the feed throttled down to minimum, and no more wind tunnel through my living room and the wife "mentioning" the cold drafts.

The real kicker for me was when someone here suggested open a window close to the unit, so I did. I opened it all the way up. I felt the cooler air but not significant, then I closed down to about 1inch open, it damn near howled and the air rushing in made up my mind! Also at one point my wife kicked the drier on and I heard the fan change sounds.

Just a couple pics showing how easy/simple they can be.
 

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Hi Daves

Any chance of geting some pictures of the piece they made for the chimney part? I have a accentra insert and am thinking of doing an oak. I'm just looking for ideas on how to exactly do it. My cap is on top of the terra cotta, and I don't want to cut it down. It looks like the Harman oak goes on top of the chimney and not the terra cotta, so I'm looking for options.

Thanks
Chris
 
cchilly said:
Hi Daves

Any chance of geting some pictures of the piece they made for the chimney part? I have a accentra insert and am thinking of doing an oak. I'm just looking for ideas on how to exactly do it. My cap is on top of the terra cotta, and I don't want to cut it down. It looks like the Harman oak goes on top of the chimney and not the terra cotta, so I'm looking for options.

Thanks
Chris

Chris Buy the kit so you can pull out the stove for cleaning. Then run your air out through the ash dump at the bottom of the fireplace.
 
Rick, I know the kit your talking about and I will purchase that one. Harman also has one that goes onto the chimney to get the outside air. I was thinking of running it down my ash dump, but that goes into my garage. I wasn't sure if i wanted to do that. Do you have yours like this? How much does the temp change the air down stairs? I don't want to make my garage freezing since I work out there now and then. Right now it stays in the 50's in the garage which is nice.
Thanks
Chris
 
Well, my Invincible has a spot for one, but it just doesn't make sense to me
however after reading all these posts and as easy as it would be with the location of my stove
I am going to install one this weekend and see if there is a difference
my manual says 2"PVC is acceptaple for the OAK on an Invincible
being it is built a little different
I am sure I have enough parts at home to try it without spending any cash
then if it works maybe tweak it alittle bit
will let you know as soon as I do if it works
 
It's been mentioned here on the forum that an OAK should be metal, not plastic. Under certain conditions, hot gasses can be drawn into the OAK, and plastic is, well, plastic. Better safe than sorry!
 
cchilly said:
Hi Daves

Any chance of geting some pictures of the piece they made for the chimney part? I have a accentra insert and am thinking of doing an oak. I'm just looking for ideas on how to exactly do it.
Thanks
Chris

I second the request for a couple of pics.

I'm in CT ...who did you have do the work?
 
cchilly said:
Rick, I know the kit your talking about and I will purchase that one. Harman also has one that goes onto the chimney to get the outside air. I was thinking of running it down my ash dump, but that goes into my garage. I wasn't sure if i wanted to do that. Do you have yours like this? How much does the temp change the air down stairs? I don't want to make my garage freezing since I work out there now and then. Right now it stays in the 50's in the garage which is nice.
Thanks
Chris

If it goes out to the Garage then run it from there to an outside wall and go out your garage wall. Use 4" pipe so that you can run quite a distance. This way you do not use the air in the garage and you can control where you have the intake. When we looked at putting our on the other end of the house in an existing fireplace that was what we were going to do.

I did a totally new install as a zero clearance and made it look like a fireplace. I cheated...

Rick
 
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