Are fresh air ducts absolutely necessary for pellet stoves

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jmccown

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Dec 13, 2006
28
I am getting ready to install an England Stove works unit in my home. My home is a mobile home with a large (700sq ft) addition where the stove will actually be (not in the mobile home part). In everything that I have read these only need to be installed if it is placed in a mobile home. If it is mandatory, I will install it this weekend, otherwise will it be okay to operate for 2-3 days without it?
 
Check with the local authorities for your code, but I would guess, yes, it will be required.
 
The outside air is recomended for any installation, your stove may run ok without the kit. I have gotten calls on both ends, some stoves will absolutly have to have it and others need no extra pipe. It all depends on how much air the stove can pull from the room. I would say try it for now and see for your application, some people have even put the pipe on but then run it out of the back to the side because they were tight on the back wall. Again we recomend fresh outside air for optimum performance.
 
Cant speak for the Englander, but around here, if you are burning in a mobile home, even an addition to one, you need to bring in outside combustion air.....not only that, but the stove CANT be in a bedroom, and the stove is supposed to be grounded to the frame of the mobile home as well, the stove is also supposed to be bolted to the floor. Basically, Mobile home installation should be done in accordance with the Manufactured Home and Safety Standard (HUD), CFR 3280, Part 24.
Good luck!
 
outside intake air is mandatory for all ESW pellet units , mobile home installations require it by code, with the unit in an addition its kind of a grey area, but the unit must have proper airflow and most structures regardless of size will not allow clean airflow, bottom line, install outside air intake, that way you do not have to worry about the grey area in the code (elk? is it mandatory by code in an addition to a mobile home??) and you will have the proper airflow regardless .
 
If that addition is a bedroom then the stove has no right being there. The main home is considered a mobile home therefore it is a mobile home. Addition to it or not ,if it freely communicates with the mobile home air space, then it has to comply with mobile home requirements. If outside air is manufacture spec then it is required. The stove also has to be listed for mobile home installations
 
the stove is listed for mobile home use. No problem there. I was just wondering cause I picked my Simpson dura vent pipe up yesterday and they had several pellet stoves on display and none of them were vented outside and they were putting out some really nice heat. They were Harman units. the just had them all vented out a huge vent tube going through the ceiling. So I assumed it might not be necessary. It was a true value store. I'm a noobie so I had to ask. That's how we learn, right? LOL.
 
BTW, the stove is not in the bedroom. It is in our livingroom where we spend most of our time.
 
Harman has a pretty big range of pellet stoves, from 38,000 to 68,000 BTU/hr....Im unsure of the output of the ESW units. You can run Harman's either way, bringing in outside air or not, but, in your mobile home, there really isnt an option......need to do it. There are other advantages to bringing in outside air as well....one being lessening of the clearances of the vent to operable windows and doors.
As for the Harman dealer, its likely not a "tight" store, with the doors opening and closing all day, so, likely not as big an issue there than with, say, a mobile home.
 
I get the method behind the madness now. But I have to ask these questions so that I know "why" things are the way they are.
 
Jim pellets cost quite a bit of money so it is prudent to get the most out of what you spend.. It is also prudent to setup your stove to achieve maxium results and safety Outside air is required to achieve this. It is good to ask and hopefully you understyand the code and reasoning Good luck and enjoy the warmth. Personally for what you paid I applaud you for finding an econimical solution
 
thanks guys for the tips. I am in the process of doing the install right now. I just took 5 to see if anyone had posted anything else about the install. I'll try to get some pics up whenever I 'get er done'.
 
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