OA intake question

Check your manual.

Shou.d be fine.

TimfromMA said:

Shou.d be fine.

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No no no,

Check your manual.

The usual requirement is at least three feet below the vent termination.

There maybe other restrictions as well.

Always check your manual

Bub22 said:

My manual only talks about the OA kit on one page, and it doesn't provide any minimum or maximum clearances. It just says to never draw combustion air from floor, ceiling or an enclosed space.

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What is your stove? Have you checked the vent ternmination information in the manual because that is where it is?

Page 30 Section A and page 24 B 1, and the biggie page 5 A.


Which likely means the vent termination needs to be 3 feet above any powered air intake (OAK is one) within 10 feet. But you have a bit of research to do.

Bub22 said:

Yea I am going to call the manufacturer tomorrow, and even if I don't get a clear answer I will extend the air intake to be at least 3 ft from the exhaust termination. I did a CO test last night with a probe monitor and read 0ppm while the stove was running but moving the intake further away will give me a piece of mind.

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The thing about the OAK isn't CO at the point the exhaust exits the vent there is very little, it is CO2 from the spent combustion air and the fine particulate matter and aromatic hydrocarbons (the smell). The first two degrade the burn leading to a vicious dirty stove situation.

Bub22 said:

Yea I am going to call the manufacturer tomorrow, and even if I don't get a clear answer I will extend the air intake to be at least 3 ft from the exhaust termination. I did a CO test last night with a probe monitor and read 0ppm while the stove was running but moving the intake further away will give me a piece of mind.

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Don't forget your code enforcements folks.

SmokeyTheBear said:

The thing about the OAK isn't CO at the point the exhaust exits the vent there is very little, it is CO2 from the spent combustion air and the fine particulate matter and aromatic hydrocarbons (the smell). The first two degrade the burn leading to a vicious dirty stove situation.

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Do you make this stuff up by yourself or do you get help?

DBCOOPER said:

Do you make this stuff up by yourself or do you get help?

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Look the vented air disperses most if any CO content well away from the the normal aIr intake distances outside the house where he is talking about. CO2 content which is much much higher and the particulates can make it a lot further in the outside air.

On the inside of the house it is an entirely different matter. Look it up.

ETA: It might surprise you to know that CO can actually be further oxidized in a stove system if it happens to drawn in with the good stuff. It becomes CO2.

I have measured CO in outdoor supplied combustion air dozons of times indicating a problem with flue termination. CO is as light as air to slightly lighter. CO2 is heavier than air. So in many cases I can see it easier for CO2 and particulates to recirculate easier. CO content can be surprisingly high in flue and you can't tell by looking at the flame.
To the OP if your probe CO detector reads 0 at the flue I would test it to see if it reads at low levels. Try breathing into a bag and detecting or atleast light a match and blow it out and read that. It should detect a smokers breath and they don't need to be smoking at the time either. 0 CO in flue means perfect combustion. Personally I have never seen it. In a gas furnace which may be the cleanest form of combustion readings below 10ppm generally means it is underfired.

My exhaust and intake vent are about 12 inches apart horizontally and have been that way since I installed it 10+ years ago. I installed it per the instruction at the time and I remember the only requirement was that the exhaust vent be at least 3 feet from any window. Is this a problem? I don't think it has caused me ant problems so far.

chickenman said:

Our Standard approved vent/intake balanced flue are no more than 2" apart. Provided the exhaust is not being blown back into the oak there is no issue. CO is not an issue the only issue is when too much exhaust is being sucked back in and the inside of the stove turns black as Smokey says.
I do not share Smokey's respect of manuals considering that many points are just made up without any reference to facts. If the fire is running clean you have nothing to worry about. If it is dirty then angle the exhaust away from the intake. Easy.

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I'll stick to the manuals thank you very much, things can get dicey here if things aren't just so at times.

Personally I'd prefer to slap several thousand dollars worth of instruments on a lot of things.

I have read the tests done on pellet stoves by some of the US National Labs, if you were to just take the tables out of those lab results you'd never ever burn a single fuel in your life and die form hypothermia. Then you read about the test setup and the conclusions from the test and things are just hunky dory.

Although some of the situations on here makes one understand why they do what they do.

chickenman said:

Our Standard approved vent/intake balanced flue are no more than 2" apart. Provided the exhaust is not being blown back into the oak there is no issue. CO is not an issue the only issue is when too much exhaust is being sucked back in and the inside of the stove turns black as Smokey says.
I do not share Smokey's respect of manuals considering that many points are just made up without any reference to facts. If the fire is running clean you have nothing to worry about. If it is dirty then angle the exhaust away from the intake. Easy.

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"Provided the exhaust is not being blown back into the oak there is no issue." True but isn't it more likely to. Walking on thin ice isn't a problem unless you fall through. Saying CO isn't an issue is misleading at best. If exhaust gases are being recirculated CO will be among them. Recirculate the gases (CO among them.) You will rob the process of O2. Raising the level of CO and lowering CO2. So you will have rising CO and CO will quickly reach dangerous levels. These are the two things CO is not suppose to do. This will continue on and on with many people running their stoves 24-7 it doesn't have a chance to atleast start from scratch and build but rather escalate out of control. You seem to be banking on a dirty flame alerting you to the problem and or possibly the smell of wood burning and a heat exchanger under negative pressure saving the day.

Bub22 said:

Yea I am going to call the manufacturer tomorrow, and even if I don't get a clear answer I will extend the air intake to be at least 3 ft from the exhaust termination. I did a CO test last night with a probe monitor and read 0ppm while the stove was running but moving the intake further away will give me a piece of mind.

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If that is a low level reading probe you can stick it into the OAK and see if it is recirculating any flue gases. Try it in varying conditions and by low levels I mean 1-2 ppm. This may give you more peace of mind and is a good test especially if you have the equipment.