Anybody using an outside air kit with their Progress Hybrid?

I'm close to pulling the trigger on a PH for my new home in central MN and am trying to decide whether to install the outside air kit immediately or take a wait and see approach. The house is new construction, 3 stories including the unfinished basement, and the stove will be on the main level along the longest wall, in front of a pair of windows.

I like the cleaner, simpler installation of not having the OAK, and the PH kit looks rather ugly from what I can tell. But I worry about the tightness of the new house causing smoke issues when vent fans are running. I haven't seen any posts where owners mention having an OAK, but imagine there must be some in the states that require them.

Has anyone voluntarily installed an OAK? Or started without one and added it later?

Thanks,
-Stephen

I am subscribed ti this post because I have the same question. I just placed my order for a PH.

I don't recall anyone on here mentioning they had an OAK with their PH. The visual impact will likely depend on your installation. For example, I doubt it would be very visible in my case. Your chimney will likely play into whether you need one of not.

If your are still in the hearth construction phase, maybe you could just plumb for an OAK then order and setup without? That way, if you need one it will be a piece of cake in install. If you don't you're not out much. It's a thought...

And what Waulie suggested, is exactly what I did. In removing my old zc fireplace, I found there was an OAK on it. So instead of ripping the 4" pipe out of the wall and pluggin it up. I plumbed it to be flush with the flooring, put a cap over it, then tiled up to the endge of it. Then I simply cut a round peice of tile to fit over it. So now you can't see it unless you go behind the stove and really looke, you'll notice a 4" circle in the tile seams.... if I ever need or want to install the OAK on the PH, I'll just pick up the round tile, pull off the cap, and plug in the 4" flex hose into the hole.

n the other note, why would the OAK of the PH look bad?? It is located on the BACK of the stove, and is a small peice of sheetmetal shapped to fit over the air intake panel which is abotu 1" wide by something like 12" long, and simply funnels into a 4" round duct inlet which is facing down. I think you would have a hard time even seeing it. So in my case, I'd simply have abotu a 20" peice of 4" fle hose coming from the floor behind the stove, going straight up into the OAK inlet. I don't think that would look bad at all.

But, I am in a corner install, so you can't see behind the stove. How is your installed?

For sure, not "end of the world" bad, but not as clean as a pedestal stove's OAK. My install is along the back wall of the house, the stove can be viewed directly from either side. To be honest I was thinking of another stove's OAK design which would have resulted in duct work back to the wall or bent 90 degrees to the floor.

Good suggestion to try to plan ahead for it, but if nobody's using them then I can't imagine that I will either.

I have a PH, an OAK, and a very tight house. I needed it. I would actually get smoke out the air intake on reload when I opened the door. See, the OAK was backordered when I got the stove. So the stove came, no OAK. So I ran without it for a couple weeks. In the right circumstances, smoke came out the back. Since, none. I am fighting a loading side smoke smell, and working with Woodstock to fix that. But I don't think that's a tight house issue. See the smoke smell thread for that story.

I am backed up to a fireplace firebox, so the "look" isn't a concern.

Just remember, it's a hell of a lot easier to install it now while building the hearth and walls, than to do it later!

I am considering adding the outside air kit to my PH. I get the smoke smell from around the door and while the outside air kit may or may not help that I would like to reduce the considerable negitive pressure in my house.
I can go straight out the back of the stove, thru wall and into the insulated chase that the class A runs through. A couple 3 or 4" holes and it's done. My fireview would not be so easy - preplanning while building the hearth would have been helpful there.

Having a PH stove, I am convinced that the smoke smell comes from the door gasket leaking. Originally mine passed the dollar bill test with flying colors yet was still seeping smoke.
I replaced the door gasket with a puffier/ softer material-problem solved
I have posted a number of times how I did this. For me it worked completely.

Can you link to one of those posts? I am starting to get that slight leakage (light wood smell) around the door as well.

I have had the outside air kit for about a month. Basement install, exterior 25' chimney.

It has helped slightly with "cold flue" low pressure syndrome. Enough to say it was worth while.

My intake is 4" and about a 12' (insulated) run inside the house until spring arrives and I can make it official.

The manifold they sell you is a 5" intake, lives behind the stove and is barely noticeable.

I would suggest an OAK. I have a new house, very tight. Sluggish draft during reloads if the dryer or bathroom exhaust fans are running, otherwise very good draft. Much easier to install during construction than after. You could get a can of matching paint from Woodstock to paint the OAK hose.

I'm looking at the PH and building a new home next month, was curious, what insulation r values make up a tight house? Higher than the Energy Star insulation recommendations?

It's not r-values that make a house tight. Spray foam insulation that seals air leaks, good air-tight windows, taped exterior sheathing, etc. make a house air tight.

Got it! Makes sense! Thanks Boiler74. Good luck getting rid of the smoke smell, how do you like your stove?

If we can fix the smell, I'll love it. Heats my house well.

I called Woodstock yesterday, explained that I was building a new home, and asked for the dimension from the back of the stove to the center of the OAK exit (6 ¼"). But the advice I got was that so long as the air exchanger is sized for the stove there should be no need for the kit. Apparently the HVAC installer should understand this, but I think it's time for me to understand air exchangers better.

An air exchanger is on my list of wants, but they are a bit pricey. It's a box that has two pipes to outside and two to your ducts. Inside the box is a heat exchanger that takes the heat from conditioned air and gives it to the cold air coming in from outside. Keeps fresher air in the house.

FYI: Most houses do not have a heat exchanger....