Can I Add Outside Air Intake?

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.

Chris611

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Dec 8, 2005
24
This is a great forum. This is my first time here. I have spent a lot of time looking through the old posts and an learning a lot. I found this site because I was searching for a Cold Air Intake kit for my fireplace. I bought a house last fall with the fireplace already in it. Its an old Preway model 2406A. Sounds like from what I read, it's pretty cheap and inefficient. I can't afford to replace it now, and don't expect it to heat the entire house, but just enjoy the aesthetic value. I would however like to at least not lose ground in terms of the fireplace sucking in cold air though the windows, cracks, etc... to fuel the fire. I was hoping to be able to retrofit a cold air intake to help with this. Seems to make sense. It will be tight to install since there is brick around the fireplace, but I think I could get enough room. This brick only goes up about 48", so I can remove some paneling and have access to the top, sides and rear of the fireplace. Only the back wall has 4 stones protecting it, the sides are 3 seperate panels, I believe the 2nd and 3rd panels have insulation between them. Does anyone know of a kit that I can buy and retrofit to this fireplace? I have searched and read about kits, but can find noone that actually sells them. I realize I won't find one for Preway, but was hoping with some modification I can make another models kit work. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again for a great site.

Chris
 
Chris

I know that this doesn't answer your question, and it is only my opinion, but my suggestion is that the work and $$$ involved in trying to retro fit a cold air feed to this unit is not worth it.

When we bought our current house 5 years ago, a large part of the purchase decision was based on the beautiful 12 foot wide sandstone fireplace in the rec-room. For the last five years we've been enjoying the esthetic value of the fireplace, but as you point out, sucking a lot of warm air out of the house in the process. I finally learned to just turn the thermostat down and huddle next to the open fireplace to get some of the radiant heat if we wanted to burn it.

Finally, after 5 years I've bit the bullet and purchased a new wood insert so that I can eliminate the "warm air suck" problem, and also to cut my NG bills.

So, enjoy your fireplace guilt free for now, and take the $$$ you would have spent on the cold air feed and save it for a future date when you can afford a proper insert.

Willhound
 
I'll second Willhounds post.
 
Thanks for the replies. I was just hoping that there would be a simple way to add the cold air intake. I also just like to tinker with things. My wife will tell you that I tinker until it's broke... :) If anyone knows of a kit, I would be interested to see what it looks like. Thanks again for the replies. I have been reading all the back posts this afternoon after I plowed the drive...6" of snow and currently -1 deg F... . Amazing how much I am learning here.

Thanks
Chris
 
Status
Not open for further replies.