City requires an OAK

[adjuster11]

I'm just about ready to have a sweep install a Quadrafire 4100i, and the city says they want an OAK, for outside combustion air.

I've got an acre of brick inside, and out, nowhere to really drill through nicely to get it outside. I've got about a 30' chimney.

I'm thinking of adding 4" B vent, solid straight out the chimney, then making a U, over the top of the flue so it intakes fresh air, below the chimney.

I looked at the "OAK" kit sold by Quadrafire, it's just a dryer vent with no tubing.

I have to go to the city with "Building plans" to illustrate what I'm doing. I'm wondering if I'll get peppered with "air volume" questions about how much air it intakes.

I've got 30' of stainless flex tubing going in as my exhaust.

Have any of you run the OAK, straight up the chimney? Any advise on the piping to get to tie it in to bring fresh air in? Any restraints or constraints with too big, too small an inlet pipe. I don't have the quad here, I can't measure how big the "inlet" is to fab up a fitting.

It's all coming on install day, and I have to have what I need to put it together.

Photo attached of the inside view

 

[Shari]

I can't help on how to install or where to install but I would question the requirement for an OAK.

I hit that wall in my install as my city wanted an OAK installed also. Their thinking was the stove requires 'x' amount of air volume and they wanted to make sure it had 'x' available. Their main concern was "Is there a door or doors that can be closed off thereby reducing the amount of interior air available for the stove?" After I informed them this was a central location install, open to living room, dining room, kitchen, laundry room & hallway I guess I defeated their reasoning for the OAK.

You might want to clarify the 'why' behind their requirement before you bend over backwards on the install.

 

[Pallet Pete]

That is a fairly common requirement from the city standpoint it keeps you safe as well as many new homes are so well insulated that they cant draw air like older homes. This is a blanket law in order to cover all bases and not have to worry or mess with it. I purchased gas vent for outdoor use it was much less than the oak kit was ! We attached a rather nice dryer vent outside and that was it. I have found since we have had insulation put in we need it or the stove wont burn well towards the end of the fire. It seems like running it up the chimney would make it harder for the stove to pull air in because you are creating a second chimney with it being so tall You should be able to go down under the stove with a cement or tile saw and run over and out somewhere on the foundation. I may be wrong but it seems like it would be much harder to get a fire going and keep it going that way plus you would pull in exhoust from the chimney next to it.

Pete

 

[Wood Duck]

Here the requirement is for homes newer than a certain date to require an OAK. I don't recall the date of construction but it is older than 1991, when my house was built.

I think pallet pete may be right that a vertical OAK would create its own chimney effect and therefore not draw well.

 

[Highbeam]

It was required of my installation as well plus all mobile homes of course. It is actually a superior setup but unfortunately, your install looks to be challenging.

 

[dorkweed]

Does your fireplace have an ash door/cleanout in the bottom of it??? If so, use that as they usually have an access door to the outside.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

You can always ask for a variance on the OAK just as one would with a building permit. For example, we put up a barn and where we wanted to put it was too close to the property line. I simply asked for a variance, the inspector came out and looked and said, "No problem."

As far as the way you want to put the OAK, I'm not so sure that would work well at all. Is there any way you can go down?

 

[Heatsource]

no way i can think of to connect that old insert to Outside air....
looks like it draws air in thru the doors....

 

[adjuster11]

It's solid concrete inside the hearth, up about 2' high, floor is concrete. It would be possible to bore down into the floor, then duct it underneath, but not easily done. That run to the North would be about 20' of piping, with a dryer vent like intake, but I should would like to avoid jackhammering out the floor of the hearth. I would suspect it's got a lot of support to hold up the hearth/mantle, etc. of brick on that East wall.

I think I need to probe the planner better and try that angle first to see if they are really going to "make me". I've got a ton of open air space, that's not enclosed. It would be cheaper to argue, than to just say bill me to the installer.

 

[begreen]

How thick is the back of the fireplace?

 

[mellow]

If it would be cheaper maybe you could install an in wall air supply from the outside in that room? See if they would accept that if you can't install an OAK.

Broan makes some units that would accomplish this: http://www.broan.com/products/product-line/whole-house-ventilation