Don't Have An OAK Insalled - Should I???

[gerryger]

I have been reading some posts about OAK's and it seems like a good idea to have one which I currently don't. I think I should based on the following:

I have my my stove in the living room. I installed (2) Broan Room to Room fans in the living room. (1) adjacent to a bedroom and the other adjacent to the kitchen. These two fans move air @ 90 CFM each. By pulling this air out of the living room, is that going to cause problems with the operation / efficiency of the stove? If so, should I install an OAK?

Copied this from the manual:

Negative pressure results from the imbalance of air available
for the appliance to operate properly. It can be strongest
in lower levels of the house.
Causes include:
• Exhaust fans (kitchen, bath, etc.)
• Range hoods
• Combustion air requirements for furnaces, water heaters
and other combustion appliances
• Clothes dryers
• Location of return-air vents to furnace or air conditioning
• Imbalances of the HVAC air handling system
• Upper level air leaks such as:
- Recessed lighting
- Attic hatch
- Duct leaks
To minimize the effects of negative air pressure:
• Install the outside air kit with the intake facing prevailing
winds during the heating season

 

[tsmith]

I have found with my MT. Vernon, that it does run better with the OAK. If your house is older and not air tight, you can pull air in through the windows etc. this will cause cold air drafts in the house. I think I get a better, hotter flame with the OAk as well. I really noticed a flame difference when burning corn.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

That last bullet item is open to debate in the case of horizontal vent termination.

OAK on same side as the vent and vent not on the prevailing wind side, other than that that is a pretty good list of things that cause both smoke in the stove room, poor or erratic burning, and excess cold outside air infiltration.

 

[RiddleMasterMorgon]

Depends on your set up. If you vent through a chimney you have to spend some money on it, not sure if thats worthwhile. As for underpressure in your room due to the two fans, I much doubt that will cause any significant difference to what your stove is feeling in terms of intake. Arguable, if the stove sucks in the room air at the bottom and your two fans are blowing air out of the room by the door frame top, you might have a better air convection going on than with OAK.

Having said that, I have OAK for the simple reason that I was told this maximizes the heat output you can get from the stove and compared to the whole install cost it was like a fraction of the cost extra - so that seemed like a no brainer. I recall it was like 100 USD extra on a 4k total deal using my old fire place. I would like to disconnect sometime in the future to check if really worthwhile...but been to lazy for that so far.

 

[cold front]

Whats OAK?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Whats OAK?

Outside Air Kit = OAK

 

[Vinelife]

I just did it, it makes sense ...

 

[sante fe]

Hank did you notice much difference with the oak?

 

[Vinelife]

Well, you might have read me wrong. When I had my stove installed I didn't play around, I just did it at the time. It makes sense that it would work better. If you can do it, do it..

 

[rona]

The easy way to describe the good points is with no outside air hookup you are sucking warm air from the room into the combustion chamber and blowing it outside via the exhaust system. This is hot air your stove has produced and you are just blowing it outside. Now with the outside air kit installed you are using air from the outside to feed the combustion chamber and produce the heat.
Another thought is the air pressure inside and outside should be the same and by not having a outside air kit you are creating more drafts from the outside since the stove is creating a vacuum in the house. My dealer said it wasn't necessary but later I found from a dealers viewpoint the added expense may kill the sale so as long as the stoves works why bring that option up.
Later I helped install two Harman PC45s in a night club and there we had to install outside air for them to operate in that environment. When the exhaust fans were turned on in the building they actually killed the flame in both the stoves. After installing outside air the stoves worked perfectly.

 

[Don2222]

Hello

Having an OAK for a Wood Pellet stove is nice!

Having an OAK on my Carlin Burner for my Oil Boiler is a MUST HAVE

See pellet stove and boiler OAK pics and discussion here
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/68771/

 

[timjk69]

So really now, do you all think a pellet stove uses enough combustion air to warrant an OAK. My opinion is that in my fairly airtight house, NO.

 

[madge69]

So really now, do you all think a pellet stove uses enough combustion air to warrant an OAK. My opinion is that in my fairly airtight house, NO.

1000 times YES I can see no reason NOT to use one.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Anyone who cares can calculate the volume of air in their house that they need to heat and divide that by the flow rate through their combustion blower and see how many extra times they have to heat the air just because they threw it up the flue.

 

[rona]

So really now, do you all think a pellet stove uses enough combustion air to warrant an OAK. My opinion is that in my fairly airtight house, NO.

Your house, your stove, Your money, your decision. Subject has been beat to death.

 

[jtakeman]

So really now, do you all think a pellet stove uses enough combustion air to warrant an OAK. My opinion is that in my fairly airtight house, NO.

Your house, your stove, Your money, your decision. Subject has been beat to death.

Beat and beat again. Tries to get up and beat down some more. Looks like a bloody pulp, But still keeps trying get up. How much beating should it take?

 

[smoke show]

As long as we're still willing to argue about it.

Kinda like a bad case of hemorrhoids, ya know?





































just can't get rid of it....

 

[Trickyrick]

So really now, do you all think a pellet stove uses enough combustion air to warrant an OAK. My opinion is that in my fairly airtight house, NO.

If your house really is "Air Tight" then where is the air your breathing and the stove is using for combustion coming from? Think about it. You burn for 10 hours and that combustion fan would have reduced the pressure to a point where your ears pop when you exit. No Sorry your house isn't that air tight or one of two things happens your fire goes out and the stove alarms or you pass out from Oxygen deprivation. Trust me you need an OAK more the tighter the house is.

 

[sante fe]

Well if you don't have an oak installed, Free radon removal.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Well if you don't have an oak installed, Free radon removal.

Just be careful as that free radon removal doesn't get it from under the foundation and send it straight out but sucks it through your house, perhaps you'll glow while sitting in the rocking chair having your geezer nap by the pellet stove.

 

[slvrblkk]

Well if you don't have an oak installed, Free radon removal.

Just be careful as that free radon removal doesn't get it from under the foundation and send it straight out but sucks it through your house, perhaps you'll glow while sitting in the rocking chair having your geezer nap by the pellet stove.

Geezer naps.....I love them and I'm not even that old!!

 

[save$]

As long as we're still willing to argue about it.

Kinda like a bad case of hemorrhoids, ya know?

Or yanking on our underwear! :ahhh: Does 1+2 =2, or is it 1.5 or 2.5 etc. Ugh



























just can't get rid of it....

 

[PA_Clinker]

One benefit of not using an OAK is the slow fresh air exchange you'll get. ;-)
Who wants to breathe all that hot, stale air while your stove gets to breathe fresh, cool air? %-P

 

[Snowy Rivers]

If your house is sealed up reeeeeeealy tight then an OAK is a must.

My house has a fresh air add valve in the furnace/air handler that has a tube that runs all the way to the roof and terminates at a roof vent.

Fresh air is allowed to enter the house (drawn in) through this vent to keep the house from becoming stale.

We run up to 3 stoves on the main floor in the winter (usually two running) and the air exchanges really nice.

Even nasty fish smells from cooking are gone in short order.

Now here in Western Oregon we dont get Minus temps in the winter but single digits are not out of the question.

With this in mind, having a bit of fresh air exchanging is a good thing.

All of our stoves are direct vent so I am reluctant to connect the oak any where close to the vents.

Snowy

 

[AVIVIII]

yes

I just wanted to write yes, but that is apparently not enough characters.

so:

Yes