Last winter, my husband and I invested in a Jotul 600 woodstove to serve as the sole source of heat for our new home. As recommended by the manufacturer, we installed an outdoor air intake beneath the stove. It is a 10-cm diameter pipe that opens into the basement below, which itself is rather poorly sealed by two flimsy garage doors (the better to let outdoor air in, we tell ourselves). The basement (which is actually at ground level on the side with the garage doors) also has two vents to allow air to circulate in the basement.
When our Jotul vendor installed the woodstove, the technicians did not connect our outdoor air intake pipe to the air intake on the bottom of the woodstove. When we asked them why not, they first told us that doing so would reduce the efficiency of the stove. When we spoke with another person from their team, we were told that our stove was not designed to be directly hooked up to the outdoor air intake, and that simply having the source of outdoor air "near" the bottom of the stove was enough.
Getting two different explanations was frustrating and unconvincing, so I contacted Jotul directly, at their headquarters in Norway. Unfortunately, they directed me back to my local installers. Today the installers came by the house for another matter and maintained their story about not being able to hook up the outdoor air pipe to the stove's air intake. After they left (I should have done this beforehand), I used a mirror to look at the bottom of the stove and found a 9-cm diameter hole.
What is keeping me from connecting this hole to the 10-cm diameter hole in the floor with fireproof tubing? Is there a risk? Can I do it myself? Does it need to be sealed in an airtight fashion? What kind of tubing do I need, exactly? Can you confirm that this is indeed the best thing to do? Why are the installers saying that the stove isn't designed for this?
Insulation issues aside (let me just say this again: we have a HOLE in our floor), I am particularly concerned about this because we have a heat-recovery ventilation system, and on more than one occasion I have been informed that woodstoves and HRVs can conflict with one another, causing toxic gases to flow into the house rather than out the stovepipe.
I appreciate your taking the time to read this.
Thanks very much for any help!
By the way, the Jotul 600 did a great job of heating our 1800 square-foot home all by itself last winter (despite the hole in the floor). What a luxury!
When our Jotul vendor installed the woodstove, the technicians did not connect our outdoor air intake pipe to the air intake on the bottom of the woodstove. When we asked them why not, they first told us that doing so would reduce the efficiency of the stove. When we spoke with another person from their team, we were told that our stove was not designed to be directly hooked up to the outdoor air intake, and that simply having the source of outdoor air "near" the bottom of the stove was enough.
Getting two different explanations was frustrating and unconvincing, so I contacted Jotul directly, at their headquarters in Norway. Unfortunately, they directed me back to my local installers. Today the installers came by the house for another matter and maintained their story about not being able to hook up the outdoor air pipe to the stove's air intake. After they left (I should have done this beforehand), I used a mirror to look at the bottom of the stove and found a 9-cm diameter hole.
What is keeping me from connecting this hole to the 10-cm diameter hole in the floor with fireproof tubing? Is there a risk? Can I do it myself? Does it need to be sealed in an airtight fashion? What kind of tubing do I need, exactly? Can you confirm that this is indeed the best thing to do? Why are the installers saying that the stove isn't designed for this?
Insulation issues aside (let me just say this again: we have a HOLE in our floor), I am particularly concerned about this because we have a heat-recovery ventilation system, and on more than one occasion I have been informed that woodstoves and HRVs can conflict with one another, causing toxic gases to flow into the house rather than out the stovepipe.
I appreciate your taking the time to read this.
Thanks very much for any help!
By the way, the Jotul 600 did a great job of heating our 1800 square-foot home all by itself last winter (despite the hole in the floor). What a luxury!