phil from barrington
Member
They've probably discontinued answering customers and deal only with their dealers, which is probably a smart thing to do.Wow...what a find! I'm sure that number is a well guarded secret.
They've probably discontinued answering customers and deal only with their dealers, which is probably a smart thing to do.Wow...what a find! I'm sure that number is a well guarded secret.
In looking into the outside vs inside air intake issue I've found more questions than answers. Indoor air maintains even pressure; outside air is subject to significant pressure changes which affect draw; your dryer pulls more air than your stove and vents it right outside; outside air has to be heated but has more volume of oxygen. I can't really get a good answer -- so I might just try it both ways and see what happens. I got a 2 inch x 5 ft piece of duct that I can run thru the rockwool. I just need a dry warmish day to get on the roof to drill a hole into the plate for air draw. I can always cover it back up later if needed.
I was looking online and found a couple of articles that said that using outside air is a throwback, and more important for tightly sealed homes and mobile homes. This website had an interesting discussion regarding pressure differences: http://www.woodheat.org/the-outdoor-air-myth-exposed.html. I'm still going to give it a try lacking definitive evidence not to. Once I cut the hole (probably ~ 1.5 inches), I'll either get a prefab vent cover or make one from a piece of aluminum and screw it down facing away from the exhaust duct. I can always cover it later if it's a bust. I have the luxury of being able to step out my daughter's bedroom window onto the roof by the chimney. Oh and, yeah, I have too much time on my hands -- but if it works it's all good.
FWIW...I put a 2 inch by 5 ft piece of duct on the air intake and ran it up through the rockwool into the chimney cavity. Now I can't explain why but it seems to be burning better. Not to the point of getting significantly more heat, but clearly burning better. Less drop off of the flame (stove thermostat off). However, due to the weather and having an insufficient drill bit I haven't been able to drill the opening in the chimney plate yet. I still plan to do this when the rain stops, but the chimney cavity is clearly not air tight. I could probably leave it like this, but OCD being what it is...
Multiple confounding factors. I just tried Somerset hardwood pellets after Thruman's hardwood pellets, after American Wood Fiber Premium Pine. AWF is supposed to give the most BTU's. All were reported to be the best on one forum or another. 45 degree's here in Maryland. Anything will heat up the house at 45. I won't really know until it gets down to about 35. I think I'm gonna get one of those infrared thermometers so I can point it right at the hot air output. I think I'll go back to the AWF softwood. The Douglas Fir isn't available locally, just for delivery online -- way too expensive. My fan is on full. When the outside temp goes up I turn on the stove thermostat where it actually works as intended. The auger is set at ~1/3. I might be able to increase it now with a better burn. So far no embers are dropping into the ash box. (But the 2 try-out bags of Somerset are putting out alot of ash. Back to AWF.) Ultimately I'm still trying to see if I'm just trading pellet money for coal money. Still better to use an available by-product than strip mining.
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