Pacific Energy Summit - Combustion Air from room or Ash Pit?

[bryankloos]

Hi Guys,

First time poster here and I'm eager to be here!
The wife and I just moved into a new house this summer and we are now in wood burning season. We have a 1976 Colonial with a great room extension on one side with the fireplace. The fireplace is not drawing well as the firebox opening is 15X the area of the flue tile. We are also keen to keep the heated air in the house and not going up the chimney with conventional fires.

All this said, we are going to purchase the PE Summit later this week, and I was hoping to ask a few questions relative to install.

I see the PE can take its combustion air from the ash pit built into my masonry fireplace. The pit dumps into a large cavity in the base of the fireplace in the basement where the cleanout door is located. I should add that the fireplace also houses the stack for the oil burner but the two use separate flues and seem to only share the masonry surround. I'll double check that the clean out chambers are not connected in any way. I don't believe the ash pit is connected to outside air and thus if used would only pull air from the basement (assuming I removed the cleanout door in the basement...).

So, I'm curious what people think about drawing up combustion air from the ash pit? Is this wise or am I flirting with poor draft problems and other issues? I've read reviews with people taking the air from the room where the insert sits and being very happy with the results. The house is not tight...

All thoughts and suggestions are appreciated as I want to get this install done right the first time.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Bryan

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I wouldn't worry about drawing air from the ash pit. It can be argued that drawing air from outside the house gives you a benefit, but the ash pit is inside the house and the result is the same as if you were to draw the air from the room the stove is in. It's just excess work.

You might want to get some wood on hand as the newer woodstoves are more picky about wood quality (moisture content) than the older stoves.

Matt

 

[Todd]

I draw my combustion air from my basement ash pit but I have an outside chimney and drilled though the chimney and installed a vent directly for outside air.

 

[bryankloos]

With respect to the install, I was thinking about running electric up through the ash cleanout as well as supplying combustion air. Are the trap doors in the bottom of the fireplace adequate to supply the necessary air volume? I haven't measured the exact size but assume it is standard. If I were to core drill through the masonary fireplace to add a vent into the ash pit, what size hole would be necessary?

Or... I could just leave well enough alone and take my air from the room.

At least I have a week or so to figure this out.

Bryan

 

[SKIN052]

Sounds like a whole heap of trouble for minimal gain, if any. I live in a newly built 5 year old home and I draw from the air within the house and have good results.

 

[Splittah]

I just installed a Summit. I pasted a link to the owners manual. You can remove a part from the front of the stove and get air from the inside of the house. A 1976 house will be plenty drafty to get fresh air from inside, A liner and block off plate are important to install it properly. good luck. I love my Summit insert.
http://www.adamsstove.com/PDF/Summit_Insert_Manual.pdf

 

[bryankloos]

I'm going to take the advice and keep it simple. I have plenty of draft in the house to feed the fire and I don't feel like drilling holes into the exterior fireplace.

Looking around on the web it seems the prices of the summit vary quite a bit.

Just to be safe, can anyone tell me if these numbers seem to be fair?

Insert with oversize surround - ~3200
Stainless flue liner - ~500
Install ~550-700 depending on the company that I chose.

Seems like some places sell the insert for 2300 (per old threads) and 2800 on the opposite side of the country.

Thoughts?

Bryan

 

[SKIN052]

Sounds right, my free standing unit with appprox 24' of class a cost close to 5k professionally installed.

 

[Dave A.]

I just installed a Summit. I pasted a link to the owners manual. You can remove a part from the front of the stove and get air from the inside of the house.
http://www.adamsstove.com/PDF/Summit_Insert_Manual.pdf

Those are the directions for the older Summit insert model/series A.Just want to make sure those who have a current model, the newer series B insert realize that those instructions differ from what needs to be done. Check your own manual to be sure. But in the series B you need to remove some screws and a front piece (temporarily) to expose and remove a metal box blocking the front air inlet at the bottom center front of the insert, then reinstall the front piece and screws.

 

[Leflane4pasnonly]

My summit is awesome series c. A lot different than my old pine barren and it took me a little to get used to it. I placed one temperature guage above the door on the top left and the other temp guage on the kettle shelf directly over the middle of the door. Crack the door open when starting the first 15 minutes and then close it leaving it all the way on high until the temp guages read into the "burn zone" and then you can turn the control handle down to maintain temp. The fan normally kicks on when this time and i don't leave it on high...i set it around 80% and it keeps the fan from that "rattle complaint" people talk about. Being a fan balancer it seems that the fan distorts from different temperatures and can become oit of balance...hence creating a vibration. Other than that...great stove and very beautiful to watch the churning of the flame in slow motion during the extended burn time baffle design. Heats my house to 70, 3000 square foot. It helps that my stove is in the basement, so i added some gentle fans to guide the heat up the steps and into the rest of the house. Does not burn wood nearly as fast as my old pine barren so i hope to have to carry less wood down stairs this year. Don't over heat the stove, i hope this is all i have to do to have this until i die. Summit insert out

 

[Hogwildz]

Using the ash dump for intake air is fine, and will afford plenty of air. The insert really does not take a lot of air for combustion. And the EBT may help make up if needed.
Running electrical up through there would be fine also.

 

[Sean Truesdell]

Not sure if you pulled the trigger yet or not, just wanted to say I just bought/installed the same insert in NJ. Insert with standard surround was only $2830 and PE had a $200 off coupon on their site that was only good until 10/13 (Sorry!) The oversize surround can't be $400. I know those were the list prices because I was looking at the price book with the dealer. Liner and install seem fair, I would ask if they are insulating the liner and installing a block off plate.

I wound up pulling the cover off the ash dump during the install for 2 reasons. It was in the way as we slid the insert back into place because it protrudes above the hearth floor. Also the OAK opening in the stove is an existing opening on the bottom rear so I figured it couldn't hurt to have the ash dump open for additional air input. To be honest I think much of the opening got covered by the floor of the insert anyway.

If you haven't ordered it yet, go do it NOW! Temps are dropping and there's talk of another Polar Vortex in the NE this year My house is 7-10 deg warmer than last year and I'm using NO OIL!