The positives of NOT having an OAK.

By not having an OAK, I have identified a multitude of air leaks and cold spots within my house. Each time I close one up, I seem to find another.

That being said, I can't wait to install the OAK for next season.

I agree thinking of doing the Selkirk DT to get the benefit of heating the incoming air

Yes, every cloud has a silver lining

I did not install an oak.Was told I did not need one.This has led to the unpleasant discovery that the cold air returns in the floor make really good air conditoners!I am guessing about 47 degrees cause thats what the basement is. Plus I get to imagine what sucking in my beagles shedding is doing to the inside of the Stove.I will not go another season without one.

How are you identifying the source of the air leaks?

How come Oil furnaces and Gas furnaces don't have oaks ......

I just installed my OAK last Saturday and it definetly cut down on the drafts. Seems like a bag lasts longer to.

Besides getting the stove DT was the best decision, period. I have a simple up and out kit with about a 5 foot rise. 2 degrees outside, pipe temp on the inside of the wall penetration is 46 and it warms up to 82 just before the stove intake. I bet my exhaust air is no more than 120 degrees, if that, it feels barely warm.

I wonder how much the incoming air is heated, given that the exhaust pipe doesnt radiate that much heat, and the dwell time of the combustion air has to be pretty short while it goes thru the thimble......

The newer super efficient models do, and I believe houses certified by the energy star have to have them.

Think about your dryer, that thing pulls a lot of air out of your house. I also have a radon remediation system in my basement, so I'm constantly pumping air outside.

Mine does ... but good question.

The positives of NOT having an OAK are numerous.

1)
2)
3)

There's 3 off the top of my head. I'm sure others will chime in

Still not convinced\\..

I can feel the drafts & cold spots. For example, last night I found where the prior owners had a run a vent outside. The pipe's no longer there, but they patched over the outside with metal sheathing and the vinyl siding covers it, but it's still a 6" hole with no insulation. So the cold air was just being sucked in between the basement insulation and the floor above and was finding it's way under my kitchen cabinets.

Do you have concern over creosote buildup or condensation since the exhaust temps are dropped?

Not sure I could do a Selkirk, as it would be almost 40' - I imagine that's expensive, and I would be concerned with exhaust temps dropping too much for that length of run.

Exhaust gasses should stay above 200 degrees or creosote can form.

Likely because most of the cold air being sucked in is in the basement so the occupant of the house doesn't feel the drafts so no one has complained loud enough to make anyone investigate why they are freezing, then we have the fact that there is a very large heating capacity overkill that no one has noticed they are loosing heat up the flue and sucking cold air from outside inside.

But what the hey, if ya don't want one, that's fine with most of us. It will only cost you a few (I'll let you discover what a few can actually be) pounds of pellets per day if you don't use one.

But your not using a "few pounds of pellets heating the cold outside air??? Im not going to argue over it, Im sure I could be wrong...

True... BTU-wise it is a wash, but you won't have that cold air going through the room. Without an OAK, you'll be burning more pellets to compensate for the drafty cold/dry air being pulled into the house. And the stove may not run as efficiently in a tightly-sealed house.

One only needs to gather a few numbers to fill out a heat loss calculator's air infiltration information to discover the BTU loss using only the air flow rate of the combustion blower per hour

You set the houses volume to that number, the air exchange rate per hour to one, fill in the heating degree days per year base your normal t-stat reading then the normal lowest temperature. Hit calculate and get back a BTU/hr heat loss figure due strictly to the the air going up the flue.

This will be the average heat loss figure for sending it up the flue.

Now you can also do this with any flue system if you can get a air flow rate, chimneys always have an air flow up them. Some burners run with power vent systems. There are also OAK kits for a lot of oil burners.

The only time an OAK is required is if the stove maker says so, or you are installing into a mobile home or a tightly sealed building, or your local code requires it.

A lot of stove makers highly recommend an OAK likely because a properly installed OAK gets rid of a lot of burn issues.

My Trane does.. Hell, the exhaust and intake are both PVC. Yep... So efficient, it has a PVC exhaust.. Yet it still uses over $3,000 in ProPain to heat this joint. So it's not Super Efficient.

Almost every new gas furnace and a bunch of water heaters have a OAK making the combustion chamber sealed from the inside of the house

Aussy Aussy Aussy! Oak Oak Oak!

It's been answered, but most people have a vent in the room of the furnace/boiler, so the draft only occurs in that room.

I don't plan on ever hooking a OAK to my boiler because I don't want the -40* air hitting all my components head on. (Boiler has it's own room and fresh air supply)