Yes ---another OAK question

So I've got a Quad Mount Vernon AE insert and am on my second season. The Mount Vernon can output a lot of air, so it sucks in a lot of air at the same time creating somewhat of a breeze. I have been contemplating an OAK to reduce the "breeze", but part of me says that the OAK will only bring in new air that would equal the air going up my chimney (which is minimal with a pellet stove compared to a normal fire). This really wouldn't address the air movement within my house.

However, I'm hoping to hear that the OAK would bring into the stove air that would equal what was going up the chimney and also bring air equal to the air coming into the pellet stove form inside my house. If this was the case, an OAK would really help reduce the cool air being brought into the pellet stove along the floor. If the OAK only addresses the air going up the chimney, I don't think I'd see a huge difference from what I'm experiencing today.

Thoughts?

I have a Quadrafire Castile insert. I originally had no fresh outside air. The insert would pull in air from within the home and cause a draft along the floor. Since hooking up a line to the outside, it eliminated the breeze running across the floor, the fire seems to burn better and the glass stays cleaner longer. This of course is my experience.

Just curious -- are you running your OAK up through the chimney? 0r are you going out the backside of your fireplace?

Thanks for the feedback.

Daves, It seems to me that running the OAK up the chimney would result in the chimney exhause being sucked back into the house through the OAK.

Best,

John_M

I went up the chimney, but not all the way. I insulated the bottom where the damper used to be, to prevent any cold air from coming down the chimney. The fresh air inlet is below the exhaust, so there is no problem. You can go all the way up, but not necessary. Check your manual, there should be some photos of optional installations.

Sounds like you want something like I had on my fireplace in Calgary. It was called a Pressureizer (Heatalator I think) It had a fan system that pulled outside air over the heat exchanger and blew it into the room, effectively pressurizing the house with fresh warm air, since the fan blew in more air into the house than the combustion was removing. It worked great, but back then there were problems (in the early 80s) with moisture getting into the wall cavity.

In fact when I bought my Quad initially I thought this was how all OAKs worked and was surprised to see they actually supply the combustion air instead.

Maybe you could try plumbing your OAK to the circulation air intakes instead of the Combustion air ?

Hi --

I have a Quad Mt Vernon AE insert with an OAK. THe OAK is installed all the way up the chimney. At the cap, it is lower and directionally offset from the exhasut so as to not suck in smoke from the stove.

Bottom line -- it works superbly. I did a ton of research on this site about OAKs and I beleive in them. Prior to putting the stove in, I noticed that my house was prone to negative pressure, epsecially when the dryer was running for long stretches.

With the OAK, I feel no drafts in the house whatsoever and the OAK seems to satisfy all the air needs of the stove. I highly recommend.

Shane