Air intake complete shut off - HS GM60, HS Castleton and Jotul f45

[cabinwarmer]

Good Day, still deciding my new stove model. One option that came to mind is the ability to shut down the air intake completely on these three stoves. I do not understand all the technologies differences yet and would like to understand if this can be done on each model. Nice to shut things off if I get a run away stove.
Any feedback greatly appreciated!

Thanks again for everyones help in this on going purchase decision.

Dave

 

[Highbeam]

As far as I know (I hate those disclaimers but) no modern EPA stove can have the air shut off using the air controls provided. You need to be creative if it is important to you.

 

[cabinwarmer]

Ahhhhh, wonderful. So a chimney damper may satisfy my worries?

 

[begreen]

Ahhhhh, wonderful. So a chimney damper may satisfy my worries?

A standard butterfly damper is ok if that is what is meant. They do not block off the flue completely. Runaway fires are not common and usually the fault of the operator. Though counterintuitive, the fastest way to calm it down is usually opening the door. It's exciting for a minute or two, but the fire calms down with the flood of cooler air and the breaking of the vacuum that is pulling air through the secondary combustion system. This, however, is quite different than a chimney fire.

 

[Highbeam]

Ahhhhh, wonderful. So a chimney damper may satisfy my worries?

That is one way but makes cleaning the chimney more difficult. Depending on flue height you might need a key damper anyway.

The other is to find and block the air inlets to the stove. Some stoves have several inlets with some buried behind heat shields, but some stoves take all of their air through a single inlet that is intended to be hooked to an outside air supply duct.

My previous hearthstone heritage and my current blaze king princess are the second kind. All intake air comes through a single 3 or 4 inch pipe so if needed I could block that inlet to starve the stove.

 

[bholler]

Why are you concerned about blocking it completely?

 

[Nigel459]

Good Day, still deciding my new stove model. One option that came to mind is the ability to shut down the air intake completely on these three stoves. I do not understand all the technologies differences yet and would like to understand if this can be done on each model. Nice to shut things off if I get a run away stove.
Any feedback greatly appreciated!

Thanks again for everyones help in this on going purchase decision.

Dave

Well I can speak to the GM stoves. (It's a valid question in my opinion as some stoves have unregulated air coming in from multiple places and if things get going crazy for some reason there's not much you can do...) All air to the GM (not just primary) goes through a hole in a sheet on the bottom of the stove. This is for an outside air adaptor. It's about 4" in diameter. The air path after this is sealed with no gaps or leaks.

You can completely starve the stove of air by simply blocking this off with a small piece of aluminum, or anything really in a pinch. I fooled around with partially blocking ours in order to control the draft and extend burn times. In the end just went with a standard key damper and it is nice and dialled in now.

Once you get the hang of most stoves you get to know how to avoid runaway fires, but like I said I still think this is a valid question. Happy shopping...