APS1100 questions - outside air kit?

[racindego]

hello,

I am new to the forum and to wood stoves as well. I recently installed a US stove APS1100 on the first floor of a 2-story house that runs through a duraplus through-wall kit and straight up a triple wall chimney that is 15' tall. I am having an issue with a very stinky house as the fire goes out and it continues when the fire is not burning. No problem at all when the stove is burning. We do not use the stove all the time, so this is not acceptable. I have narrowed the problem down to a depressurized house caused by my oil burning heater and/or stack effect. It seems that an outside air kit would help solve these problems, but it appears this kit is not applicable for this stove. Does anyone know why? There seems to be an obvious square shaped inlet (about .75" x 2" opening) on the back of the stove, which is where I can feel and smell air coming in from when the stove is not in use. Can I simply plumb this to the outside? If not, why? I called US stoves and it really seems that I know more about this particular stove then they do and all they can tell me is that my stove is not outside air compatible. Can anyone help with this, or offer any other suggestions to cure my stinky house problem?

Thanks!!
Michael

 

[racindego]

Wow this forum moves fast. Anyone?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Michael, I'm not so sure an OAK would help this or not, but it might help some.

Perhaps a better idea is to get some better fuel. Usually what happens is creosote is forming in the chimney and when you are not burning you are getting that smell, and it is not pleasant at all. In most cases, it will gradually get worse until it also stinks when you are burning. The only cure is to clean the stove and chimney and then get some better fuel.

If you are buying wood, you will find that wood sellers just do not have good seasoned wood. Wood you buy this year should not be burned until next year. Even longer if it is oak as oak generally needs 3 years of drying before it is ready to burn.

Time and wind are the wood burners friends. Wood needs to be cut to length and split BEFORE it will start to dry. Most wood sellers will split the wood just before delivery. That just is not good. It is just one more reason why I have always stated that you need to be a minimum of 2-3 years ahead in your wood supply. Burning wood is not like burning oil or gas.

Good luck.

 

[LLigetfa]

An OAK is not the best way to mitigate a reversing flue on a cold stove. Allowing a small amount of fresh air in close to the stove while it is burning would be fine as long as it has a positive shutoff for when you aren't burning.

What you really need is a make-up air supply to the furnace room where the negative pressure is caused. Look also for other places that air is being lost through stack effect.

 

[racindego]

Thanks for the help guys.

The more I think about this, the less I think an OAK will fix my problem. I think an OAK will simply aid in pressurizing my stove relative to the inside air and it will leak through the front air control and any other cracks and cause the same problem I am having now.

In the mean time, I have plugged the chimney with insulation so I can get rid of the smell. The stove no longer leaks air into the room and the smell has gotten much better. There is still a bad odor around the stove though, which I believe is the creosote that I created doing the couple small burns that the stove manufacturer recommended. The creosote was confirmed when I removed the cleanout cap on the bottom of my dura-vent T and found 1/4" of the most awful smelling brown liquid you can imagine. I would like to get rid of this and it has been suggested that a hot fire will burn it off. I am hesitant to do this. I suspect that it will work initially but that as the fire dies down, the same thing is going to happen again. Is my only option to pull the stove apart and thoroughly clean it? Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Thanks again!
Michael

 

[racindego]

BTW, I added a vent right at the base of my oil burner before I plugged the chimney of the stove. This did not help my depressurized house symptoms at all and air continued to poor into the house through the air intake of the stove. I gave it plenty of time to stabilize, but still nothing. I am assuming that stack effect is the real problem.