Lopi Pioneer and outside air

[RetireeBob]

was cleaning my lopi in preparation for the coming cold spell and came across this conundrum.
my setup is outside air, vertical for 14 ft of 2in flexpipe.. my house is reasonably air tight. was checking the combustion blower and felt cold air along the base and discovered there is a rectangular hole about 2x2in(guess) in the air intake line, inside the stove framework. anytime the outside door is opened, cold air comes in. anytime the kitchen stove vent fan is turned on, cold air comes in. it seems to defeat the purpose of outside air. yes, there are burn problems. after disconnecting the outside air and blocking the flexpipe the burn is definitely affected depending whether an outside door or window is opened.
does it make sense to cover over this 2x2 hole so that outside air only would be coming in with a side benefit of no cold air entering the room? why have outside air and then compromise it with a blending setup?
i don't have a clue
yes,i'm new

 

[imacman]

Bob, I had the same question about that open 2" x 2" hole in the air tube. I called and spoke to a Travis Tech., and he told me that that's the way they want it....don't cover the hole.

Doesn't make sense to me either. I run an OAK down through the basement, and haven't noticed the cold air coming in. Yours might be more suceptible because the end is so high, and we all know cold air wants to go down.

 

[RetireeBob]

macman, thank you. I wont cover it up. sounds like it may be some kind of safety issue, like if some varmint plugs up the outside air intake. makes sense about the cold air coming down. comes a warm day when the stove isnt on much I'll change it to come up from the basement permanently.
Meanwhile, I've already tried disconnecting the OAK, plugging it, opened the ash drop door in the fireplace, opened the ash cleanout for the fireplace and fired her up. What a beautiful flame, fully and easily adjustable. Next I'll try some of the hardwood (Greenway) pellets and find out if I can burn them decently.
thanks again.

 

[imacman]

macman, thank you.

Your welcome.....that's what the forum is for...helping other pellet heads in need....LOL