Meneillys said:
I ended up taking the oak off my stove because last winter when it was -10 or more for a week at night I tried it both ways and in the end my stove gave me more heat when I had the oak closed down. I know the stove was drawing the air from cracks in the house but the hubby and I did not notice the house feeling drafty. I would like to get the pellet pipe with the oak outer ring so it gets heated by the exhaust.
A pellet stove is not a carburetor they are both made to do different things. A carburetor makes explosions heat is something you don't want. They like cold because cold air is more dense so more air per cubic inch increasing the air to fuel making a bigger bang making more power. A pellet stove burns steady making heat so extreme cold air coming into the stove cools the stove making it take longer to warm up and using more fuel to heat the stove up.
A quick way to test is while it is warm out now measure the time it takes for your stove to kick the room fan on from when the stove starts then this winter pick a nice cold night and measure the time again.
Anyways this is just my idea on the matter and for the record I am not a car or HVAC specialist but I did work 7 years repairing machines and learned that things on paper don't add up in real life.
People keep saying things on paper do not add up in real life. Sorry to say Physics is based on facts. You can say they do not add up but they do. If your not seeing it, that doesn't make you r right it simply means your experiment is either incorrect or your equipment is not put together correctly.
If the equipment is correct. That is your pipes are hooked up right, your stove is working right then I promise you that it is always more efficient to burn outside air in the combustion chamber than it is to heat the are first for comfort in the home then burn it anyway in the same process and same chamber. Under pure scientific conditions in a fully insulated room, the absolute best you can do is having the same efficiency. Now add in for comfort and add in for trying to keep that room the same temp and you MUST be less efficient. It can not be any other way. If you doubt me take any arguement to the extreme say 100 below. Now you have a pellet stove that is pulling about 10 cubic feet per minute of air. That is a 10 X 10 room every hour and a half that you get to heat up from -100 to 70.. That is needed for combustion and yes your stove will burn with 100 degree below zero air. That air can either come directly from a pipe outside to the combustion chamber or from your bedroom window across your bedroom down the stairs warming all the way and into the stoves combustion chamber and out the vent. Which one will force you to add more pellets and increase the burn rate. I promise you it is when you or your significant other complains.
Note: a carburetor doesn't make explosions is mixes fuel and air to be delivered to a chaimber that turns heat from a burning of fuel into kenetic energy. Denser, cooler air has more O2 and that creates a hotter burn be it Gasoline or wood.
You do what you want, but ME I'm sticking withthe Oak as my air source.
