Hello everyone. I have a question about controlling cold air coming into our house.
We were recently gifted a refurbished Vermont Elm. We weren’t really considering a wood stove, but once my girlfriend played eyes on this stove, she was all in.
In a previous home, I had a Harman XXV, which utilized an outside air kit. Given the stove was designed to be used in that manner, it seemed like a no-brainer.
This is my first experience owning a wood stove.
After spending so much time in our attic crawl space, replacing old insulation, and spray foaming all the gaps and cracks, I have noticed a drastic improvement in the comfort level of our home, during the winter.
I am concerned introducing a heat source, that consumes air from the living space, will reintroduce the drafty experience we just reduced.
This stove was clearly not designed to be used with an outside air kit, but I thought some sort of custom kit could be useful
I have contemplated running some tubing through the wall to the outside. From there I see two options. I could run the tubing along the underside of the stove, and cut a hole up through the ash catch on the front of the stove. The tubing would terminate flush with the ash catch tray, for aesthetic purposes. Although I can’t say for certain the stove would pull air up through the tubing into the intake, since it isn’t a sealed system….looking for input on that. Maybe the cold air would just drop to the floor, and the stove would only pull in conditioned air from our home. I would also have to allow the ability to clean the intake out, since ash would most likely drop into the intake, when the stove door is opened.
I could also just end the intake tubing behind the stove. In my mind, this would at least control where the air is coming into the house, and it would introduce the air directly to the heat source, warming it, before it is felt by the occupants. I am not sure if this would have any kind of impact on the efficiency of the stove, or have any other unintended consequences.
I have asked these questions to a couple of local dealers, and they all just look at me funny.
Any help or guidance is appreciated.
Not a picture of my stove, but it’s identical
![[Hearth.com] Outside Air Kit for Vermont Elm](https://www.hearth.com/talk/attachments/img_4713-webp.349525/ "[Hearth.com] Outside Air Kit for Vermont Elm")
We were recently gifted a refurbished Vermont Elm. We weren’t really considering a wood stove, but once my girlfriend played eyes on this stove, she was all in.
In a previous home, I had a Harman XXV, which utilized an outside air kit. Given the stove was designed to be used in that manner, it seemed like a no-brainer.
This is my first experience owning a wood stove.
After spending so much time in our attic crawl space, replacing old insulation, and spray foaming all the gaps and cracks, I have noticed a drastic improvement in the comfort level of our home, during the winter.
I am concerned introducing a heat source, that consumes air from the living space, will reintroduce the drafty experience we just reduced.
This stove was clearly not designed to be used with an outside air kit, but I thought some sort of custom kit could be useful
I have contemplated running some tubing through the wall to the outside. From there I see two options. I could run the tubing along the underside of the stove, and cut a hole up through the ash catch on the front of the stove. The tubing would terminate flush with the ash catch tray, for aesthetic purposes. Although I can’t say for certain the stove would pull air up through the tubing into the intake, since it isn’t a sealed system….looking for input on that. Maybe the cold air would just drop to the floor, and the stove would only pull in conditioned air from our home. I would also have to allow the ability to clean the intake out, since ash would most likely drop into the intake, when the stove door is opened.
I could also just end the intake tubing behind the stove. In my mind, this would at least control where the air is coming into the house, and it would introduce the air directly to the heat source, warming it, before it is felt by the occupants. I am not sure if this would have any kind of impact on the efficiency of the stove, or have any other unintended consequences.
I have asked these questions to a couple of local dealers, and they all just look at me funny.
Any help or guidance is appreciated.
Not a picture of my stove, but it’s identical
