To all of those who are quick to give an opinion about outside air kits please be weary. I have read a lot of negative comments about oak and how they dont work or matter. However, I had just recently bought a p68 and had it installed on dec 1. The stove was installed downstairs in the finished basement of a dutch colonial house with the finished basement, 1st and 2nd floor with center stairs for both floors. The house was built in 1951 with updated windows and I just stuffed the attic with insulation this past spring. The house is not noticeably drafty. Anyways, at the time of the install the installers who have been a family wood stove/pellet business for years talked me out of the oak. For me it was not the money but rather the way they had explained it's terrible looks (a dryer vent pipe next to the exhaust pipe) and the supposed "facts" that they gave me about how it would not be a great benefit as everyone makes them out to be. I was wondering at first who he was talking about when he mentioned "everyone? The blogs, the manufacturer? The installers stated that the only reason that they use them is for clearence purposes on the install. They stated that although there is better efficiency obtained by the stove and it is easier to get it cleared during inspection ( hummmm, safety?) that the benefits are hardly recognizable. So I said ok, thinking that if I decided later to install one I could just do it myself since it is the same as installing an dryer vent and it would be cheaper if I did the work opposed to a pro installer. So I began to use my stove which was great in every way. The heat was great and maintenance was a breeze. I didnt have any of the problems that I had read everyone talking about on this website even though I was worried about the PENNINGTON PELLETS that I had bought before I saw what a fiasco that they had been the year before. ohh by the way I just noticed when I poured some pellets into the hopper that there was a 5" piece of wood chunk in the bag of PENNINGTON PELLETS but thats another story for me and PENNINGTON to duke it out. Anyways, the stove was great but as time went on approx. 2 weeks I did notice a "draft" near my feet downstairs where the stove was installed. I also noticed drafts on both sets of stairs and noticed that upstairs was not getting warm and figured that it was just too far away from the stove. I also figured that the "draft" was actually the cold air dropping and the hot air rising and displacing the cold air. I was surprised about the strength of the draft on both stairs however. It was just more then I expected but maybe it was normal, how do I know. So after 2 months of constantly using the stove for the main heat source I began to think with every cold draft that I felt whether the oak would matter in my house. I finally decided to install it myself about one week ago and it was actually pretty easy, taking only a few hours of drilling,caulking and fitting. After I was done I turned it on and got ready to compare the results with and without the outside air kit since I had used the stove for a month and had a good idea of what it was capable of. The results were so drastic that i noticed them right away. The "drafts" on the stairs were greatly diminished and the heat of the stove spread upstairs much quicker and heated even the 2nd floor which it had not done before. The heat from the stove was greater which was obvious. I had the heat on 3 and 1/2 and the fire was still huge and it heated the 2nd floor on a 20 degree night to 71 degrees. In the past even with the heat cranked up to 6 I could not get it over 68. I honestly believe and now have, although not scientific, some obvious evidence that in my case the oak made a hugh difference in heat output, efficency, increase in heat radiation and travel throughout the house in areas where I could never feel the heat before. I do think that air is allowed now to move more freely and farther into the house and so areas are able to heat up that never use to get heat and areas that did get heat are hotter. I am not sure if it has something to do with the resistence that is being overcome by having the oak but the difference is undeniable. SO to all of those with opinions that seem to make sense, there are a lot of factors that end up influencing the final outcome which in my case speaks for itself. And to all of those who are questioning whether or not to put an oak in their home I would just tell you to look at my results and look at their own particular situation and decide. Good luck.
