Outside Air - Your "Before & After".....

[Rob From Wisconsin]

I'm comptemplating adding this to my stove located in the basement.
If I do, it'll be a bit expensive & labor intensive.

So....

What are your "before & after" testimonials relative to your outside air addition?

Your input is appreciated.....

 

[LLigetfa]

My guess is you'll get a lot of anecdotes for apples to oranges comparison. I'm not familiar with your Tribute and how an OAK connects. My OAK was mandated by code at the time so I have no before comparison but I do suggest you incorporate a positive shutoff if you don't burn 24/7. Mine draws constantly and will sweat the metal and frost the glass when there is no fire.

 

[Wet1]

I've seen an OAK make some very noticeable improvements, and I've also seen them do nothing... It really depends on a lot of things. Not once have I seen one cause a problem, despite what the naysayers might suggest. I will say that more often than not, I've seen the biggest improvements from basement installs. If I were doing an install in a basement, I'd put one in if it's feasible.

 

[LLigetfa]

Not once have I seen one cause a problem, despite what the naysayers might suggest. ..

As I said, I’m not familiar with the Tribute so comparing it to my RSF is not fair. My RSF has a notched butterfly to pass EPA and in my former home, the OAK would supercharge and cause runaway burns. If the Tribute has a good range of control, that should not be an issue.

My current home also has the same model RSF and the OAK was again mandated by code but I would install one today regardless.

 

[dave11]

It's amazing how much opinions vary on this issue. There's even the article here on hearth.com, unsigned, questioning their use. Was it written by Craig? The link is here.

OAK link

Seems like it's a near-impossible question to answer in the home environment, yet only one lab study was ever done? This is the Canada study discussed in the article.

 

[d.n.f.]

Lets say your house is old and you can not seem to seal all the air leaks.

Wouldn't then an OAK make more sense? Less air suck infiltration.

 

[Rob From Wisconsin]

I guess I'm looking more for testimonials......not so much debate.

 

[Todd]

I took mine off on my basement install because I had to run my OAK pipe up the wall and go out the sill plate which caused the cold air to push into the stove too hard which shortened my burns and cooled off the stove prematurely. For best results you need that OAK below the air intake of the stove so it can suck what it needs.

 

[blades]

It will not be necessary to connect direct to stove. Pass through sill all the way down wall then back up and over to stove area. You do not need to bring it back down at that point by doing it this way the incoming air temp is modified prior to exiting the tubing also the the large trap (like under sink) Helps negate draft when not needed.

 

[Wacky1]

Mine is 5 ft. above the insert top with no pipe connection to the insert. The installer sealed the insert in the existing fireplace and he said that the air would not have a problem getting to the intake as long as it wasnt more than half the chimney height. I just don't know how he "sealed" the insert so no inside air can get sucked in. But it works!! I can go outside to the intake and hold a lighter near it and it sucks it in when I am burning, if I block it off the fire in the insert dies.

 

[Rockey]

I added one to the insert about a month ago. My main objective was to increase the relative humidity in the house. If I told you that it made a huge difference it would just be a self fulfilling prophecy as it is way to early in the season to have objective results. The cold dry weather is a good month and a half away.

 

[Rob From Wisconsin]

I took mine off on my basement install because I had to run my OAK pipe up the wall and go out the sill plate which caused the cold air to push into the stove too hard which shortened my burns and cooled off the stove prematurely. For best results you need that OAK below the air intake of the stove so it can suck what it needs.

Interesting......
I often contemplated doing what you are speaking about.
I can't quite visualize what you are exactly speaking about in your application.
Do you have any pictures??

Thanks

 

[semipro]

I summarized my experience with OAKs in an earlier post:

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/39603/

 

[Todd]

I took mine off on my basement install because I had to run my OAK pipe up the wall and go out the sill plate which caused the cold air to push into the stove too hard which shortened my burns and cooled off the stove prematurely. For best results you need that OAK below the air intake of the stove so it can suck what it needs.

Interesting......
I often contemplated doing what you are speaking about.
I can't quite visualize what you are exactly speaking about in your application.
Do you have any pictures??

Thanks

No pictures, but my old run of 4" pipe went from the stove to into my work shop about 10', then up the wall 8' and out sill plate above the concrete block. I also had a U shape in a part of the pipe and damper thinking it might slow the cold air down but it didn't work. Cold air naturaly sinks and the way I had it set up it pushed itself into the stove instead of the stove taking what it needs.

 

[LLigetfa]

In my former home I seriously considered disconnecting the OAK and drawing air from my crawlspace instead. The OAK ran through the crawlspace so it would have been easy to intercept. What stopped me was that I was fighting an excess humidity problem at the time with the builder and the new home warranty people and I did not want to draw overly humid air into the stove only to have it condense in the chimney. Dry outside air is better for the chimney than very humid air.

The problem was too much draft and too big a notch in the butterfly. The dealer/manufacturer proposed solution was to replace the butterfly which would have meant opening up the wall as it was a built-in. I sold the house after the gas company put in a gas line so it became a non-issue.