Question on OAK - can they draw air from a basement?

[NH_Wood]

I will admit right away - I know nearly nothing about OAK's - so be kind. Wondering whether you could draw cold air from a basement, rather than from the outside. I'm guessing since it's called an 'outside' air adapter, the answer is NO. But, thought I'd find out why it would be a no-no. Thanks! Cheers!

 

[LLigetfa]

Drawing from the basement with an OAK would be essentially the same as drawing rom air as both are conditioned spaces. Any outside air that gets drawn into the home to replace what you take out will be cold and so I really don't see much benefit from drawing from the basement.

 

[bag of hammers]

That's a good question - I thought about this (in my case, crawlspace) as a way to circulate air - use the stove to pull stale air up for combustion, and allow fresh air back into the space thru a small vent - say, during the late fall season when it's not too cold yet. Then I though about the return / intake part of this - possibly dumping more damp outside air into the same space. I realize this post doesn't help, but thought I'd throw it in here as you raise an interesting question.

 

[NH_Wood]

Yes - that's what I was thinking - possibly pulling cold air from the basement, creating cold air movement back to the basement via the cold air return of the ductwork - just tinkering with the idea - thanks for the posts and we'll see what others have to say! Cheers!

 

[John_M]

According to all the instructions I have read, you can draw fresh air from a basement but it must be ventilated. An open window, louvre vents, etc., would all provide ventilation and allow the entrance of outside air. A CAUTION, THOUGH: I would not draw air from any basement where flammable liquids are used. I hate to imagine what would happen if your stove were to draw in concentrated fumes from gasoline, painters thinner, acetone, lacquer thinner, etc.

Best wishes,

John_M

 

[NH_Wood]

According to all the instructions I have read, you can draw fresh air from a basement but it must be ventilated. An open window, louvre vents, etc., would all provide ventilation and allow the entrance of outside air. A CAUTION, THOUGH: I would not draw air from any basement where flammable liquids are used. I hate to imagine what would happen if your stove were to draw in concentrated fumes from gasoline, painters thinner, acetone, lacquer thinner, etc.

Best wishes,

John_M

Good call of the flammables ole' boy! I guess opening a basement window would defeat the purpose of trying to draw cold air to the basement via the cold air return - oh well, worth a few moments of thinking. Cheers!

 

[gzecc]

If you have other burners like hot water heater or furnace, you could create a negative pressure environment, pulling CO into the basement.

 

[BrotherBart]

Personally the last thing I want is something drawing cold air through the leaks in my basement and freezing my pipes. :ahhh:

 

[CarbonNeutral]

Personally the last thing I want is something drawing cold air through the leaks in my basement and freezing my pipes. :ahhh:

What I came here to say. No way jose.

 

[Battenkiller]

I read that was part of the original Ben Franklin stove setup. Of course, that was way back in the days before indoor plumbing and gas-fired heaters.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

one other though less bantied about reason for not doing so is due to the slightly higher degree of negative pressure in a basement than in higher locations in a house.

air in a house usually being warmer than outside air is during the winter acts as it would in a chimney, it rises. unlike a chimney however, the roof traps the air. this rise causes moderately higher air pressure in the upper regions of the dwelling and lower in the bottom (basement). somewhere between the highest and lowest points in the dwelling lies the "zero pressure plane" where the pressure in the house is equal to the outside pressure. basements are literally always below this plane and are therefore subject to lower pressure.

this would mean that with a basement "oak" the chimney would have to pull its air supply from a space already under a slight vacuum. i would expect it would perform worse in this condition than it would even with no oak installed at all.

 

[Highbeam]

somewhere between the highest and lowest points in the dwelling lies the "zero pressure plane" where the pressure in the house is equal to the outside pressure. basements are literally always below this plane and are therefore subject to lower pressure.

But Mike, if that was true, all basement stoves would backdraft all the time as would the water heaters and furnaces, right?

Describe your basement. Is it a part of the home? Is it sealed up from the outdoors? If so then don't bother since this is conditioned air from inside the building envelope and sucking that room air will only cause even colder outside air to be sucked into the home via leaks.

If your basement is ventilated and not part of the living space then it is like the ventilated crawlspaces we have in my part of the country. These places are excellent to suck stove air from. Wind does not effect the crawlspace and you can always use some ventilation assistance down there.

I tapped my OAK into my crawlspace, see my pics in the sig, and found that the 4" intake duct actually sucked air like a chimney from the crawlspace into the stove to supercharge combustion.

 

[DBoon]

I have my stove drawing air from the basement via the old ash cleanout in the fireplace where the stove sits. It works well, but...note the following (and I did think this through really well before doing this):

1) My basement is a walk out basement. Even with the foam insulation on the above grade walls, it leaks. There is an old "barn-style door in the walkout/driveout garage (think of the kind of garage that would have been built to house Aunt Millie's first Model T) that will never be well-sealed. The casement windows aren't really well-sealedl either, no matter what I do.
2) I don't keep combustibles or flammables in my basement, except for stains that are well-sealed. I don't keep gas-powered tools there either. All are kept in the outside detached garage.
3) My hot water heater is electric.
4) I generally don't run my oil boiler and my wood stove at the same time, but the few times I have, no problems (see leaky basement, above). My boiler feeds cast iron radiators - they heat a long time after I shut the boiler down. On cold days, that gets going first, then I have a fire after boiler shutdown. My next boiler will have an outside air kit on it.
5) I have a CO detector.
6) Lastly, I like the basement very cool for winter vegetable storage. Not running the boiler and pulling air in from the basement maintains a nice 45 degree temperature down there. I now also have a cast iron radiator that I can direct hot water to from the boiler for really cold nights (i.e. -20 degrees F or worse).