Will an OAK work in my case?

[wamj2008]

Hello all,

Had a fire in the new Englander 30 when it got down to 35 a few nights ago. Stove is in the basement, in the middle of the house. Basement is 24x36. Upstairs is roughly the same with a small sun room attachment. Have a small 6in x 10in grate in the floor above the stove, but will probably end up leaving the basement door open as well (happens to be right next to the grate). My main question is do you think an OAK will work in this case? You can see my situation in the picture. I would install the outside air through that old window on the left, which is currently sheetrock on the inside and plywood on the outside. It's about 11.5ft in a straight line from the stove to the wall, but what I would do is use dryer duct, run it vertically to the ceiling, then across the plumbing to the wall, which is well above grade and under a deck, which would protect it from the elements. Would an air intake setup like that even be worth it?

 

[Poindexter]

Do you have a draft problem?

 

[wamj2008]

Do you mean drafts within the house, or the chimney draft?

 

[Grisu]

If someone asks about an OAK it is usually poor draft in the stove. Since the stove is in the basement you also probably don't worry too much about some drafts there, do you?

What is your problem? Smoke spilling out during reloads? Fire only burning well with door or primary air open? Fire getting snuffed out when trying to close the air down? Did you check if opening a window close by helps with that? How tall is the flue? Is the chimney lined?

Looking at the window in your stove; how dry is your wood? How long has it been sitting split and stacked out in the open? Did you test it with a moisture meter?

 

[begreen]

What problem are you trying to solve? How tall is the chimney and what are its liner dimensions?

 

[HotCoals]

That glass looks it came off a BK!

I doubt a OAK is going to make any diff and I doubt it would even work period with the stove below grade.Other people will have more of a educated opinion on this.

 

[DougA]

I am putting an OAK on my stove but I have an air tight home and the outside air is a few feet away plus I hate drafts. I read this in the Hearthstone manual and it should apply to all stoves -

The International Residential Code (IRC) does not
allow the outside air duct to terminate higher than
the appliance. Some building officials also do not
like to see any vertical rise in the duct’s termination.
Hearthstone recommends the termination be at the
same level, or lower than the air intake on the stove.

Combined with the other comments and that your stove is in the basement, I would not use an OAK in your case.

 

[wamj2008]

The biggest reason I would want to do this is to prevent drafts in the house. Chimney draft appears to be good. If you open the door quickly in the middle of a fire, some smoke comes out, most of it goes up the chimney. I figured it would be better for the stove to have access to outside air, instead of pulling in outside air to burn and causing drafts in our house. I want to make sure that air intake is optimal, as already this stove seems to be a little tricky.

The heat dispersal is limited at the moment. Have a 6x10 register in the floor above the stove, and that is it. Stove is in the middle of the house. Going to put a duct fan under the register to push the air up in to the first floor. Bedrooms would mostly just get heat from the basement heat radiating through the floor, in theory. Grew up in a house where my dad was heating with wood but this is the first time I've done it on my own and it will be by trial and error. Very excited about everything.

 

[HotCoals]

The biggest reason I would want to do this is to prevent drafts in the house. Chimney draft appears to be good. If you open the door quickly in the middle of a fire, some smoke comes out, most of it goes up the chimney. I figured it would be better for the stove to have access to outside air, instead of pulling in outside air to burn and causing drafts in our house. I want to make sure that air intake is optimal, as already this stove seems to be a little tricky.

The heat dispersal is limited at the moment. Have a 6x10 register in the floor above the stove, and that is it. Stove is in the middle of the house. Going to put a duct fan under the register to push the air up in to the first floor. Bedrooms would mostly just get heat from the basement heat radiating through the floor, in theory. Grew up in a house where my dad was heating with wood but this is the first time I've done it on my own and it will be by trial and error. Very excited about everything.

You need to check code about that vent above the stove ,I have my doubts about that . May effect insurance also..I dunno.

 

[begreen]

I want to make sure that air intake is optimal, as already this stove seems to be a little tricky.

Explain this in more detail please. The issue may not be the stove air intake.

 

[wamj2008]

I understand you need to get the fire burning hot before you can completely close the door without the flame going out. The stove sits on the basement floor, and draws the air sitting on the very bottom of the house. I didn't want to cause any unnecessary drafts in the basement, and I want to get that basement sealed up tight, so I was thinking an OAK may be the best thing to do. Again, it would be a very long hose.

 

[begreen]

Would it be a lot shorter to go between the joists at the top of the wall adjacent to the stove? My concern would be trapping the cold. Otherwise this seems like it might set up a thermal siphon. Maybe set up a p-trap look before heading down to the stove? Hm, that would be hard to do in a joist space. It would have to go through the wall lower.

 

[wamj2008]

The stove sits in the middle of house, it is adjacent to the chimney. If you look at the picture, you'd have to go straight up and to the left, where the drywall is in the foundation, that is the closest way out. I'm not sure what you mean thermal siphon, I'm sorry.