Tractors and wood! Show your pics

[Baby Grand]

Speaking of outside air intake dampers in fireplaces, I have that setup with glass doors in my new place and want to retrofit the fireplace with a modern insert and SS flue. The wood stove place in town said they don't make inserts with outside air (crawlspace air) intake. Google indicates they need to be custom fit which makes 100% sense. A link I did come across poo poo'd the advantages of outside air as combustion air. Any opinions?

It makes a lot of sense to me. Here's my thinking: I'm pretty sure that all of that flue gas, going out of the house through the stove & chimney has to be replaced by fresh air coming into the house from somewhere. Otherwise our ears would pop from the pressure drop and, after a spell, the whole house would implode. Most likely it's coming from the path of least resistance - everyone knows that air is a no good, lazy goldbrick. In our case, that slothful way is through our wall outlets, attic hatch, leaky old windows and exterior door jambs. So the house is suckin' in cold air, through all the rooms we're trying to keep warm, all the way down to the basement where the woodstove is breathing it in and huffing it out the chimney. It's not really noticeable once the fire settles into a slow burn, but when you start a fresh load and the draw is really strong you can feel the chill coming in, if you're near a door or window. It gets worse if someone turns the kitchen range or the bathroom vent fan on or runs a load in the clothes dryer. Turn on a vent fan and run a load in the dryer and you're bound to start smelling smoke drawn from the stove.

One of my projects for this winter is to finish running a 3" PVC fresh air line from the basement sill to the base of the chimney, a few feet from the air inlet to the stove. It'll have a gate valve in a convenient location, so I can throttle the flow or close it off completely when the stove's not burning. I'd rather have the stove breathing cold air, directly from outside and along a path of very low resistance, than to drag it all the way through the house, extracting warmth from the air that I just heated. I'm not 100% convinced it will it makes a noticeable difference, but I've pretty well talked myself into believing that it will, at least at our house.

-Jim

 

[CalG]

Fresh air is something I appreciate!

Hot and stale air is unhealthy.

I like a leaky, drafty house with a good wood stove. If I'm a bit chilly, I just move a bit closer to the stove! ;-)

 

[4570Man]

I've got a stove hood( for the kitchen stove) that vents outside which creates a negative pressure inside the house. If you open the wood stove doors at the same time the vent is running the air path of least resistance becomes the chimney. It only took me once to figure that one out. It filled the whole house with smoke and set off the smoke detectors.

 

[dragoneggs]

Fresh air is something I appreciate!

Hot and stale air is unhealthy.

I like a leaky, drafty house with a good wood stove. If I'm a bit chilly, I just move a bit closer to the stove! ;-)

I tend to agree! I don't want to see light thru the cracks but fresh air is healthy. No doubt about that.

 

[ultrarunner]

At the cabin one year the damper on the fireplace was left open and a raccoon got inside... what a mess... soot everywhere... walls, furniture, floors.

After that I made up a stainless cap and bolted it to the chimney...

 

[TomSeller]

Fresh air is something I appreciate!

Hot and stale air is unhealthy.

I like a leaky, drafty house with a good wood stove. If I'm a bit chilly, I just move a bit closer to the stove! ;-)

Nothing would close up those leaks if the insert burned outside air. You'd get just as much fresh air as if it was 72 degrees outside. It seems that it would take a lot less wood to heat the house, less firewood cutting, less smoke, etc. etc.

 

[Gordon Gould]

I also have an outside air source for my fireplace. The fire needs air. Why use nice warm inside air for the fire and send it up the chimney and replace that warm inside air you lost with cold outside air thru cracks, vents, cracked open window, or down other flues. Bring in cold air directly to the fire and keep the warm air where it is. After all you are trying to heat the place up !

gg

 

[MortOz]

What's a damper?

Coming in late on this one, but perhaps the owners of the smoky wood stove ultrarunner mentioned have been visiting downunder?
How To Make Damper In A Camp Oven | Snowys Blog

 

[s219]

Our new house is so tight (spray foam insulation, among other things) I would be afraid to run the fireplace without the outside air kit. As it is, even with the outside air damper all the way open, turning the range hood on high or turning on a couple bathroom exhaust fans at the same time will pull a whiff of smoke into the room now and then.

We mainly run with the fireplace doors open for the most radiant heat, but when running with the doors closed, the outside air kit is pretty much a requirement -- it becomes the only air intake at that point besides leaks around the doors. When running with doors closed, the currents of air coming from the air intake really swirl the flames into an impressive show. The air intake vents are a bunch of holes just behind the hinge line of each door, at the side of the fireplace, and they seem to result in "jets" of air that really stoke the fire up.

 

[cat fever]

While burning my wood stove I usually have a door cracked open or the storm doors open for fresh air. I do it for two reasons; first is fresh air for the fire and second it gets to hot in the house if I have everything closed up tight. I do wish I had a cold air intake for just the wood stove. It just makes good sense.