Outside air supply for woodstove in non-airtight house?

Thanks - your explanation cleared it up for me !

For what it is worth, here is WA for new construction with a wood stove, code requires it be vented with outside air.

I thought the primary reason for an outside air supply was so that you do not use already heated air for combustion, thus raising the efficiency.

I always found it worth doing in any house with any stove that doesn't already have an outside air supply. Even if you think you don't have cool drafts, you heating efficiency will greatly improve.

Here is how my stove is installed.

Inside


outside


I cut the hole with a 4" hole saw. I used a dryer type vent and dryer type hose. This connected directly to the stove. It is an air tight with an outside air inlet. The house isn't "air tight" by any means 170 years old. But it improved the cold drafts in winter.

Thanks for the picture... my stove is like the poster above. It has the big two knobs that are screwed in and out to control air into the stove, I just don't think I would see an increase in effieciency running a pipe of air to the underneath of the front door...

If my stove was designed for it, I would do it. But otherwise, I think I will stick with my system I have now.

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I have seen these cold air inlets with a trap at the bottom elbow,like a drain trap.....
Abe

Well, I think I will give it a try. I've just need to think of a way to make it look nice as well as being functional. Maybe use a rectangular vent opening with a nice brass cover like those used in ductwork for central air/heat. That way it can be closed from the inside when not in use and will look better than a gaping hole.

If I could pick everyone's brains just a bit more......

Would be sufficient for the vent to be flush on the floor? Bear in mind the air intake to the stove is on the doors, roughly 8 inches up from the floor. My thought was an airvent flush to the floor around 6-8 inches in front of the stove. Or would closer to the stove make more sense? ie - right beneath the door dampers. Or, should I use ductwork to bring the intake up higher and closer to the dampers? Not pretty, tho. And still needs to be low enough to open the doors.

Thoughts? Thanks.

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I've always dropped a 1 inch pipe through a hole alongside the hearth near the back wall. It is out of the way for loading the stove and stubbing my toe.

I put in earth-air pipes, one of which leads to our wood furnace in the basement. This greatly helped with air quality in our 1777 farm house which I wouldn't call tight but apparently was too tight. The earth-air pipes are simply 70' long 4" ID drain pipes buried in the soil. The earth warms the incoming air. Works great for us here in Vermont. I've read that in the south this can produce problems though due to moisture in the pipes. Slant them down and out.

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Just thinking if it vents near the stove and not inside. It will let cold air into the house rather than into the stove when it is smoldering and not burning.
Wondering if you could get a local welder to cut a hole into the back of the stove and weld a nipple of some type onto it, to fasten duck work to? If its like my stove (which has the same described turn knobs for draft) then it has fire bricks up about 12 inches on the insides of the stove. And no ash pan? So there's a problem if so. (For it to draft properly it needs to come in near or under the fire.) If it has an ash pan theres where the vent should be located. Just remember this vent will be your new damper (need a way to close it off) if its cut into the fire box.

Just to try it out! I'm guessing something as small as a vacuum cleaner hose would work as long as it was a small fire. Thinking ill try it at my moms house, as she lives in a very old drafty house still. My shop vac hose should defiantly be large enough for a small fire. Just cut a hole in some plexy glass/cardboard or something a like and stick it in the window close to the stove. Then (metal) duck tape it over the draft. As hers is in the ash pan and it isn't that hot down there.
We smoke so we can test for drafts in the house with a little cigarette smoke.


And might i say to all, what a great idea! No wonder i like to have froze to death in an old farm house we once lived in. I new the more the stove roared the more air it needed to pull in. But never thought to vent it. No wonder the house got so drafty/windy.