OAK Routed to adjacent room for draft?

[Old Feller]

Hey Guys,
First post here after lurking for a few months.
I recently installed a lopi endeavor in my story and a half house. Floor plan is master on main floor and high vaulted ceiling to two bedrooms upstairs. My stove shares a wall with the master bedroom, and right now I am picking up some radiant heat through the wall but that is it. My thought is to install my OAK through the wall to the bedroom, thus creating a circular draft on the main floor. I have also considered installing a Y so I could choose between outside air and bedroom air. So what do you all think? will this set up create a draft of warm air to the bedroom? Has anyone done this? Is this a sound theory, or am I all wet?

 

[Old Feller]

63 views and not one opinion? That doesn't seem possible with this group....?!?!

 

[Wife'nHubby]

Place a small fan just outside your bedroom blowing the cold air towards the stove - that will create natural convection.

Shari

 

[Steve NW WI]

Place a small fan just outside your bedroom blowing the cold air towards the store - that will create natural convection.

Shari

This works pretty well for me, wood stove is 40' from one end wall, fan in the doorway at the end of the hall keeps that room reasonable, but cooler than the rest of the house. That's ok, need a refuge from the heat sometimes!

 

[thepheniox]

Sorry but what's doe OAK stand for?

 

[Wife'nHubby]

Sorry but what's doe OAK stand for?

"OAK" = "Outside Air Kit"

 

[woodguy105]

Do it-

Go for it. What's the worst thing that can happen? It doesn't work and you have to replaster some sheet rock? Plus side is you may be able to take advantage of all that heat hanging out (stuck) in the living room with the stove.

Our stove is in a great room 25x18 w/ a cathedral ceiling, It's an addition attached to the house. This leads to the kitchen the kitchen leads to DR and main part of 2story house. So we have the same sort of limitations....cozy great room and kitchen. The rest of the house stays pretty cold if we don't fire up the other stove.

 

[Whitespider]

Unfortunately a wood stove doesn’t pull all that much air in once you shut the door and set dampers… I believe most people would be surprised just how little it is compared to gas fired appliances such as water heaters and furnaces. My guess is that installing the OAK through the bedroom wall wouldn’t make a noticeable difference… and certainly not enough to justify mutilating the wall. One of those little 4-inch fans people stick on the dash of their car will move more air… It could possibly make the bedroom even colder because it has the potential to make that room the low pressure zone, causing it to be the area where the most outside air gets pulled into the house (ain’t no such thing as a sealed house, or room, ‘cause you’d get sick and die). Seriously, I wouldn’t install the OAK, even as intended for outside air, unless there was an actual reversed-draft problem, and then only as a last resort. Of course local codes or your insurance company may leave you no choice… in which case I would install it in such a way that I could easily, and non-visibly plug or override it after inspection.

I spend two days every fall sealing up as many air leaks around my house as I can… plastic over the windows, seals around doors, felt thingies on door jambs, re-caulking around the framing and foundation, I’ve even put those gaskets on the switch and outlet covers. When I’m done the house “feels” tight… even the doors suck air when you open and close them… yet my chimney pulls draft like a jet engine all winter long. After doing all that work to minimize the amount of cold outside air entering the house, why in the heck would I intentionally create a place for it to do so?

 

[Davej_07]

Personally, I'd be leery of doing this. Your OAK is better considered a combustion air kit. The air you're pulling from the room will be going up the flue creating, however slight, a negative pressure situation in the house. This could cause draft problems, possible smoke troubles. I would hook up the kit to bring outside air to the stove as this is always your best bet. If it were me I would cut a return air transfer in the wall you are talking about. If it's near the stove it may draw the cold air without help, if not then use a small fan to pull the air from the return to be heated.I'm basing this on 17 years in the HVAC industry, not direct experience with a wood stove.

Dave

 

[rmh3481]

How about a ceiling fan, maybe one of those large decorative slow moving types up on the high spot?

Had a friend build a 'Yankee Barn Home' here in Western Pa. The west atrium style wall of the home had a two story glass wall with electrically dimmed and tinted glass. It had a nice custom appearance, but was a large heat loss. Balcony around the second floor inside and overlooking the great room, providing bedroom access etc. Two story brick over block east wall with a large fireplace. Ended up installing a big stove/insert into the masonry wall chimney and a pair of tobacco leaf style slow moving ceiling fans.

 

[LazyJ]

I've always ran the fan in my central heat unit to distribute the heat around during the evenings when everyone is scattered around the house. This year I mounted a box fan over the central air intake and run it on low speed 24/7. Does a remarkable job of easing air through all the vents and keeping the whole house uniformly comfy. If I don't do this, vents from the far reaches of the house pull cold air into the vents in family room and make it feel drafty no matter how hot the fire.

 

[Old Feller]

Personally, I'd be leery of doing this. Your OAK is better considered a combustion air kit. The air you're pulling from the room will be going up the flue creating, however slight, a negative pressure situation in the house. This could cause draft problems, possible smoke troubles. I would hook up the kit to bring outside air to the stove as this is always your best bet. If it were me I would cut a return air transfer in the wall you are talking about. If it's near the stove it may draw the cold air without help, if not then use a small fan to pull the air from the return to be heated.I'm basing this on 17 years in the HVAC industry, not direct experience with a wood stove.

Dave

With no OAK installed now wouldn't the negitve pressure already be in the stove room? I am thinking I would be moving the negitive pressure area to the bed room which would create the draft?
The bed room and stove share the same out side wall with a wall and stair case seperating the two rooms, so the fan cannot be amied back to the stove. It is a (T) situation if that makes sense. Although I will try a small fan blowing the air out of the room, seems like it will have the same effect.

I have thought of installing a through wall vent with a low voltage fan above the stove to move some warm air into the bed room, but I am still having an internal struggle with how warm I want that room to get, I do like the refuge as well. Just want to be able to bring the temp up to the mid 60's on the colder nights in a reasonable amount of time.

Thanks for the replies!

 

[Davej_07]

The fan wouldn't have ot be aimed at the stove, but rather moving cold air out of the room which is what ou want to do. You'll heat the room better by pulling the cold air out and allowing warm air to replace it. If you but a transfer close to the floor with a fan and another transfer high in the room you would draw the cold out and allow the conditioned air to take it's place. I know that sounds back-asswards but it's the more efficient of the two. It's like explaining that air conditioning doesn't cool the air but rather removes the heat from it.....people look at you like you have lobsters crawling out of your ears. It sounds like the same thing but it's not. Lol


Dave

 

[Old Feller]

The fan wouldn't have ot be aimed at the stove, but rather moving cold air out of the room which is what ou want to do. You'll heat the room better by pulling the cold air out and allowing warm air to replace it. If you but a transfer close to the floor with a fan and another transfer high in the room you would draw the cold out and allow the conditioned air to take it's place. I know that sounds back-asswards but it's the more efficient of the two. It's like explaining that air conditioning doesn't cool the air but rather removes the heat from it.....people look at you like you have lobsters crawling out of your ears. It sounds like the same thing but it's not. Lol


Dave

I guess that is what I was thinking would happen by burning the air from the bedroom. But if very little air is used then a fan sounds like a better/simpler = better way to go.
Loving this wood heat!!!

 

[Misfit138]

How about a ceiling fan, maybe one of those large decorative slow moving types up on the high spot?

Had a friend build a 'Yankee Barn Home' here in Western Pa. The west atrium style wall of the home had a two story glass wall with electrically dimmed and tinted glass. It had a nice custom appearance, but was a large heat loss. Balcony around the second floor inside and overlooking the great room, providing bedroom access etc. Two story brick over block east wall with a large fireplace. Ended up installing a big stove/insert into the masonry wall chimney and a pair of tobacco leaf style slow moving ceiling fans.

This is the way to go, IMHO.

A ceiling fan (in reverse) will pull the hot air up, and then force it down along the walls and through doorways.

As far as an outdoor air kit, if you ask three people, you'll get three different answers.