Outside air for combustion, PE Summit insert, fireplace in middle of house??

[vt625]

Hi Guys,
I'm trying to figure out how to get outside air piped in for my Pacific Energy Summit insert. The masonry fireplace is in the middle of my house, so not against any walls - brick visible from all sides. The only way I can think to get outside air would be to follow the exhaust up with another duct. I kind of doubt there is room to do that though. A stainless liner was installed with the insert and I feel like it didn't leave much room in the chimney. Anyone else have a situation like this and what have you done?

Thanks for any suggestions.
Lee

 

[Murph015]

Can you go down through the floor and out?

 

[vt625]

Can you go down through the floor and out?

Good thinking, but no, I can't. It's a concrete slab. The insert is on the first floor of a hillside ranch. The second floor has an open fireplace in the same brick structure. It's a strange fireplace though, it is about 30" off the ground sort of floating in the brick work. Made finding doors for the fireplace a hassle! The point of that is that I can't even poke out the back of the chimney downstairs and just run a pipe up the backside to the roof because the upstairs portion is in the center of the rooms as well and there are no walls to hide the pipe in.

I was thinking though, we are planning a remodel, and that includes building a linen closet on the back side of the first floor chimney. There is currently a small hallway (<30" wide) between the laundry and bath rooms and the chimney. The laundry and bath are on an outside wall. Maybe my best bet will be to poke through the back of the chimney, plumb the air supply through the closet --> through the laundry room and outside. It's probably only 10' to the outside wall once I get to ceiling height. No way to do a straight shot, it will have at least two bends in the pipe.

 

[boilerwood]

Wait for iiiiiiit

 

[aaronmach1]

i think we will wait for a while! i havnt seen krappie or oly

 

[vt625]

Outside air is most likely not even needed.



The Outdoor Air Myth Exposed

Interesting article. I assume this is a bit of a hot button for some? Regardless of stance on outdoor air being good or bad, I'm beginning to think for my situation it will just be too much effort. If the stove was on an outside wall, I would research more and look for more info and opinions, but being in the center of the house the plumbing needed to get air to it is just too complicated to make work well and look good.

 

[vt625]

It's really not about if it's too much work or if it would look bad.


It's about if you need it or not. If your situation needs it ya gotta have it.

If it doesn't then why bother? Most don't need it.

Fair enough. I don't think I need it. The stove works fine, no weird draft issues or anything. Granted, I do not have good vent fans in the bath or kitchen yet. I was thinking it would be wise to do simply because the stove can and rather than bring the air in through leaks in the house it would be more efficient to heat the house with the air coming into the stove directly.

 

[ken45]

FWIW, I just read where the only time Jotul recommends an outside air connection is when it is required by code. Otherwise, they do not recommend it.

 

[tcarter]

Yotul summit wood insert Help

I wish I had some advice or success to report. We had a summit installed last December. It puts out no heat unless door is open then we have smoke. We bought top of the line from what we thought was a great company. We had several chimney specialists tell us everything looks ok and it should be putting out tons of heat. We followed the wood instructions size and type with no success. How do I use the warrenty to get this replaced with something that can put out some heat??? any suggestions???

 

[ken45]

I wish I had some advice or success to report. We had a summit installed last December. It puts out no heat unless door is open then we have smoke. We bought top of the line from what we thought was a great company. We had several chimney specialists tell us everything looks ok and it should be putting out tons of heat. We followed the wood instructions size and type with no success. How do I use the warrenty to get this replaced with something that can put out some heat??? any suggestions???

1) IF you are burning seasoned wood
2) IF you have a decent chimney
3) IF you give it a chance to get well started
4) IF there is not packing materials blocking the flue
4) IF there isn't something grossly wrong like an improper install

Then the stove cannot be as bad as you say. Nothing, no model, from any manufacturer will operate that bad unless something is grossly wrong.

I'm willing to bet there is no need for PE warranty service. I would be 99% certain there is something blocking the chimney or a totally bad chimney install.

You say that you have had several "chimney specialists" tell you there is nothing wrong with the chimney. Have they actually inspected the inside of it? Or just tell you from afar?

Ken