:agree2:
All the air inside your home that goes into your firebox and up the flue MUST be replaced with cold air from outside...BRRR! Then, you are burning more wood, trying to heat up the cold air coming into the house to keep the fire burning. It's a vicious circle.
Effectively, that wood stove is a giant vacuum; pumping your warm interior air up the flue and putting a mild vacuum on the entire inside of the house. That cold air WILL come inside, because the draft pressure is sucking it into your home.
Give your stove a direct "outside air" vent, and it will do two things:
1. It will start easier with a reduced tendency to smoke inside the building and it will have better "draft". This is particularly important if your house is very tight. Leaky houses don't notice this improvement as much.
2. The overall heat in the house will be dramatically improved, mostly in the coldest spots that have the most drafty area. Those french doors come to mind...
When it is below 10° outside, I must open a window in my basement in order to force the smoke up the chimney. You see, my house is pretty tight and I didn't have the foresight to employ the "outside air" option on my fireplace insert. Someday, when I take that 450lb behemoth out to service it, I will fix that problem.
