# Vermont castings outside air to help drafts



## bffconsulting (Mar 5, 2015)

We have a Vermont castings stove in our living room. We have a small house about 800 feet on each level. The stove is in the living room which is right where the front door is. At the back of the living room is the stairs to the second level. If you are facing the back of the house the stove is on the right hand exterior wall and there is a doorway into the back of the house on the left hand side of the room. Before going through that door to the back is the staircase to the second level. 

The stove used to pull a ton of drafts into the front room and it was very chilly and hard for the room to stay warm. I put up a curtain coming from the back of the house and the room temp has increased drastically. It seems the stove is pulling cold air in from the back of the house which keeps the kitchen and the back of the house cold. I have been reading a little about outside air. The stove sits on the hearth outside a fireplace/chimney. There is a heatilator in the fireplace that let air in to that. Is there a way we could get air to the stove so its not pulling from the back of the house. I think this would allow the back of the house to get a little warmer. Any suggestions would be appreciated


----------



## Dune (Mar 5, 2015)

bffconsulting said:


> We have a Vermont castings stove in our living room. We have a small house about 800 feet on each level. The stove is in the living room which is right where the front door is. At the back of the living room is the stairs to the second level. If you are facing the back of the house the stove is on the right hand exterior wall and there is a doorway into the back of the house on the left hand side of the room. Before going through that door to the back is the staircase to the second level.
> 
> The stove used to pull a ton of drafts into the front room and it was very chilly and hard for the room to stay warm. I put up a curtain coming from the back of the house and the room temp has increased drastically. It seems the stove is pulling cold air in from the back of the house which keeps the kitchen and the back of the house cold. I have been reading a little about outside air. The stove sits on the hearth outside a fireplace/chimney. There is a heatilator in the fireplace that let air in to that. Is there a way we could get air to the stove so its not pulling from the back of the house. I think this would allow the back of the house to get a little warmer. Any suggestions would be appreciated



Hi, welcome.  You have a few different issues that need to be addressed individually.
An OAK kit is pretty low hanging fruit for you but a few other things are too.
The heatilator needs to be talked about, which brings up questions about the installation such as is the Chimney blocked off other than the stove flue?
Are you trying to move the heat from the stove around with the heatilator? 
Your stove isn't putting out much heat. Have you checked the passageways for flyash blockages?
It could be mostly your wood isn't seasoned enough or is wet, but VC stoves are a little fussy about being cleaned properly and there are a lot of other possible problems in the stove as well.
Next, you have significant cold air infiltration. I suggest a blower door test. You can get them for free in this state, it would be worth asking. The same subcontractor that performs the test may offer weatherstripping or you could DIY.  I don't really know what I am talking about, but the other fellows will come by and give you the real answers pretty soon.  

Plan on hanging around for a little while, They will help you solve your heat problems.


----------



## Rearscreen (Mar 5, 2015)

Last fall I moved into a house built in the mid 1800's. No insulation to speak of. Drafts up the ying yang. My girlfriend has lived here for 20 years and has used a woodstove that whole time. I am the first person to bring to her attention about what an outside air intake is. Then I installed it (along with a new stove). This is the first year that she has not felt drafts. It's fun to feel the metalflex on a cold day and see the frost/ice build up on it. That's my barometer on this issue. My last house was an energy star home with curtainwall panels. No drafts what so ever. Again had an air intake. Worked like a charm, as our house was so tight there may have been problems otherwise.


----------



## bffconsulting (Mar 7, 2015)

Dune said:


> Hi, welcome.  You have a few different issues that need to be addressed individually.
> An OAK kit is pretty low hanging fruit for you but a few other things are too.
> The heatilator needs to be talked about, which brings up questions about the installation such as is the Chimney blocked off other than the stove flue?
> Are you trying to move the heat from the stove around with the heatilator?
> ...



Thank you DUane. The black you see behind the stove is a piece of sheet metal that blocks the open fireplace/chimney. Maybe I am incorrect in what a heatilator is. Behind the black sheet metal is a pipe that runs through the whole hearth and brings in outside air to help the fire in the fireplace. Right now as I mentioned we have the fireplace blocked off with the sheet metal.
The stove puts out a lot of heat, the problem is the cold air coming from the back of the house if we don't have the curtain up. When we do have the curtain up the back rooms are in the 50's. Even with the curtain down the back is cold because it pulls the cold air from the back of house. I am thinking outside air would stop the cold air from coming from the back of the house.
I will look into a blower door test.
I guess my real question is what options for outside air kits do I have with myt stove or can I improvise one?


----------



## Dune (Mar 7, 2015)

I would start a new thread in the Hearth room area. This one isn't getting much traffic. There is no question and Outside Air Kit (OAK) would help. Eliminating a lot of drafts would help too.

Edit, you can also search the site, this is a common scenario. I have to assume there is an OAK available for your stove.


----------

