Alderlea T6 Air Intake Adapter

[Belldiver]

Hello Folks!

I'm new here but have been prowling for quite a while. I'm finishing up a new house build in Bellingham, WA and will be installing an Alderlea T6 LE in the next couple days. I just uncrated my unit and see I might need a specific Air Intake Adapter for the Stove. I have a non-brand specific Adapter that seems like it would fit and secure just fine, just not lining up to the pre-drilled holes. I do notice however, that this air intake plenum below the stove is not sealed tight. Meaning yes, the Stove will likely be using mainly outside air for combustion while lit, but it will also be drawing inside air. More importantly, that's a big air leak into my tightly sealed home. Is this normal?
1. Does Pacific produce a specific Kit/Adapter for this?
2. What's up with the air leak situation? Is this normal?

I worked with Tom from ChimneySweep up until his retirement, or I'd take it to him direct.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[begreen]

Congratulations. Our T6 came from Tom's shop.

Yes, the PE air plenum is leaky. I think this is by design. There are concerns expressed by Canadian testers and wood stove experts about the OAK acting as a chimney if improperly installed and of it pressurizing the stove if its intake is on the windward side of the house. Having an air break helps prevent issues here. You can use a regular warm air start collar for attachment or buy the PE kit.

Here's an article from Tom's library on the topic:

Sweep's Library - Outside Air: A Conflicting Opinion?

Is there some kind of disagreement about outside combustion air?

hearth.com

 

[Belldiver]

BG,

Thanks for the info. I figured the air gaps must have been by design for some reason. So no reason to fret over minute leaks in the intake connections. It just seems odd with the required air-tightness required these days. I do have a regular warm air start collar that I'll use if I can't get my hands on the PE kit in the next few days.

Tom is a wealth of knowledge. I started this project with him, but unfortunately he retired before I could finish.

Jim

 

[begreen]

I miss Tom and hope he is doing well. He ran a first-class shop. I lobbied for buying his sweeps library and got it saved to here in the Articles section.

 

[Sean in the woods]

This is a bit off topic but I thought I’d post anyway...

Normally I ignore the advertisements that are added to the posts on this site but I had to do a double take when I saw this one on your thread. My first thought was “That’s one heck of a big air intake adapter.”

 

[Belldiver]

That may be a bit more than I need!