Northstar wood burning fireplace - new construction - lots of cold air rushing in

[ColdInSD]

I need some guidance on how to handle a new construction Northstar wood stove installation.

Our fireplace is located in a room in the corner of house and the chimney is in an exterior chase.

Our house is in South Dakota and our first winter has had a few really cold days. If we don’t have a fire going, the room temp drops to 55ish degrees. We have to close the door or our furnace constantly runs to heat the cold air coming from the room with the fireplace.

Also, you can feel a decent cold breeze coming through the bottom of the fireplace when there isn’t a fire going. For those wondering, yes the air inlet box is closed when not in use.

Based on the manufacturer’s installation instructions, cold climate installs should have insulation in the chase and p-traps in the insulated ducts. Neither were installed as the installer (authorized Heat N Glo dealer) said it wouldn’t make a difference.

Install Instructions: https://downloads.hearthnhome.com/installmanuals/Northstar-C_Install_Manual_4187-901.pdf

So, my question is - is it to be expected that this room will always be cold in the winter and I fully expect hot in the summer because of the missing insulation and duct p-traps? Was the install done wrong?

 

[DAKSY]

Is it cold air rushing in or is it a reverse convection caused by the unit being located outside of the heated envelope of your home? Your set up has a steel box sitting in a cold chase. Any warm air in the room can enter the cold upper venting of the heat exchanger, become chilled & flow downward & out thru the intake vent for the blowers. This will feel like a cold draft. Bout the only to mitigate the effect is to block the lower vents when there is no fire with a towel or a rolled up rug, or even a piece of cardboard. It’s not aesthetically appealing, but it’ll stop any air movement.

 

[ColdInSD]

Thanks for the response!

Recently, it’s been really cold, so perfect for troubleshooting.

One morning, the fire was out from an overnight burn. The chamber and upper surround were still warm, but cold air was coming through the bottom grill. Room temp was probably 70 degrees or more. The cold air coming through felt more like outside temps than cooled inside air.

Would insulation in the chase and duct p-traps help? It’s a new build and I paid a lot of money for things to be done right. Should I hold the installer and dealer responsible for correcting things?

Clearly I’m new to this game, so I’m just trying to figure out what is to be expected of a unit like this and if the installation was done correctly. Ultimately, I want to be reasonable, but now is the time to hold people accountable if it wasn’t done right.

I really appreciate your feedback!

 

[Mark M]

Thanks for the response!

Recently, it’s been really cold, so perfect for troubleshooting.

One morning, the fire was out from an overnight burn. The chamber and upper surround were still warm, but cold air was coming through the bottom grill. Room temp was probably 70 degrees or more. The cold air coming through felt more like outside temps than cooled inside air.

Would insulation in the chase and duct p-traps help? It’s a new build and I paid a lot of money for things to be done right. Should I hold the installer and dealer responsible for correcting things?

Clearly I’m new to this game, so I’m just trying to figure out what is to be expected of a unit like this and if the installation was done correctly. Ultimately, I want to be reasonable, but now is the time to hold people accountable if it wasn’t done right.

I really appreciate your feedback!

I am just interested if you were able to get any satisfaction from your installer or the manufacturer. I looked at your installation manual and it is exactly the same as my Pioneer III fireplace. I assume they are the same fireplace with different names. The fireplace installer has held up construction on our home for weeks (maybe months). They installed the wrong fireplace first and it was at least a month to replace it and now we have sheetrock ready to install and I brought up the fact that they had not installed the outside air for combustion and for the chimney using the P-Traps as described in the installation manual. The retailer just says he knows best and it is intalled properly. We have been at an impasse for a couple of weeks.

 

[ColdInSD]

So far, no corrective actions have taken place by our builder, dealer, dealer’s installer (might be subcontracted out), or manufacturer. I’m documenting everything in preparation for a battle.

I strongly recommend that you hold your ground. Insist that the installation is done per the manufacturer’s installation instructions to ensure that the unit meets “performance guidelines”. That’s a key term that follows the home builder association’s warranty process for new homes and remodels.

In my situation, nobody wants to admit fault since the cost to repair the brick is going to be very expensive.

For what it’s worth, I believe that due to the lack of p-traps, we also ended up with a crazy amount of insects in our chamber this falls. We vacuumed up about 50+ huge flys. So many that when we opened the doors, they fell to the floor. Adding in the p-trap wouldn’t eliminate bugs finding their way in, but it would help reduce the number. Eventually, I’ll find something to plug the intakes during the warm months.

Don’t know where you live, but the missing insulation is a bigger issue to us than the p-traps. The wall of the chimney chase radiates cold temps and the room is unusable when it gets cold (below 32 degrees). I expect this room to be equally hot in the summer months…. Make sure they insulate according the manufacturer’s installation instructions too.

Good luck!

 

[Mark M]

Thanks for the input. I am wearing out dealing the the fireplace dealer.

 

[kborndale]

Hopefully you haven't paid for the fireplace yet. Never make the final payment until you are fully satisfied.