Stove in basement - should door to bulkhead be airtight or let a little fresh air in?

[albertj03]

So my stove is in the basement and it's directly across from and facing the bulkhead which is metal and not air tight. I just finished building and hanging a homemade insulated door made from 2x3's and plywood (almost cut the tip of middle finger off in the process - it's all stitched up and looking good). My question is that at the moment the door is not air tight. There is far less air coming in than there was without the door but around the edges in a few areas you can feel a decent stream of cold air coming in. It's a vast improvement over just the bulkhead. My question is is it good to have some fresh air coming in or should I do a little more work with some weather stripping to keep the cold air from coming in?

Here is a picture of the door. I didn't frame all the way to the floor because I would have had to cut some of the bottom step out. The door itself is pretty heavy and have fiberglass insulation inside.

 

[budman]

I would seal it up good and tight.

 

[albertj03]

I already have the weather stripping and but I've read about people venting outside air into their stoves which I know is totally different but didn't know if a little fresh air coming in directly across the room from the stove would be good for it.

 

[LLigetfa]

I would seal it up good and tight.

As long as it isn't causing personal discomfort, I wouldn't. The house and stove needs make-up air particularly if the various appliances don't have their own dedicated OAKs. Seal it too tight and you could reverse a flue, and/or have smoke problems with the wood stove. What you really need to do is find where the warm air is leaking out (harder to find) and seal those areas.

My house has a 6" duct feeding outside air directly to the cold air return duct of the gas furnace. The wood burner has a dedicated 4" OAK and the furnace draws its own outside air. My gas water heater is the only appliance with flue that consumes room air but it is a powervent so reversal is not a problem.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Albert, it sounds like you already have air coming in so now you have to ask if you want to heat the indoor air or the outdoor air. You should be fine but your stove will let you know if there is not enough air. If it burns fine, then all is well.

Are your walls insulated? If not, you may be losing most of that heat right into the walls.

Good luck and I hope that finger heals fast!

 

[albertj03]

Thanks for the info. The basement is a is half daylight in the back and those walls are insulated. The rest of the house is of course insulated well. I'll wait to see how things go once it starts to get really cold out. If the stove has a hard time keeping up with the little bit of cold air coming in then I'll seal it up tight. If it burns good and throws good heat upstairs I might leave it as is.

 

[firefighterjake]

Albert, it sounds like you already have air coming in so now you have to ask if you want to heat the indoor air or the outdoor air. You should be fine but your stove will let you know if there is not enough air. If it burns fine, then all is well.

Are your walls insulated? If not, you may be losing most of that heat right into the walls.

Good luck and I hope that finger heals fast!

As always I agree with the great and illustrious Backwoods . . . but that said, sounds like you have a sound plan as well.