Things I wish I had done when I installed my new Pellet Stove...

[Kensington88]

There is little to no heat at the air intake my OAK connector
is plastic and after 22 years it shows no sign of heat in fact
on very cold days it is ice-cold

Good to know. Since I'm relatively new to pellet stovin', I wonder if models vary enough to make that a constant?

 

[Kensington88]

By tape I meant use aluminum tape. It won’t get very hot.

I have some handy. Love using that stuff.

 

[skibumm100]

I believe the OAK is supposed to be metal. The only way it will get hot is if the power is cut off and there's not enough natural draft in your vertical pipe to keep the stove from backing up. The risk is minimal, but there. For your pipe diameter dilemma, you can take it to the muffler shop and have them stretch it slightly. Their expanders are hydraulic of mechanical. I own a hand expander and it has never worked very well.

 

[Kensington88]

I believe the OAK is supposed to be metal. The only way it will get hot is if the power is cut off and there's not enough natural draft in your vertical pipe to keep the stove from backing up. The risk is minimal, but there. For your pipe diameter dilemma, you can take it to the muffler shop and have them stretch it slightly. Their expanders are hydraulic of mechanical. I own a hand expander and it has never worked very well.

Why else would they supply a full metal kit, right? I'm not sure if an exhaust expander at a shop will be able to start at 1-1/4 inch diameter, but I can call and find out. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[ARC]

I'm not sure if an exhaust expander at a shop will be able to start at 1-1/4 inch diameter

Even the small hand manual ones go from 1 1/8" to 1 3/4". Medium ones usually start at 1 1/2".

 

[Ricks]

No expert but what about cutting a slot into the metal pipe that you need to expand to slip over the fitting? The slot would allow the pipe to expand. Once the two pipes are joined together then wrap the connection with the proper metal tape. Again this is the fresh air intake so no heat will be in the pipe.

That said I good muffler or local repair shop should be able to expand the pipe for you. That is what I would try first.

 

[Kensington88]

No expert but what about cutting a slot into the metal pipe that you need to expand to slip over the fitting? The slot would allow the pipe to expand. Once the two pipes are joined together then wrap the connection with the proper metal tape. Again this is the fresh air intake so no heat will be in the pipe.

That said I good muffler or local repair shop should be able to expand the pipe for you. That is what I would try first.

Good suggestion but I went ahead and used a 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 inch rubber plumbing adapter with screw clamps that I found in Home Depot yesterday. It connects the end of the adapter to the back of the stove perfectly and is tight and secure. So, now that the OAK is installed, it's on to the exhaust vent portion of the install.

 

[bogieb]

If the flex pipe slips over the existing outside air pipe on the stove, just clamp it on there. That is not intended to be an air tight connection anyway. As others have said, you could use foil tape to cover any gaps (or silicone tape is my choice).

That adapter looks like the large end goes to the stove, and the smaller end would fit to smaller flex pipe.

 

[Kensington88]

If the flex pipe slips over the existing outside air pipe on the stove, just clamp it on there. That is not intended to be an air tight connection anyway. As others have said, you could use foil tape to cover any gaps (or silicone tape is my choice).

That adapter looks like the large end goes to the stove, and the smaller end would fit to smaller flex pipe.

Thanks for the suggestion, but there are these little things to consider:
The flex hose is 2" in diameter. The pipe out the back of the stove is 1-1/4".
Clamping that until it holds is going to misshape the end of the stainless steel foil flex hose so much that it will probably tear. Just speaking from experience.
I'm pretty confident that the rubber adapter is secure as long as that pipe doesn't get hot. It's a shame that the manufacturer couldn't have supplied the correctly sized metal adapter - it would have saved me so much time.

 

[Washed-Up]

Better to have a larger air intake pipe so I wouldn’t worry about the intake size off of the stove…my P61 is 2.75” and I run a 3” cold air intake that would be used in a truck/car

 

[bogieb]

Better to have a larger air intake pipe so I wouldn’t worry about the intake size off of the stove…my P61 is 2.75” and I run a 3” cold air intake that would be used in a truck/car

I use 3" flex pipe for my P61a

 

[Kensington88]

Better to have a larger air intake pipe so I wouldn’t worry about the intake size off of the stove…my P61 is 2.75” and I run a 3” cold air intake that would be used in a truck/car

I'm just using the kit that came with the stove.