think im burning too much

[Shaw520]

does an OAK make a difference in an old home? i thought it was intended for super air tight homes and to prevent the stove from consuming that air from inside the living space.

Without an OAK, the oxygen needed for the stove draws cold air in through all your leaky leaks.

 

[St_Earl]

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/harman-oak-adapter-found-one-from-summit.112138/

that may come in handy if/when you go for the oak.
others use just foil tape to match the fit.
but the part in that thread is not expensive and looks to be a great solution.

 

[TheMightyMoe]

I would agree with other posters, sounds like your having heat loss issues, not heating issues.

A oak will stop the house from drawing cold air into the home, more important with very leaky houses.

I burn 6 tons for a 1600 SQFT, but our winters run -40.

 

[ad356]

i called the harman dealer where i bought my stove and he said that he doesnt recommend an OAK unless the house is very "tight" and needs combustion air. he said he has had some customers that have installed OAK's with their stoves when in his opnion they shouldnt have. this caused the stove to run dirter because it was running on cold air.

 

[St_Earl]

dealers saying you don't need and won't benefit from an OAK is a topic that has pages upon pages written and discussed here.

 

[Harvey Schneider]

i called the harman dealer where i bought my stove and he said that he doesnt recommend an OAK unless the house is very "tight" and needs combustion air. he said he has had some customers that have installed OAK's with their stoves when in his opnion they shouldnt have. this caused the stove to run dirter because it was running on cold air.

Dealers don't like to instal OAK's because it is labor intensive and there isn't much return on that cost.
I expect that it will eventually come to pass that all fuel burning appliances will require an OAK.

 

[Redbarn]

i called the harman dealer where i bought my stove and he said that he doesnt recommend an OAK unless the house is very "tight" and needs combustion air. he said he has had some customers that have installed OAK's with their stoves when in his opnion they shouldnt have. this caused the stove to run dirter because it was running on cold air.

We have an 1815 farmhouse and heat 2000 sq ft with 3+ tons in an average winter.
We did a lot of insulation work over 3 years and that made a huge difference.
As we have sealed up the outside air leaks and shut down the drafts, we started thinking about an OAK.
If the air intake plumbing route is simple, it would be worth looking at.

 

[TheMightyMoe]

The fact remains without a oak your pulling COLD air into the home to use the stove, whether your house is tight or not.

I highly doubt "cold" air will make you're stove run dirty, -40 doesn't even make mine run dirty. If I run in manual with VERY COLD temperatures it idles very hard, so I use auto mode when its -20s or under.

 

[BrotherBart]

Fact of life. The cooler/colder the air, the more complete the combustion. One of those little facts of combustion life. Engines stoves or anything else that uses fire.

More oxygen in cold air.

 

[Augmister]

Without having a heat loss analysis done, everything else is just guessing.

Your structure is the biggest suspect. You need a tight castle in order to have a warm one.

 

[ad356]

i worked on that today. i found some bad areas where the foundation meets wooden structure of the house (is this the sill plate?). i have a beam that has a bad spot, you could feel the air comming through that gap. the rest of the beam is solid and the beam is solid it just has a decayed spot. the beams in my home are monsters, i mean they are HUGE so im not worried about the structural intergerty. i packed that bad spot with an entire can of great stuff. i also found another spot in the front of the house. no decay just some gaps and more then enough to feel the air comming in. do major heat loses in the basement effect the heating my heating even if i am not heating the basement?

 

[Bioburner]

Think of your house as a big chimney. The easier the cold air can come in the bottom the easier the warm air can flow up and out.

 

[Shaw520]

i called the harman dealer where i bought my stove and he said that he doesnt recommend an OAK unless the house is very "tight" and needs combustion air. he said he has had some customers that have installed OAK's with their stoves when in his opnion they shouldnt have. this caused the stove to run dirter because it was running on cold air.

No truth to these statements whatsoever,.... outside air is ALWAYS better drawn through a designated vent,.... rather than through every leaky orifice in the house.

 

[bill3rail]

Think of your house as a big chimney. The easier the cold air can come in the bottom the easier the warm air can flow up and out.

This is the truth! I insulated my attic and basement ceiling when I bought the house just to save cash.

Do not worry about pellets just yet!

Get an energy evaluation done. Some power authority's will periodically perform them for free. Explain to them that you want to change over to gas so they will think you are a potential customer to get the energy audit for free.

Bill

 

[St_Earl]

No truth to these statements whatsoever,.... outside air is ALWAYS better drawn through a designated vent,.... rather than through every leaky orifice in the house.

yep. and not only are you not then drawing cold air in from outside through the living spaces, you are also not sucking out the air you've already paid to heat and using it for combustion and sending it right back outside.
double whammy of heat loss.