Where does your oil burner get its combustion air supply from ?
My oil burner is located in the basement of the house, not in a regular living space. The foundation of my 100 house is made with locally sourced rock, cemented together. The sill rests on said foundation.
My basement is anything but airtight. The gas furnace (30+ years old as gas, a conversion from an oil burner that was installed over 45 years ago) and the gas water heater both have a vent to exhaust the offset, and the air is made up from within the basement area. The air is replaced from leaks in the foundation and attachment area of the house to the foundation. Yes, the basement is a bit drafty. As it should be, due to the age of the house and how was designed.
Houses are now designed with air makeup for combustion devices, preferring to use outside combustible air than interior. Partly due to the idea that a super insulated house is better than a standard insulated house.
Remember the radon scare? Certainly overblown, especially here in the NorthEast, but it made for some changes in building codes due to the issue.
High concentrations of radon in homes were discovered by chance in 1985 after the stringent radiation testing conducted at a nuclear power plant entrance revealed that Stanley Watras, an engineer entering the plant, was contaminated by radioactive substances.[71] Typical domestic exposures are of approximately 100 Bq/m3 (1.3 pCi/L) indoors. Some level of radon will be found in all buildings. Radon mostly enters a building directly from the soil through the lowest level in the building that is in contact with the ground. High levels of radon in the water supply can also increase indoor radon air levels. Typical entry points of radon into buildings are cracks in solid foundations, construction joints, cracks in walls, gaps in suspended floors, gaps around service pipes, cavities inside walls, and the water supply.[2] Radon concentrations in the same location may differ by a factor of two over a period of 1 hour. Also, the concentration in one room of a building may be significantly different from the concentration in an adjoining room.[3]
Now add a device (pellet, oil, gas) that needs to pull in an abundance of air for it's operation. That air, as we all will agree, needs to come from somewhere. Near the device in the basement (for those of us that have basements) that air getting to the device will be perceived as a draft....and that draft was seen as one of the ways excessive radon (in it's gas form) was entering homes.
I spent a few weeks going to at least 6 pellet stove dealers, its of questions, getting pries for the device, getting pricing for the installation.
None of them recommended installing an OAK (this was when I contemplated dealer install). The one dealer that came to the house, upon seeing how the installation would proceed, agreed then that it would be smart n to put the OAK in (the install was through a plaster wall, wood shingle siding, and I was leaning towards the wall vent that would integrate both in one). The installation would be no more problem than one without an OAK. He did admit upon my questioning that using outside air would increase the economics of running the stove.
One Ravelli dealer told me that Ravelli does not recommend it, it screws up the combustion of the stove b constantly changing the temperature of the incoming air...it was better to use conditioned room air(?). Say what?
Another Ravelli dealer showed me the installation manual, showing the part where Ravelli recommends it, in print. But they said to leave it up to the installer for final word(?). Say what? Does each installer have full certifications? Theirs didn't...but they were
their trusted installers. In our state the installers do not need to be licensed, or trained. The install does need to pass building code...even there you sometimes get the luck of the draw when the inspector arrives, some knowledgable, some not.
I installed the stove myself...saving well over $1000 in the process. Installation was trivial. Used all Harman components, including the combination intake / exhaust vent kit. Building inspector was impressed (even more impressed when I told him this Accentrs was a recently purchased used stove, 10 years from manufacturing).
Other friends and acquaintances that have seen the install, and see that it has the intake, and get an explanation of why it is there, wonder if installing one would cut down on the drafts in their house. Not all of them, but most of them.
Installing one finally made sense to me after calling a good friend that has had his own HVAC business for over 40 years...he does high end installs where quality of air matters for manufacturing processes and for health care related businesses. His recommendation for a pellet stove in a home? If it doesn't cause a huge amount of cash outlay, go for it. Otherwise be ready to accept an installation that is not as efficient.
This is a GREAT site.... Thanks for all the tips and advice
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