Will this much draft be too problematic?

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scramjet

New Member
Oct 27, 2022
2
Canyon County, Idaho
Greetings. The wife and I moved into our house 2 years ago, it is ~2600 sq ft. It was built in 2006, it has a freestanding propane stove and electric heat pump / furnace for heat. We used pellet stoves for years but got the itch to get a wood stove. I bought and assembled a Quadra-fire 5700 ST but have not installed yet. There aren't many good locations available for the stove. The location we picked is near the center of the house and I ordered the stove/chimney piping for that, have not installed yet.
The draft will be 25 feet above the stove collar. The manufacturer recommends 14-16 feet measured from the base of the stove. I'm aware that EPA stoves have minimal air intake controls because they are built to operate cleanly in a bad environment, will this much draft be practical from the standpoint of heating the home? Or will it just go through wood like crazy? Will the danger of over firing or runaway of the stove be too great? I am considering installing an OAK but not punch the hole in the hardwood floor to the crawl space (wife), the open flex duct under the stove might be a place to shutoff the air in an emergency. Lastly, will this cause an issue when the inspection is done for the permit?
Sorry for the many questions and I understand that replies may be subjective, but I value any opinions here. Thank you.
 
15-16' is the minimum recommended flue height for this stove. 25' is ok. If concerned, install a key damper above the flue collar for some draft control.
I am considering installing an OAK but not punch the hole in the hardwood floor to the crawl space (wife), the open flex duct under the stove might be a place to shutoff the air in an emergency.
I'm not following. If not into the crawlspace, where would the OAK go, through the wall behind the stove?
 
15-16' is the minimum recommended flue height for this stove. 25' is ok. If concerned, install a key damper above the flue collar for some draft control.

I'm not following. If not into the crawlspace, where would the OAK go, through the wall behind the stove?
It wouldn't be a functioning OAK. The flex duct would connect to the stove inlet and the other end left open. Would be a place to block off inlet air if an emergency shutdown needed to be done. Guess I'm overthinking this runaway stove scenario. Thanks for your reply.
 
I see. I'm not sure whether all of the air ports on this stove tie into a central duct or not. They may on this model, but many stoves do not.
 
Fwiw, I have a heco 520 with about 25' of straight up flue. I have two dampers in the stove pipe, and I've nearly had to close them both with the secondary air heavily choked to calm it down at times. Most times I run the dampers with only one at 80% closed or so, but sometimes I have to run the fire with more damper choke and then open them up after the initial gasses have burned off.

I also live at the top of a hill with a small lake about 300 yards away down in the valley. There's almost always a breeze, and sometimes the wind is really ripping, which contributes to the draft.

Bottom line is, just keep adding dampers to the pipe if you need them. I started with one and needed a second.
 
Note that any elevation of your location would add to the minimum flue height.
So, if you're high up, it might not be as bad as you fear.

Key dampers are cheap and easy, and less ugly than the oak idea.
 
I have your stove. When l added the oak, the house was colder because l no longer got the circulatory air rotation that kept the temps constant Plus l was going thru wood at a faster rate. It ended being a lose,lose situation so l uninstalled it.
As stated, all you need is a damper or two and you‘l be fine.
Mine is 22 ft and l have one damper. My chimney is on the outside of the house and when it gets cold, my set up sounds like a freight train till l calm things down w the damper.
 
It wouldn't be a functioning OAK. The flex duct would connect to the stove inlet and the other end left open. Would be a place to block off inlet air if an emergency shutdown needed to be done. Guess I'm overthinking this runaway stove scenario. Thanks for your reply.
This acts as a turbo ram for the wood stove. The air velocities would build up even if not terminating outside and act as “bellows” would. I tried this and even with just the collar on to attach the air tube it still built up air velocity.