I am building a new house (floor plan attached) and will install an IS on a raised hearth outside the 2nd bedroom. I would appreciate your thoughts about using an OAK. The house will have a full 9' walkout basement, spray foam insulation (r. 30 fiberglass between basement and 1st floor), and Marvin Integrity windows. Competitors for air: the bath exhausts will be on an HRV system, and the 2nd bath will rarely be used, the kitchen may have outside venting, but it will rarely be used, the electric dryer will be used once a week, and the high efficiency propane boiler in the basement will have intake and vent pipes that terminate outside the house. Although I would rather not use an OAK, I certainly want the stove to operate properly. 1. Use an OAK--necessary/advisable/optional? 2. If OAK, can I draw combustion air from the basement, or does that present problems, negative pressure or otherwise? 3. If I terminate the OAK outside the house, would it be better to go down to the basement, and then straight out the east wall (under the 2nd bedroom) (long horizontal run, but only 1 90 degree bend), or down to the basement east a few feet, then south and out somewhere under the front porch (shorter horizontal run, but 2 90 degree bends.) Many thanks.
If it were me, I'd first determine if an OAK is needed or not. If not, then no need of going to the expense or trouble of putting one in. We've had an OAK and thought we were going to put in another one when we installed the Fireview but decided against it. No problem so we saved the expense and hassle of putting one in.
If you are all ready required to have the HRV I would guess that an oak would be likely covered in the codes for a solid fuel appliance as well. I would install it drawing from out side( suction from basement, ya neg pressure in more ways than one) - intake of oak below level of connection to stove. To make it worth while and because of bends likely need to up size the diameter of the pipe to 4" or possible 5". As we are not given the expected volume or flow rate ( like the furnace and such) its a bit of a shot in the dark but refering to a furnace or hotwater heater exhaust/ intake sizing for x amount of run and x bends can get you bye. Heck ya got 6" exhaust on the stove so what goes up the flue has to come from somewhere.
I have a newer, very tight house. When we open or close an exterior door it will rattle every closed door in the house due to the pressure change created by the moving door. One 130 cfm bathroom exhaust fan really kills the draft. The dryer will reverse the draft at times if the flue temps are low. We always crack the bathroom window (where the dyer is located) to supply the dryer and prevent draft reversal. I need an OAK.
The tighter the house the more the need for the OAK. Chris makes some good points on the cold air draw and other likely sources. I have an 1880's farmhouse, it's quite a drafty house as it is, no OAK needed here. And congratulations on the IS, I think your really going to enjoy what that stove can do
