Distance of Baro From Stove and Powervent

Hi,

I am setting up my older Alaska Stoker II with a SWG4 powervent. The ideal location for the stove and exhaust would only require the exhaust vent extension, the 6-4" adaptor, and then the powervent, straight out of the stove through the wall. The problem I am thinking I might have is where to attach the baro. With the vent going straight out the wall the baro would have to be put into the exhaust extension and that would only be about 6-8" from the stove and about 12" from the powervent. Would this setup work"

My other alternative would be to put an 90* from the vent extension, one length of pipe 24" with the baro in the middle, then another 90* connecting to the powervent, but I would much rather go straight out. Any thoughts or special requirements that I am missing?

Thanks,

Bill...

Usually the baro is around 12-18" from the stove in a straight section (But sometimes people put them in the elbow (TEE) if space is tight.)

The power vent usually mounts on the outside and you have some piping to get to it and usually enough room for the baro in one of the sections.

Direct vents are mounted normally to the stove and vent thru a 4" pipe. I don't even run a Baro with my Keystoker DV (direct Vent) there is no room, since the DV is mounted right to the stove). I don have a manometer to keep an eye on the draft, ash build up, etc.....the draft will start to decrease when there ash buildup in the DV, blades, pipe, etc....

Yes, from what I have been reading on the forum the 12-18" is the correct distance, but because and I forgot to mention this, I am only going through a 2x4 wall the part of the Powervent that is inside increases the distance of the stove to the wall, and where I am putting the stove the closer I can get it to the wall, 18" min., the better off it will be.

Does it vent from the bottom of the stove? Can you fit a TEE in place of an elbow, you could put the baro in the end of the TEE. Kinda like this?

Yes the stove is a bottom vent, and ideally I would like to go straight out the wall.

Below is a photo of the vent with attached pieces (Alaska vent adaptor, 6-4 adaptor, and the powervent), the way it is shown would be the way I would like to use it. Looking at the photo you can see if I put a baro the farthest away from the stove as I can, I'll only end up being about 8" from the stove and about 6" to the powervent connection. I figure I am a little too close to the stove, but what about being so close to the powervent.

One thing I thought of was to build a box / frame out of 2x6's and put it on the outside and mount the powervent to that, then that would give me an extra couple of inches to get the baro at least 12 from the stove, but I will still be very close to the powervent.

Bill,

I think running it straight out from the stove to the PV will put the PV too close to ground level.

In that case using the elbows will raise the PV up whatever distance you raise it.


Rick

Rick 386 wrote:Bill,

I think running it straight out from the stove to the PV will put the PV too close to ground level.

In that case using the elbows will raise the PV up whatever distance you raise it.


Rick

That is one of the concerns I had if I put the stove in the basement and use a PV for that setup.

Depending how the Alaska works out in the garage, I am pretty sure I will be putting it in the basement by next years heating season, it has a water coil in it also that I would like to make use of, but I will be using the regular chimney the the VC is connected to. and will most likely putting the VC up for sale then.

My plan is on putting this in the rear of the garage which is a little over 2' above ground, so I am good there. I am just concerned on how well it will work with the short vent.

Here is a few pics of what I came up with.

I put a ring in the Power venter around the 4" inside pipe, this way blocking any exhaust that would escape pass just as if a 4" was there. Then connected a Tee, and then the Alaska vent extension. The baro is just a little over 11" from the stove but closer to the PV. I'm going to try this setup, any thoughts of what problems might exist if any?

Yes, I am going to clean out and clean up the PV before installing.

Bill,

Why not use the height off the floor to your chimney that your VC uses to determine where the PV will enter the garage ???

This way you would already have your pipes made up. Then when you do move it, that part will be done.

Just a thought.

Rick

Rick 386 wrote:Bill,

Why not use the height off the floor to your chimney that your VC uses to determine where the PV will enter the garage ???

This way you would already have your pipes made up. Then when you do move it, that part will be done.

Just a thought.

Rick

I like your thinking, but in the garage anything other than straight out would mean I would have to put up some wall protection for the pipe, as the minimum of 18" from the wall that the pipe would have to be would put the stove too far out into the garage area. Right now I need to get away as cheep as I can and be safe as well.

OK... I just doubled check the required distance of the PV from a door or window, according to the PV instruction manual it has 4' away.... Since my door is only 28" from where I planned on putting the PV, that nixes the idea of going straight out from the stove, so going to have to use more pipe and distance of the baro and PV should no longer be a problem. Back to the drawing board

Thanks everyone for your time!

Here is some photos on what I ended up with.

I followed the directions in in the instruction manual for setting up the baro and PV, but after a little more than an hour, the stove at 450*, about medium, the baro was close, I check outside and still blowing out pretty good. Because I am not sure what is going on I just cranked up the speed of the PV a little to get the baro to open just a little. Going to defiantly get a manometer and then I think I'll least have a better idea.
My other concern is how close to the wall the pipe is, at approximately 4" . When I ran the stove up to 450* the pipe is only about 100* measured on each side of the baro and the PV is cool to touch. How worried should I be?

THE Other thing, is the WOOD around the opening, I think you need a min. 1" gap? to combustibles with a collar.?
Like this
http://www.idealtruevalue.com/servlet/the-40219/Detail

Thats a double wall pipe I think from your previous pics? You might be fine.

But, if concerned, you still should put something behind it, get some Cement board and cut some 8-10" strips and just mount to your studs along the bottom.

WNY wrote:THE Other thing, is the WOOD around the opening, I think you need a min. 1" gap? to combustibles with a collar.?
Like this
http://www.idealtruevalue.com/servlet/the-40219/Detail

Thats a double wall pipe I think from your previous pics? You might be fine.

But, if concerned, you still should put something behind it, get some Cement board and cut some 8-10" strips and just mount to your studs along the bottom.

Yes I was wondering a bit about that my self, but I downloaded the SWG manual, it shows that the min clearance for pipe less then 400* is 1/2" for "A", so I am at +/- 1/8" of a 1/2" and to touch the PV itself it is cold.
Right now the L home center has the mat fire board that you would put under a wood stove for like 70% off, so $15 or so would be cheep insurance.

Question on the draft setting using a manometer and the Power Venter.

Followed the directions on setting up the manometer, set the baro to the suggested setting. But now I know what my draft is and to get anything lower than .05 on the manometer I have to turn the rheostat way down for the PV, but then it seems the motor for the PV almost stops and I have a reading of .01, but at that low setting I can smell the coal gas odor and I figure if I can smell it than that can not be good since CO is odorless. So the lowest setting that keeps the PV running that I feel safe at is .05. So is .05 a good setting for this stove? Seems to be heating good, at least to me.

One thing I think is a plus with the bottom vent and the baro only a few inches above the floor is that it is sucking out cooler air, not the heated air