Power Vent
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Why is it NOT recomended to add a power vent to a hand fired?
thanks in advance Fred
thanks in advance Fred
- McGiever
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With a loss of electricity there will be 50lbs of smoldering coal with no where for the gases to go but in the space where the stove resides.
- Ed.A
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And you could DIE.McGiever wrote:With a loss of electricity there will be 50lbs of smoldering coal with no where for the gases to go but in the space where the stove resides.
- Lightning
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A natural drafting chimney doesn't rely on electricity to perform it's function.. When the power goes out, the mass of coal will continue to smoulder for hours and without a draft to carry the exhaust outside carbon monoxide will infiltrate the stove room and then circulate throughout the house.
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This stove is located in my garage & the only things that resides in there is mice & my tractor.
- Freddy
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Welcome to the Forum!
I'd shy away from it too for a few reasons. Safety, money, and convenience.
Safety: Years back when I was president of a snowmobile club we had signs for the trail that said "Danger ahead". If there was an open stream or a sharp curve we might mark the trail with such a sign. A lawyer told me "You must change it to "Caution", you can NOT leave something that is dangerous. I think that applies here. What you are propsoing IS dangerous. If the power goes down, or any transistor or vacuum test dies in the power venter it stops, and now you will have a deadly atmosphere. Any human that walks in will pass out in less than 2 minutes and be dead in 4 or 5 minutes. You simply can not take that chance, no matter how slim.
Money: Power venter, $300 plus $20 or $25 a month forever for electricity. Mason chimney: fixed price, once paid, it'll last about forever.
Convenience: A mason chimney is pretty much maintenance free, a power venter is a maintenance item. ( I had one on an oil boiler for near 11 years.....finally got rid of it and put in a chimney.)
That all being said... if you MUST have a power venter, then get a stoker that comes with a venter from the factory. They are safe for at any moment a very small amount of coal is in the burn pot and it needs constant fan to keep going. If the venter dies, the fire dies with it and makes no CO.
I'd shy away from it too for a few reasons. Safety, money, and convenience.
Safety: Years back when I was president of a snowmobile club we had signs for the trail that said "Danger ahead". If there was an open stream or a sharp curve we might mark the trail with such a sign. A lawyer told me "You must change it to "Caution", you can NOT leave something that is dangerous. I think that applies here. What you are propsoing IS dangerous. If the power goes down, or any transistor or vacuum test dies in the power venter it stops, and now you will have a deadly atmosphere. Any human that walks in will pass out in less than 2 minutes and be dead in 4 or 5 minutes. You simply can not take that chance, no matter how slim.
Money: Power venter, $300 plus $20 or $25 a month forever for electricity. Mason chimney: fixed price, once paid, it'll last about forever.
Convenience: A mason chimney is pretty much maintenance free, a power venter is a maintenance item. ( I had one on an oil boiler for near 11 years.....finally got rid of it and put in a chimney.)
That all being said... if you MUST have a power venter, then get a stoker that comes with a venter from the factory. They are safe for at any moment a very small amount of coal is in the burn pot and it needs constant fan to keep going. If the venter dies, the fire dies with it and makes no CO.
- tmbrddl
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As a mason and a licensed heating tech, I would shy away from a power venter at all costs. A lot of builders put those in homes to save themselves some money on the upfront cost of building a house but it becomes an ongoing nightmare for the person who buys the home.Freddy wrote:Money: Power venter, $300 plus $20 or $25 a month forever for electricity. Mason chimney: fixed price, once paid, it'll last about forever.
Convenience: A mason chimney is pretty much maintenance free, a power venter is a maintenance item. ( I had one on an oil boiler for near 11 years.....finally got rid of it and put in a chimney.)
You might get three or four years of reliable service before parts start to fail and you'll need a dose of good luck that you get a conscientious tech to work on it. Probably the most neglected part of any heating system. They tend to soot up the side of the building and then there's the noise.
My company sent me to a 'code' refresher course where there were probably 100 other technicians present. I don't know how the guy finagled his way in there but he had the stage and started preaching the virtues of power venters. There was collective gasp followed by some muttering of "bs" almost in unison and without hesitation. That should tell you all you really need to know about power venters.
- McGiever
- Member
- Posts: 10130
- Joined: Sun. May. 02, 2010 11:26 pm
- Location: Junction of PA-OH-WV
- Stoker Coal Boiler: AXEMAN-ANDERSON 130 "1959"
- Hand Fed Coal Boiler: BUCKET A DAY water heater
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Warm Morning 414A
- Coal Size/Type: PEA,NUT,STOVE /ANTHRACITE
- Other Heating: Ground Source Heat Pump and some Solar
Chimneyless power venting does not work universally as does wireless in other types of systems today.
Is that a word...chimneyless???
Is that a word...chimneyless???
- windyhill4.2
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If your garage is a stand alone building there is one way to go with a power vent & be safe...............,............ yep,you guessed right. Eliminate all the walls,that way the building will sufficiently vent any ongoing fumes !