Fresh Air Intake

I am using an old Alaska Stoker Stove in my basement to supplement my elec. heat - have been doing this for years. Recently I've heard of better effeciency using a fresh air intake for combustion.
My house is a fairly new 2 story, well insulated and pretty tight with 2 fan-assisted registers between the basement and 1st floor.
I decided to do an unscientific test of this theory. I have an unused 3" pipe thru the basement wall and I simply uncapped it to let fresh air in - this is approx. 15' away from the stove, not connected to the stove in any way. Then I went upstairs and watched the therm. Without changing anything I watched the temp rise over 4 degrees in about 1/2 hr.
I suppose the fresh air intake allows the heated air to flow upstairs faster. I was wondering if anyone else has experimented with their own intake system?
I was thinking of plumbing a 4" or 6" pipe to the stove's blower and possibly building a box around it.
Bob

I have a Channing III Alaska stoker for the first time this year. I guess te CAI theory is to suck air from one location so cold air isn't sucked in through other areas of the house as much. You'd rather have a CAI next to the stove where it will soon be heated rather than upstairs where it won't be heated for a while.

Maybe just maybe the upstairs temp. gain would be due to less cold air coming in upstairs through whatever minor leaks are present as the air supply is not in the basement. I guess if you had leaks upstairs regardless of the minor vacuum from the stove, you wouldn't have experienced the temperature gain.

I haven't tried a CAI myself. Let me know if you get more confident that its helping that much.

Its good to see people try other things to create air movement. A fresh air intake is meant to go directly into the combustion fan so you don't rob the house of air. I think when you let air in you created more movement. Remember, when you force warm air up, you must bring cold air down or you house will be like a balloon. If you don't have a cold air return, then let your basement door open, if there's no small kids. good luck
Jerry

I’ve been using my stair case as a cold air return (stoker in basement), but was thinking of attaching some pipe to the intake on the blower (at the base of the stoker) and running it through the suspended ceiling and at the base of the floor in the upstairs bedrooms. This way it would suck cold air from upstairs (a forced cold air return) and run it over the top of the stove to heat it. I was going to try this to heat the upstairs instead of floor registers. It should force more warm air up the stair case.

Thoughts?

I have my basement door removed for the winter. As I stand on the steps I can feel the cooler air coming down the steps but I don't know how much this is influenced by an outside door being at the top of the steps also. As far as children are concerned, we no longer have young kids to worry about but we have to watch when we get company.
I will contact Alaska about any ideas they might have but The stove is so old most of the newer upgrades won't fit mine. I'll probably experiment w/ a pipe ending close to the combustion blower and see how that works.
I'll post my findings.
Thanks, Bob

I have a Alaska Channing, I cut a six inch hole into the top of the stove only through the top plate, not into the firebox itself. I made a six inch collar with a flange on it and attached it to my stove. In the collar I hooked up a piece of six inch stove pipe going up to a 90 degree elbow. From here I hooked it into a piece of flex duct and ran it into my ductwork from my hot air furnace. It works really well, I'm just using the fans from the stove to push the air into the ductwork, and I blocked off the ports on the stove where the hot air was blown out of the stove, so the air would be re routed up my pipe. My kitchen is the farthest room from my stove (stove in basement) and my basement steps are in my kitchen with no door to the basement. I'm wondering if this is why my kitchen is the coldest room in the house, because the cold air is being forced through the kitchen to go back down the stairwell. Any suggestions?

Ed,
Far from an expert, but I think the combination of your kitchen being farthest away from your stove and the staircase acting as the cool air return is probably why it's the coolest room. Don't think there is an easy solution unless you have, or install cool air return ducts in your house going back to the basement.
My system relies mostly on natural air movement with the aid of a couple of fan assisted registers. I was hoping to eliminate some of the cold air infiltration by using a fresh air intake but I don't know what effect that will have on the cool air return, which is basicly the same as yours - a basement stairwell off the kitchen.
The principle of air movement is pretty simple until you want it to work a certain way for you, then it seems alot more complicated.
Maybe someone else will have some better ideas.
Bob

I would install some floor registers...and close the door...let the registers act as the returns...plus smaller area on register will not rush the air...or power vent one register see if that helps...have the exhaust vent to basement...

Al

Ed, great idea to “hook into” the top plate of the stoker. I might try that, although I’d be worried the basement wouldn’t heat as well. Is the basement cold with all of the forced air going upstairs?

Al gave me a link to this duct fan (link below). Could you add one of these to the duct run that goes to the kitchen? Wouldn’t this steal more warm air from the rest of the places the stoker is feeding and give it to the kitchen? (Obviously this assumes that the kitchen duct work is tied into the stoker). Otherwise, I’ve had problems with my stair well because its both a source of warm air to the upstairs and a cold air return. I don’t really think it can do both well. http://www.iaqsource.com/index.php?modu ... rod_id=781

I think you are right as far as the kitchen being farthest away. I don't think there is going to be a way to solve it being the coldest room in the house. A couple reasons.......... tile floor and a cathedral ceiling, plus the cold air return down the basement stairwell. As far as robbing the heat from the basement. My basement is approximately 1500 sq. ft. , It's not finished, just concrete floor and block walls. I have 13 courses of block so my ceilings are pretty high. With the hot air being diverted into my ductwork, my basement pretty much stays around 66 to 68 degrees. Upstairs I can hold around 70. My hot air furnace only comes on when it's around the high 20's outside. This has really saved alot in heating the home this year.