Better burning wood stove with a external air intake!

Adding a cold air intake can significantly improve the heating capacity of your wood stove. In this video I will talk about our experiences adding external air intake and the benefits we have found.
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[@user-yo1pk4ky4k]

You are right about the benefits of a cold air intake. After installing one on my wood stove my feet are a lot warmer in the winter. Previously, makeup air for the stove came from all the various air leaks in the house and that cold air traveled along the floor as it slowly drifted towards the stove. Outside air intake made a huge difference. One good way to observe how cold that makeup air had been was to grab the new outside air intake tube. It is freezing.

[@user-yo1pk4ky4k]

This was an excellent tutorial on outside air intakes. I often look at the smoke coming out of my chimney and think that just as much cold air is entering the house. A 6 inch layer of insulation under the floor would also go a long way to keeping your cabin warm. I just insulated my floors and it made a big difference. No more cold feet!

[@chriselson7413]

Good advice, we've ordered an external intake for our new stove and I'm glad we did after watching this 👍

[@tomrunning357]

Installing the cold air intake into the ash box under the stove is a great idea as it works as a cold air trap too. My stove is very similar to yours and this would work for me. It's amazing how much cold air is pulled in from outside thru door seals and windows. Good video!

[@royreynolds108]

I have considered an air inlet from the outside for a wood stove and a fireplace. We had a fireplace(built in 1934) in our house in St. Louis, MO that we bought in 1975. It had an ash door at the back under the fire so ashes could be dropped into a chamber to be removed through the basement instead of through the house, which worked well.

[@ybirch9735]

Very helpful video. Been considering adding a cold air intake to our wood stove, and you've sold me on the idea! Always enjoy your content.

[@OntarioLakeside]

Thanks! It is a great upgrade.

[@michaelzehoski5163]

I added cold air intake to a pellet stove and it not only kept the glass cleaner and it seemed to run hotter and longer on the pellets. In the cabin I added cold air with black tubeing and I believe it run longer and hotter. I added a enerzone 3.5 in a garage and after seeing you add cold air to yours I know I’m going to make the change. Thanks for your video.

[@littlereptilian7580]

Fantastic work. I wish i will own a house one day and make the same thing. I was thinking about this method from when i was a kid. Thanks for the vid

[@ErickNS1]

This fire pit is one of a few covered pits that is on the list kzbin.infoUgkxAU9pOCSV9Y5JprooHvfxTpOrt4hx8uRM of approved products for Disney Fort Wilderness. The product served its purpose well and provided excellent fires throughout the evening. We were able to open the door and do s'mores, but I had to be careful because the handle was a bit hot on occasions. Additionally, I wish they had replaced some of the standard nuts with lock nuts in some places. We lost the door handle after just a couple of days of usage. Not a deal breaker, just a recommendation. I still give it 5 stars.

[@tim0r0h]

Just installed a cold air intake on our PE Neo 1.6 - can't believe the change in floor temp (warmer feet on a tile/concrete floor). If a heater can do outside air, 100% worth the effort!

[@victoryfirst2878]

After seeing this being installed and used for real, I am going to put one in my home. Look forward to enjoying a cold air intake. Will be taking air from the attic through the HVAC duct. Look forward to the effect soon. Peace.

[@MsMesem]

Hi there. The easiest option for me would be to draw air from the attic. My stove comes with a cold air intake. I would take a pipe up alongside the chimney into the attic under a clay tile roof (plenty of ventilation!). Has this worked for you? Cold air sinks and the air in my attic will be definitely cooler than air in the living room.

[@scrappyquilter102]

This is really timely for us. Small addition and the wood stove are coming in 2022. We are not very handy ourselves, but when we are sorting out the floor joists and the location of the stove we will be sure to leave room for the cold air intake pipe from down below the stove location. Good advice. Now, can I get a WETT-certified technician to install a customer cold air intake with a damper? Time will tell.

[@aerocap]

Setting an air intake pipe is obviously the BEST thing to do. The stove not only pulls its fire-draw sucking the hotest air around itself (the one it just went to heat) but also all the air refill comes from outside.. the cold one 🧐 Sorry for my poor English, greetings from Switzerland 🙂

[@OntarioLakeside]

Exactly🙂

[@AlexA-cn5ip]

Hey Aerocap I saw your comment on another video, looked up how to make an external air intake and saw you commented again! I don't understand what you mean about the fire draw sucking the hottest air around itself, could you explain more? If you'd like you could respond in your native language and I can use a translator. Also, would it be possible to actually heat the cold air intake or would that not be helpful? I'm thinking if the cold air intake tube was positioned right next to the chimney, it would heat up a bit.

[@winterstony6712]

Thank you!!!!....very helpful!!!

[@SchwaAlien]

This just makes good sense, when my parents house got a new furnace and hot water tank years ago they added a cold air intake for them, especially since the furnace was a high efficiency model with the exhaust gas blower (that dies every few years) so it draws a lot of air for combustion purposes. We are in a rental with a wood stove fireplace and might be able to convince the owner to let us install a cold air intake via the wall since the stove already has a hole in the back of it’s base where you made yours. I’ve been looking into adding secondary burn air tubes at the top of the unit but it seems like you’d need to modify it considerably compared to this, so as a first step to improve efficiency this may be a much better option.

[@SchwaAlien]

I just took a look into the hole at the back, and looking down it appears to have a hole in the bottom as well and even a vent with a grate through the floor to the crawl space, but it looks blocked off. There are also signs that the hole at the back was closed off at one point because it looks like 4 circles of silicon around it like something was glued there to keep it from drawing air from inside the house. Someone must have come along and “fixed” it thinking they know better.

[@aerocap]

@@SchwaAlien Setting an air intake pipe is obviously the BEST thing to do. The stove not only pulls its fire-draw sucking the hotest air around itself (the one it just went to heat) but also all the air refill comes from outside.. the cold one 🧐 Sorry for my poor English, greetings from Switzerland 🙂

[@MadShadrach]

Amazing!! I have to do the same with mine!

[@TheSkystrider]

My wood stove has air intake on the back, pointing down, amount of air is controlled by the air damper built into the wood stove. But I haven't connected that input to a cold air intake. I'd like to do it, just the certified professional installer said those intakes cause a lot of problems with freezing and condensing or something. I wanna figure out how to do it super perfect so no issues.

[@forestranger312]

The question you pose is a hard one to answer as each house is different, but please ignore your ‘professional installer’ as it’s all in the design. If you drag winter air through steel pipes which is 95% moisture saturated yes there is chance of condensing depending where the pipe is routed. My house is built on strip foundation and I have a 18-24” cavity below the floor. I’ve insulated the joists and sealed the underside of the joists with solid sheet insulation. Using a breathable membrane directly above the floor boards allowing moisture to escape. So the cavity is cold under the house and that is where I draw my wood burner air from. I have ventilation grills all around the exterior walls so the air is free to move under the floors. I have no damp issues and the steel pipes I use are wrapped in glass fibre insulation 1-2 inches think. My wood burner when set at temperatures only draws air from under the floors no room air is used, only when initially lighting do I open internal air feed from the room. It wasn’t easy to do and I didn’t use ‘installers’ as the skills needed were beyond them. I did it myself when ripping the floors up to insulate as we were really cold with draughts blowing up through the floor boards on windy days. I needed a special 6inch stone cutter to pass the pipe through the hearth solid 3 inch granite slab, that was fun! But now after 4 years I’ve forgotten all the back breaking work and just enjoy the fire. Insulate insulate insulate, I would say. You cannot over insulate your house.

[@myeyesite1198]

Nice job, thank you

[@victoryfirst2878]

I ran across the video again today. I have noticed Sir that you do not have any insulation in the floor joists. That would be another area of work to improve the efficiency of the cabin. Enjoy the snow too. Peace and out......

[@dickdavidson3616]

Good tip ! 🔥

[@davidbenjamin5356]

An external intake is a great idea. My stove is multifuel and has 2 intakes ( not external ) the airwash on the door and a bimetallic strip controlled intake to the ash drawer. The manual says use the airwash only for woodburning and the bimettallic strip intake for burning coal, peat and lignite. The reason given for this is woodburning needs an air supply from above the bed of ash / embers and coal etc requires air fed from beneath the embers for optimum burning. It would be easy for me to attach a tube feeding the bimetallic intake and run it from outside. All I would lose is the bimetallic strip and intake cover but I worry that the stove would overheat or heat up too quickly after lighting causing warpage of the internal metal fire plates ( which has happened before ).

[@ScottMason-ss8ww]

Very helpful if you live in a nice big cabin in America. I live on a narrow boat in the UK... Don't think I'm going to drill a hole in the floor 😀I'll have to put up with cold ankles! Another good method for making your wood burn slower and more afficient is to always leave a good bed of ash in the grate, it let's less air in once your fire is going, so logs burn longer. Only use your top damper to get it going.

[@OntarioLakeside]

😂

[@HighTechLab]

the cold air intake on my honda made it run a lot faster and better too!

[@jregamey]

I'm using what I got. Insert with one side cut off. But it sucks. Lots of heat comes off it but more cold air gets sucked in from rest of the place. Need a new stove next year. I don't have easy access to any sort of intake.

[@Anthony_Spilotro]

You really should insulate between your floor joists with R-40 insulation ( 2 layers of R-20 fiberglass batts). Then seal it up with plywood or a house wrap.

[@OntarioLakeside]

It’s on the todo list

[@Anthony_Spilotro]

@@OntarioLakeside I have one of those too...lol. Really enjoyed the vid btw.

[@karlbigmore7949]

Have you tried useing exhaust baffle tube in base of fire even better air flow

[@shermanhofacker4428]

Damper is the air control in the flue. The air intake control is referred to as draft.

[@ColtAlbplimbariendurosinatura]

hello, I have a tin fireplace and it has vermiculite inside, wouldn't it give and retain heat longer if I replaced it with chamotte? I understood that vermiculite has an insulating role.

[@MudRFunR]

Wow, that's good thinking! I wish that would work on my downdraft stove. It has at times blew back and smoked up the basement. We don't use it anymore.

[@danielleterry2331]

I live in a mobile home, I seem to do everything after the fact 🥴 I built a hearth and tiled it got my imperial heat shields and damn! I can’t go thru floor so yeah now have to get a carbid bit to go thru heat shield I doubled up with extra durock behind heat shield to be extra careful and the install kit just aggravated as hell as I want it behind stove going thru the wall to outside not running from back and across to end of shield then outside, just want it to look decent and work right and safty above all. Paying 3 guys to get it up the stairs and into my home and set where I have taped but on my own for install and praying at 60 I don’t fall off the roof lol, determined to get it done.

[@OntarioLakeside]

You will get there! The air intake makes a big difference.

[@emilalmberg1096]

This is interesting. I have a summer cottage here in Sweden, it has neither electricity nor running water. We realize how difficult it is to get good heat with the old style wood stove, just as you say the fire sucks the heated air and you really feel cold winds on the floor! Here, firemen and sweepers are very conservative and do not understand at all what I mean by fitting an air duct right next to the fire!

[@OntarioLakeside]

It has made our woodstove much more useful. I highly recommend it.

[@ryan.vision]

Thinking about doing this as well. My stove already has an inlet and I notice the tower fan I have laying on its side behind the stove pushes some air in it and helps the fire burn better. Nothing but basement below the stove so should be pretty straight forward. Hopefully it along with improved insulation will help with the drafts we currently encounter.

[@timgiles9413]

Did you install the cold air intake to receive air from the basement and how did that work out or would you take it to outside? Thanks.

[@toddbaer8634]

What size pipe did you use?

[@mountianmischief9264]

What is the hole on the back of the stove? Isn't that the intake?

[@offgridwanabe]

Years ago when I burnt wood I did the same thing worked good but even with insulation it would frost up in dead of winter.

[@OntarioLakeside]

We haven't had a problem yet, but winter is coming!

[@Chelleme]

Hi! Did it ever frost up? Thanks!

[@wobdeehomestead1464]

Works well for a really tight home but I don’t think it really needed for a not so tight home. Nothing wrong with a little fresh air coming in those cracks in the Winter months.

[@toddbaer8634]

What do u use to control amount of air flow? No final pic? Thanks for the vidio

[@OntarioLakeside]

If you look at the 1 minute mark you can see that piece has a damper built in.

[@rodneycox9429]

So how much did it help with reducing drafts coming in through leaks in the walls? You never said at the end.

[@OntarioLakeside]

Drafts are greatly reduced. Will all the combustion air coming from outside its made a huge difference. And the cabin heats up quicker.

[@chadstevenson4938]

Two thoughts One drawing air from inside the house will help to prevent CO² build up In the house. Second drawing cold air from the craw space. Does it make your floors colder and pipes freeze easier? Do to theair leaks under the house.

[@OntarioLakeside]

If your house is air sealed tight enough to allow CO² to build up then the fire will struggle to burn because it wont be able to draw in enough oxygen. We dont have a crawl space, the cabin is raised on piers and all pipes are drained in winter.

[@amoryblaine1102]

Question. Would adding a flue damper to these modern stoves help in anyway? With retainingthe heat..seems like it would help but the community seems divided? Thoughts?

[@OntarioLakeside]

Dont see how it would hurt.

[@BackWoodsLiving]

You have no insulation or anything I see how is it on the inside of your cabin does the floor get wet if some thing is laying on it or is the floor cold ever or does putting this vent in mitigate that?

[@mjethier]

lol dude, ryobi ftl, mastercraft also ftl. just get a dewalt 99x series battery drill...you will never buy another one minus batterys. I've had 4 to 5 major brands. I use them daily with augers and stuff that's well beyond what any cordless drill should have. these have lasted me 3 to 4 years at a time (i only change because the battery design does)...technically my original drills from 16ish years ago are still running strong...but not remotely close to as strong as the new brushless units. anyways thanks for the video and ambience.

[@kevinblitzcki2709]

Hello fellow Canadian firewood burner! Does adding a damper in the air intake hose make a world of a difference and how did you come about that (or just the fact that your air intake hose already came equipped with a damper)? I'll be buying a new stove that comes with fresh air intake mount but I never thought about putting an extra damper in the air intake line as every stove already got a damper. Thanks for the vid!

[@OntarioLakeside]

I just have it to close the damper when the stove is not in use.

[@pjsolarz]

Question: Why would you have a damper on the cold air intake? Seems the chimney damper would control it just fine. The cold air damper would be hard to get to on most installations and increase chances of getting burnt.

[@OntarioLakeside]

We use it when the stove is not in use to close off the air.

[@pjsolarz]

@@OntarioLakeside Thanks for the reply. I can see that. I use my stove to heat 6-7 months a year, The remaining months are generally pretty mild as far as summer goes. We might get a hot streak in July or August, but the stove is in the main living area and the only place we have air conditioning is in the master bedroom. We're on a lake so opening the doorwall and the wall of windows adjacent to it cools the place pretty well.

[@kudratbek1426]

I noticed a drawer for ash, it just sucks, in my opinion it’s better to just make a door and shovel ash out because the drawer can become deformed and get stuck

[@batchrocketproject4720]

Good idea and nicely done. I guess your set up ensures there's no possibility of glowing embers falling down that air duct and smouldering beneath the cabin. I'd probably be over-cautious and put a metal box beneath the intake under the floor just in case.

[@BobPeterson-rw9yw]

There is no direct route to the firebox, the vent is to the space under the stove that the ash drawer is in, which is separate from the firebox

[@Wordsnwood]

no insulation under the floor? I would think that would help. Or do you not use it much in winter?

[@OntarioLakeside]

Its on the to do list!

[@royreynolds108]

@@OntarioLakeside That would be my high priority. I used to live in Michigan and had a wood stove and oil furnace.

[@OntarioLakeside]

@@royreynolds108 Im going to do foam board and a 6" batt.

[@sovereignfreespirit]

So now what you've done is by pulling the air from below your house now you have a higher infusion of COLD air under your house instead of that standing air beneath your house.. Seems to me your floors will be colder now. you might want to get under the house and add to that and pull the cold air from directly outside.

[@BobPeterson-rw9yw]

His house is on piers for cripes sake.

[@billsheppard3796]

Installers ran the fresh air tube out the wall but used an insulated tunnel too close to the stove back; my insurance company disapproves;about to replace it.

[@kookia213]

Small question please: i want to get a wood stove but have read about indoor poor air quality it causes. Is there a way of making it not to lower air quality indoor?

[@OntarioLakeside]

A good quality wood stove should not contribute to poor air quality. ensure the seals are in good order and that the chimney is drafting properly.

[@kookia213]

@@OntarioLakeside thank you for the reply. Should the seal be replaced from time to time?. Any way to check that there are no leaks?

[@OntarioLakeside]

@@kookia213 Yes the rope seal should be replaced if it gets degraded.

[@littlecabininthebigwoods5720]

The air intake should help with not consuming your oxygen inside the home. If the gasket on the front is not doing well a match held steadily around it will flutter.

[@1974jrod]

@@kookia213 The air quality in the house is a result of how tight a house is constructed regardless of the heat source. If a combustible appliance has no fresh air, it will pull air from the house wherever there are cracks. If your house is very drafty, then your appliance runs very good, but you will have drafts allover. But, drafts are good for air quality because it's constantly bringing in fresh air, but, it's drafty. If house is "completely sealed" the appliance will starve for oxygen, and you will too. The beauty of wood burning is If it gets too hot, you can just open a door or window. It will bring down the temperature, but also bring in fresh o2. No one does this if there are burning oil or gas because they don't want to loose the heat. When someone writes and article simply persuading you that burning wood is bad for the environment or indoor air quality, then you can be almost sure that the govt and oil companies support this message due to profits and taxes generated from gas and oil. If you cut your own wood no one can take it from you. In the Magna Carta about 1218, the king said non of his men will steel any more firewood from the commoners. But since then governments try to find ways of keeping people from burning wood so they burn gas or oil.

[@richardriehle4159]

i need the dry outside air to lower the moisture buildup in the cabin.

[@kattihatt]

Add ventilation to the cabin.

[@richardriehle4159]

@@kattihatt no point...woodstove does a wonderful job of it already.

[@kattihatt]

@@richardriehle4159 but dont you need ventilation for air intake into the cabin?

[@richardriehle4159]

@@kattihatt like you mentioned in your video, air comes in through cracks and crannies . my cabin door is not sealed airtight . and with a bank of windows between the door and wood stove, the incoming fresh dry air keeps moisture buildup from happening on the glass .

[@omm7763]

You could probably save a $1000 per year just insulating the bottom side of the cabin with R30 rockwool insulation???

[@erikbender1]

Something tells me this is a modern stove thing. My 43 year old cast iron stove has no ash box and drilling a hole in the fire box, yikes!

[@maxsands3861]

Most furnaces and boilers Do the same thing not just wood stoves.

[@zedwpd]

buy just an inch or two extension and you wouldnt have had to chip out the concrete

[@OntarioLakeside]

Getting that extension would require, 2 boat rides and a 1.5 hour drive!

[@bajatoma]

No insulation whatsoever under the floor? Cold feet = runny nose