Log Cabin Wood Stove Cold Fresh Air Intake - Makeup Air For Wood Burning Stoves

Installed this today thanks to the comments I had on the -40 Heating A log Cabin video. Quick video on how I installed the cold fresh air intake in the log cabin.
Previously, we were only drawing the air into the stove from the room. This is not ideal for heavy use in extremely cold weather especially. If you can draw your fresh air from outside your fire will burn better and you won't be taking the heated air from inside the cabin. Hoping this is one thing (I have a few more tricks to try out soon) that will help with keeping the cabin warm (er) this winter.
It was easy and painless. This time last year we had 3' of snow. It looks like our first dump is coming next week so I am happy this was completed. Now back to chopping wood!
It cost less than $15 for everything I needed to get this job done 👍🤠
UPDATE! Watch this new video and how I had to alter this for my winter wonderland conditions. • How NOT To Install Fre...
#logcabin #woodburingstove #woodstove #cabin

[@smjones4238]

Fresh combustion air is the biggest 'bang for your buck' modification you can do. Shuts down any exterior air infiltration caused by the draw of the flue. Two thumbs up!!

[@georgelesdeplorables7583]

Hi there, George from Germany here. We are using secondary/tercial air managemend for wood burning stoves in western Europe for decades. Nowadays German/Austrian (RIKA brand for example) wood burning stoves having the burning space completely airtight/separated from the interiour space with separate air supply. There is a big downside of the solution you are using - if you supply the combustion chamber directly with ice cold air from outside, you do signifficantly lowering your stove efficiency by continuously cooling it down. Don't get the supply air direcly from outside but try to get it from the crawlspace under the house using a longer and larger diameter pipe to slow down the air speed to get it warmer before it enters the combustion space. We are using ground registers as well for it. Stay warm and cheers ...

[@A2J_Tim]

I did it this way kzbin.info/www/bejne/b5iUqIWgipmor7Msi=G4QMdIemeV9sN9-_

[@surf6009]

Thank you from Minnesota, USA.

[@maryannewillequer3305]

It's good you are listening to those viewers who are offering you advice! Can't wait to see the stove in action!

[@billboehmer350]

You are very welcome, and one thing I love to see, is a small strip if tissue taped to the duct, flapping back and forth as the pre heated air exits the duct and enters the stove. To actually "see" it working is just great. So, you have a big snow coming. I followed youtube advice, and bolted four pieces of rubber, from a truck mudflap, to the ends of my snowblower impeller, which fills the gap between the impeller and the housing. Works great, throws a lot more snow, and further too.

[@ybirch9735]

It's interesting that a previous owner had the wood stove setup for s cold air intake, and even left the parts behind to complete the task. Great work. Look forward to hearing out it works once winter comes!

[@JimmyMeatwhistle]

Yes, very strange. But made my job easy :) 🍻

[@88s10Durango]

When I built my herth I used a 2X4" frame screwed to the floor topped with plywood , cement board , then cemented the tiles on top of all that , same on the back wall ,, the cold air comes in like yours from outside into the open space inside the 2X4 frame work ,, I put a 3" intake pipe inside the bottom frame coming out of the top where the stove sits on ,, my cold air from the wood stove connects to that ,, the cold air cools the herth from inside the 2X4`s open space and the stove sucks the cold air also from there . Worked very well , this was a code requied thing in Canada for installing a wood stove in a trailer or mobile home .. :)

[@waltmoore3095]

Have the Tribute stove also,16 years! Awesome little stove.

[@rronmar]

Yep, providing the combustion air directly helps to cut down on the negative pressure caused by a woodstove draw. This reduces the cold air drawn in thru every air leak in the dwelling. You can go one step further and add a second 3-4” vent with a computer fan. When turned on, it draws in fresh air from outside and blows it directly against the woodstove box when burning, to be heated by the warm box. This adds some positive pressure/airflow to the room and helps push warm air outward from the woodstove. This makes it seem like the stove is heating the room better and cuts down on cold drafts...

[@darryls4524]

Just commenting for support 👍

[@billboehmer350]

Jim, the whole idea of outside air has nothing to do with it being cold, but rather that it is coming from the outside so as to not use the already heated room air. You mentioned insulating the tubing; Not necessary unless you just want to disguise it. That small length of cold tubing will not effect the room temperature, and if anything, pre heated air will be much better for combustion. I have a long stove, a Jotul 118, and logs burn from front to rear, 24", and I mounted a piece of duct work the length of the stove, to the bottom of the stove, and this gives me pre heated air. The air hose is connected to the other end, and goes into an original heat register, into the basement, along the beams and to a cellar window, where I replaced the glass with plywood, and exits through a hole. I did this recently, 2020, after having heated the house with wood since 1977. Holy Smokes, what a difference, I use a lot less wood, because if I load it full like I used to, the house gets way to hot, plus there is a distinct difference in how calm and steady the heat feels. One thing I hate is to do something for many years, and only then find out I was doing it wrong. I have heat registers from my oil fired hot air system, and it was in 2014 that I realized that when using wood, they should be closed, otherwise I am pulling cold air from the basement. The return ducts have no way to close them, so I cut out cardboard pieces, which actually matches my wood trim fairly well, and OH MY, right there what a difference. So now I have the two systems working together and I have to say I am absolutely thrilled as I am as snug as a bug in a rug. Like wow, oh wow, oh wow, if only I had known all this in 1977, if only someone had told me, which is why I am writing, hoping this will help someone else. Also, when lighting a cold stove, I put the wood in, and then six pieces of newspaper, and I light all of them at the same time, which creates a lot of fire, which is a lot of heat, and I never get smoke back into the room. If I light one piece there is a chance of getting smoke into the room as there is simply not enough draw. I learned all of this the hard way, the real hard way, when I think back all those years, and struggled, and used way to much wood, which is a lot of work. Plus, air tight is the only way to go, which my stove is. I hope this helps a lot of people, good luck to all.

[@JimmyMeatwhistle]

Great information here, thank you very much for the comment. Much appreciated. Have a great and safe winter 🍻🍻

[@xc8487]

The whole point of having an outside air source is to prevent the stove from creating a vacuum in the room that could pull in cold air from poorly insulated spots. The cold air intake also makes the stove more efficient as cold air is denser and has more oxygen.

[@billboehmer350]

@@xc8487 Hi Jimmy, there is much to be said here. OK, you said cold air is denser so it has more oxygen, and burns more efficiently, true. Before I go on, please read the following two paragraphs, which do agree with you, but there is a point to be made, a large one. So say to get the performance from the boiler you need flue gas temperature of 400C, then if you take (say 20C) for you will need to burn fuel than if you - the to 100C. ... The , the fuel you can burn, and therefore power. Feedback About Featured Snippets

[@billboehmer350]

@@xc8487 Hey Jimmy, I just wrote you a whole long explanation but the system would not take it so it was lost. You are right about cold air, but that is the exact spot where you stopped thinking about it, but there is a lot more to know, and I can explain how and why I am right. If you have an email address I would be willing to write it all over again, as there is an art to everything, and the difference that lies between the right and the wrong is the art. Best, Bill.

[@michaelsedway9703]

Picquik screwdriver for the win . Canadian made

[@Welphereweareagain]

When it gets much colder you should do a comparison test, one day heat with it sucking cold air and get a time, then repeat a different day with similar temps and take off the cold air intake, and then we will definitively know how well it really works! Like your new content keep it up!

[@JimmyMeatwhistle]

Thank you for the comment 🍻👍 yes for sure will do a comparison this winter. It sounds like it's going to start next week 😬

[@yamoo5114]

So how’d it turn out?

[@AfricanSouthernCross]

Good job....love it, keep em coming mate !

[@JimmyMeatwhistle]

Thank you 👍

[@jamesglenn520]

This Draft System on wood and pellet stoves were designed to draw Make-up air from outside. It has nothing to do with cold air for the burn. There was a law passed to build them this way to keep from creating Negative air pressure in Mobile Homes. On the plus side you are not sucking air from inside which in turn draws Make-up air through any little cracks and a blast of cold air when you open the cabin door!!

[@michaelglenning5107]

Make sure you keep the snow drifts from covering up your cold air intake.

[@knockitofff]

Same principle as a high efficiency gas furnace, when a fire burns it needs oxygen so it pulls in a ton of air to achieve that and where does that air come from? every crack and crevice in the structure. With the cold air intake, you eliminate the fire sucking all that cold air into the structure, a no brainer.

[@linejumper8204]

I wrapped some foil bubble wrap on the air tube to stop it from staying frosty.

[@markhedger6378]

You can make good that pipe to beam hole with epoxy resin/car body filler and shape and colour it to look like the wood.

[@marianfrances4959]

Cool!! 😉🇨🇦

[@ohyeahthatsright3155]

Get a 6” flex and slide over 3”. Then paint flat black. Good job

[@robertelliott5644]

you really should insulate that first pipe then slide the next one over it.

[@jamesglenn520]

That Make-up air intake was probably unhooked because it was a lot of work to keep the snow away from it. You could look into putting a pipe up the outside of the wall so the opening is under the roof overhang. I have a friend that did it with his weekend cabin here in Idaho. Before he always had to dig out the air intake before lighting the stove if the snow blew up against it.

[@JimmyMeatwhistle]

Actually, you are right. The snow we had last winter would have covered it by a few feet. Thanks for the comment James 👍🍻

[@jamesglenn520]

@@JimmyMeatwhistle The way these were designed was to draw Make-up from under the house or mobile home through the floor. So some adaptation needs to come into play when going through a wall.

[@JimmyMeatwhistle]

Good info, thanks!

[@JimmyMeatwhistle]

What I might do instead of moving it from the inside is make a shroud from the outside up the wall. Like a snorkel.

[@jamesglenn520]

@@JimmyMeatwhistle That's what I was referring to. Up the outside of the cabin. You could use aluminum or galvanized pipe which ever is cheaper.

[@bradmetcalf7832]

Smart move. IMHO you would really make a gain by installing a heat exchanger in your flue pipe to scavenge that heat that is going right out the stack. You would see heat as soon as the flue pipe got hot which will be way before the stove jacket heats up.

[@JimmyMeatwhistle]

Thanks for the comment. Great idea and thank you for the info 👍🍻

[@gr8fullfred]

use foam in a can to seal the tube

[@alkaufmann2039]

Use a socket wrench and ratchet and you can tighten those screws up!

[@sasquatchhuntin7324]

Thanks captain obvious!!

[@tinsoldier5621]

Nothin like doin a 100% half ass job from start to finish

[@eedom69]

The hose enters on the bottom of the stove or back wall bottom? Kinda hard to see.

[@paulshimer1870]

If you have 110 ac, get a heat reclaimer for the chimmney. I have been burning for 20 years and i swear by the magic heat; heat reclaimers. It cut my wood by half.

[@tiny5500]

Never heard of such a thing, thank you will be looking into it👍

[@rajeevpushkar]

👍👍👍👍

[@jimsteele7108]

My stove can be roaring away on a -20F day and the cold air return pipe, located directly behind the stove is ice cold.

[@bwcok7947]

That is going to work great! Do you have an idea what your going to use to insulate around the intake hose? Thought you were going to show the before pic of the wood pile! Got a bunch of work ahead of ya! Stay safe and healthy!

[@JimmyMeatwhistle]

Not yet, still researching my options for insulation. My before picture is not good at the moment, haha. Will take care of that hopefully tomorrow. Snow will be flying next week they say 🐻

[@bwcok7947]

@@JimmyMeatwhistle Snow there and warm with the windows open tonight here in Ohio! We will get it soon enough. Well, I can't wait to see how you figure it out and use it when it is -40° out. The cabin is looking great and will probably heat up way better this time!

[@JimmyMeatwhistle]

@@bwcok7947 thanks! Yup, the snow is coming, next week they say. Two weeks later than last year though so I should be happy 😁 thanks again 🍻

[@snowflakemelter1172]

If you intake from outside the room you lose the stoves ability to exchange the air in the room for fresh air, then you live in stale air depleted in oxygen unless you fit ventilation ,which gets you back to square one. Whether this is better or worse than the heat loss from pulling cold air into the room is anyones guess.

[@trevordavis2760]

You do know you can use a ratchet set with your “stubby ” ???

[@JimmyMeatwhistle]

Yes, if I had one handy that is 👍😁

[@williamseipp9691]

damn I always wondered if I should do this and judging by the comments I was silly not to. they say it's gonna be a cold wet winter so...

[@meandnature6452]

wont that give less ventilation to the home

[@londanner5251]

I will try to hook it up to the air compressor.......... Forced Air.

[@michaelmcist]

Your cabin must be fairly air tight if you need a separate air intake pipe for the stove,

[@JimmyMeatwhistle]

Not that are tight that's for sure LOL. The idea behind a cold air intake it's so it's not sucking the already warmed up air around the stove and throwing it out the chimney.

[@loafandjug321]

Jimmy Meatwhistle? 😁😁😁

[@richardg4764]

You need to pack something in around the pile to keep the cold air from coming into the house. Isn’t there enough cold air in the house without bring cold air in from the outside.

[@bradmetcalf7832]

Where do you think that cold air in the house comes from? As the stove draws it pulls cold air from every window and crack in the entire structure as well as the warm air you just heated. He will see big gains from this.

[@bradclark6796]

Won't the cold air from outside lower the overall temperature of the wood stove? How come they don't sell wood stove with cold air intake at least non that I have seen.

[@JimmyMeatwhistle]

Actually it's burning that cold air and going straight up the chimney. Instead of sucking the warm air from inside the cabin back out the chimney. This thing is running beautifully now. 🍻👍

[@bradclark6796]

@@JimmyMeatwhistle Unless you keep wood stove loaded all the time when fire dies down stove will cool down quicker than usual because of the cold air entering stove.

[@JimmyMeatwhistle]

When I am finished with the stove I close the air intake at the bottom of the stove so cold air isn't flooding in

[@bradclark6796]

@@JimmyMeatwhistle I'm not sure about my house but maybe I will try this in my garage and see how it works it is a neat idea. Cheers Jimmy and stay warm.

[@robertelliott5644]

Get some Bubble Foil /aluminum tape and your good to go.

[@danroden830]

no money shot? reeee

[@JimmyMeatwhistle]

Don't know what I was thinking lol.

[@agentcovert]

Only took 8 months to complete the job..great work ethics..lol