Are there auto balancing ERV/HRV system?
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Wood Burning Stove - Do We Need A Cold Air Vent to Safely Operate?
We live in a 1400 sq ft home in the Colorado mountains - elevation 8000 feet. Winters are cold and long here. Our home is all electirc so we want to install a wood burning stove to offset heating costs and for heating back up. However, our home is not vented. All we have are the customary cook top, dryer and bathroom vents. During below freezing weather, our home collects much condensation on the inside widows.
We assume this means our home is pretty air tight, although it does get very cold inside without running the EST heater. We have a 3 foot crawl space that spans the entire sq footage of the house. Q: do we need to have a cold air vent installed in our crawl space in order to safely operate a wood burning stove in our home? We want to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning. Thanks for your help.
对于一个木材燃烧器来说，它必须把空气吸入，所以如果你说你的房子很密封，then I'd say yes to the direct air feed- but I will also give a couple of suggestions.
To operate wood burning stoves correctly, fireplaces and stoves need a supply of air for good combustion (which also minimizes the risk of producing carbon monoxide). A fresh air supply for a wood stove also increases the ability to evacuate the flue gases; otherwise they will not work properly. See here about choosing and using a wood stove properly -
Choosing the Best Wood-Burning Stove or Fireplace
如果没有空气供应，木炉是无法点燃的，所以烟会倒进安装它的房间，这不是你想要发生的。为了让烟能够从烟囱中抽上来，需要空气通过烟道不断向上流动，如果没有空气来源，这是无法实现的。烟道管道也需要安装最少的弯曲，并且需要很好地拉伸，这在它们热的时候是有帮助的，因为对流将燃烧气体拉到烟囱上。
对于那些已经有了壁炉的人来说，一旦你安装了新的登录，房间里就会充满烟雾，一个很好的测试是检查当打开房间的窗户或门时，你的炉子的燃烧是否有所改善，如果是这样，很可能你需要安装一些正确的通风系统。此外，高质量烟囱罩的增加还可以改善气流，防止在高压天气条件下变得更糟的下流气流(想想冬天的大草原)。
As a rule, all airtight houses, especially new builds like meet zero homes, LEED or Passive House, require an air vent that can not be closed or be covered up, i.e. permanently open and venting to the outside of the home. The vent should also be located in a place where the householder cannot cover it up, and externally where snow doesn't tend to bank up. Also, you may have to increase the size of the vent if the room with the woodburner has a stove hood, orHRV / ERV- as this could create negative pressure and draw flue gases back into your room - which could be dangerous.
Depending on what size BTU your intended stove is rated at will determine the size of the air vent which increases on the BTU rating. Roughly speaking the air vent needs to be around a free square inch per 3500 BTU, but always check local code requirements to be certain.
Now, from experience, and depending on your climate zone, fresh air vents can be optimized to prevent drafts. I've installed them directly behind woodburners, underneath in homes with a crawlspace (though this needs a cowl to prevent accidental blockage) and I've also installed them at opposite sides of the room if the room needed ventilation, but as the crawlspace was semi conditioned, I ran the metal vent ducting pipe in the same direction as the floor joists, tight to the floor, so the inbound air had a chance to warm up on the way in.
Here is another page that may be of value, abouthow to choose the best firewood and store it properly. I hope this info is helpful!
Very helpful. Thanks so much! :)