Power Vent + Combustion Fans Cooling Basement
Posted: Thu. Jan. 03, 2013 11:00 am
Good morning all,
I am trying to make my system more efficient but I need some advise weather this would be a good idea or not.. I currently have an Alaska 140 dual burner run by a Coal-Trol that it connected to my duct work throughout my house and it does have a return setup in place. For reference sake, I am heating a 1950, 2400 sqft two story 1/2 brick, 1/2 vinyl home that is moderately insulated (about the best possible you can do to it including blown in through the attic) solely with coal. I also have an unfinished/half dirt basement. I use a power vent with a rheostat and a FC baro between the stove and the power vet in a vertical section. The total distance between the stove exit and the power vent is about 6 feet of piping. I have attached to pictures to show it.
So with that info out of the way, the problem is that I feel I am sucking too much heat out of the basement and then also cooling the house down because it I can feel a draft around some windows (not all but some) and it's tiny little air leaks it feels like. I have newer (10 years old or so) windows and they are chalked but I feel the air must be tiny pin prick holes it's coming through. As for my basement temperature never goes above 75. I feel like the stove is sucking all the air from the house and sending it outside and thus fresh air is coming in any way it can. When it gets in the 20s the stove can't keep up with one burner (drops to 69ish degrees.) I can keep almost any draft I with my vent providing it's at least .04 because if I try to slow it down and less with my current setup my powervent actually stops or close to it (maybe over heating?) This is a brand new power vent that I got last year (had same issue last year just didn't worry about it). My concern with the draft is my baro has to stay fully open to maintain that lower draft, if I close my baro down at all my draft will go .05 - .1. The power vent can even draw a full 1.0+ if I let it run full out. I feel like it's a vacuum going through the baro which has me thinking that is sucking a ton of air + the combustion fans. Would it be crazy to not only fresh air vent the combustion fans, but also the baro to help cut down on the air getting sucked out of the house? I would hope this helps the house retain heat because I feel that I'm losing a ton of it. I know normally a big no no for the baro but this is on a power vent, I've ran my stove when it hit 85 degrees out and I could vacuum my basement with that thing..
For the record, I burnt 6 1/2 tons last year starting Oct 16th and shutting down the first week of May temp of house is about 72ish on average. (First year in the house and using coal)
If anyone needs anymore info I'd be glad to answer or take more pictures
Thanks and sorry for the long winded post,
Storm
I am trying to make my system more efficient but I need some advise weather this would be a good idea or not.. I currently have an Alaska 140 dual burner run by a Coal-Trol that it connected to my duct work throughout my house and it does have a return setup in place. For reference sake, I am heating a 1950, 2400 sqft two story 1/2 brick, 1/2 vinyl home that is moderately insulated (about the best possible you can do to it including blown in through the attic) solely with coal. I also have an unfinished/half dirt basement. I use a power vent with a rheostat and a FC baro between the stove and the power vet in a vertical section. The total distance between the stove exit and the power vent is about 6 feet of piping. I have attached to pictures to show it.
So with that info out of the way, the problem is that I feel I am sucking too much heat out of the basement and then also cooling the house down because it I can feel a draft around some windows (not all but some) and it's tiny little air leaks it feels like. I have newer (10 years old or so) windows and they are chalked but I feel the air must be tiny pin prick holes it's coming through. As for my basement temperature never goes above 75. I feel like the stove is sucking all the air from the house and sending it outside and thus fresh air is coming in any way it can. When it gets in the 20s the stove can't keep up with one burner (drops to 69ish degrees.) I can keep almost any draft I with my vent providing it's at least .04 because if I try to slow it down and less with my current setup my powervent actually stops or close to it (maybe over heating?) This is a brand new power vent that I got last year (had same issue last year just didn't worry about it). My concern with the draft is my baro has to stay fully open to maintain that lower draft, if I close my baro down at all my draft will go .05 - .1. The power vent can even draw a full 1.0+ if I let it run full out. I feel like it's a vacuum going through the baro which has me thinking that is sucking a ton of air + the combustion fans. Would it be crazy to not only fresh air vent the combustion fans, but also the baro to help cut down on the air getting sucked out of the house? I would hope this helps the house retain heat because I feel that I'm losing a ton of it. I know normally a big no no for the baro but this is on a power vent, I've ran my stove when it hit 85 degrees out and I could vacuum my basement with that thing..
For the record, I burnt 6 1/2 tons last year starting Oct 16th and shutting down the first week of May temp of house is about 72ish on average. (First year in the house and using coal)
If anyone needs anymore info I'd be glad to answer or take more pictures
Thanks and sorry for the long winded post,
Storm