Should You Leave A Window Cracked For Venting A Wood Stove?
If your wood stove is installed correctly, then no, you do not have to crack open a window for venting purposes.
Stoves draw indoor air for oxygen – if there’s too little of it, sure, opening a window a bit can do wonders.
A telltale sign of a wood stove that is starving for air is, mainly, difficulty of lightning a fire. You may also have the issue of smoke coming into your room, as opposed to going up the flue, when trying to get a fire going.
All of these issues can be solved by opening a window, even just a little bit, really anywhere in your house – as long as the fresh air can get to the stove, of course.
What’s wrong with my house?
If you must have a window cracked in order to operate a wood stove, it probably means your home is airtight.
Airtight homes aren’t much of a bad thing at all, if they are properly ventilated that is. And in your case, this is certainly not true, considering your wood stove is unable to keep up with the demand.
Only a professional can tell you whether that’s true or not, like HVAC personnel.
On installing an outside air kit…
An outdoor air kit can provide the much needed air your stove requires for proper combustion.
Having said that, it’s more of a benefit to an already working system, rather than a solution to, let’s say, the said airtight home.
An appropriate ventilation system should be all that’s required for a wood stove to work, and that’s why you should figure out that problem first.
Though I’d be lying to say that piping a direct air input for the stove won’t help, if not solve, the issue of this blog post. It’s just that it won’t solve your house’s ventilation.
If I were to crack open a window for air
I’d do it as close to the wood stove as possible.
The further the source of fresh air is, the further the draft will have to travel through your domicile. This doesn’t feel too comfortable, let me tell you that.
Can I leave the window open during the day?
I don’t think that’s much different from doing so during the night.
It’s not an airtight home if there is ventilation, is it? I live in the mountains. My home is very airtight with closed cell insulation. In order for my wood stove to work correctly, a window near the stove (preferably) must be cracked— just enough to create and sustain an upward convection up the flu when it gets warm then hot. Without doing that you’ll struggle to keep a fire going and you’ll never benefit from the extended overnight coal glow that you want thru out the night. And, smoke— there goes the alarm again! Darn!
Airtight homes get stuffy in the winter. So what, intermittently open your doors and turn on the ceiling fan for a bit.