Selkirk Pipe Is Junk

Im so aggrevated right now. Been waiting for months to get this stove running. chimmney company showed up to do the inspection, looked at everything and said it looked great. Fired up the stove and the house smelled like we had a campfire in the living room. Embers rolling out of the 90 degree fitting where the joints are pressed at the factory, and the from the bottom of the tee, and the hearth was covered in ashes. They put some more sealent on the 90 and took the tee cap off the bottom. I was in disbelief them suckers did not even put a seal around the tee cap. They put so much sealent on it, and it seemed no more embers were blowing out. They set the draft and packed up and left. Low and behold embers are coming ouf of the tee again. My mother who has bronchitis is so closed up I thought i was going to have to take here to the hospital. He said the only pipe they use is simpson duravent, and he showed me why. Selkirk pipe is rolled and pressed at the seams, where as simpson is all welded at the factory. The simpson tee also has a neoprene gasket which selkirk does not. I might pull this pipe out, this is ridiculous. 3000.00 dollar investment and can not use it. Man im beyond pissed. Like the dealer told me simpson use to be nothing but problems, but the stuff is wonderful now, meanwhile Selkirk is still press fitting the seams not welding it.. Sorry for the rant just very frusturated right now.

Icc I called everywhere looking at it. I moved home cause Im dissabled, and my dad has some medical conditions as well. I thought putting the stove in would help him as well since he is really cold. This did a number on my mother though she is so sick tonight. Only Thing I can think of is run it again with a Co detector and make sure its not leaking anymore. I contacted Selkirk and spoke to the enginerring department and they want pictures. Im going to work with them on solving the problems. I know I had a heck of a headache but i figured that was from the inital leak and the stove pipe paint curing. As far as everyones pellet stoves here, do you get any smoke smell inside your home at all, since it is a woodburning applicance?

DexterDay said:

No smell... The stove and pipe (if painted black) will smell for up to a couple days. It may even be strong enough to set of smoke alarms.

My dealer did a good pre-burn on the stove. No smell ever. My Woodstove stunk for over a week though. Every time you hit a new high temp (higher heat level) you may smell it again. Weeks down the road.

Be patient and listen to what there dept tells you. Hopefully they get it all worked out.

If it makes you feel better. Simpson Pellet Vent Pro isn't perfect and has a lot of Haters on here. I like it and only had to seal the 4" system on my Pellet furnace. My Shop stove and Quad upstairs have 3" and only have high temp on the appliance adapter.

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My stove was a display model so that has no smell. I have a feeling its the stove pipe paint curing from the factory. They just need to fix this tee for me. I hope to god I dont have to take the stove out if it is going to make mom sick. Im hoping the smell will go away.

Well I know yesterday I was mad, but Im speaking with a great rep at selkirk and she is working with me to try and solve this problem Im sending some pictures over to her, so engineering can see what they can do about this problem. It does make me feel a little better knowing they are willing to work with me.

Master Chief PO said:

I don`t have any problem with my Selkirk pipe. 4 yrs and never a trace of a problem regardless of how the seams were done.
It beats me how embers can escape a double walled elbow. Heck, I`ve never even see embers come out of a single walled wood stove elbow.
Are you sure the elbow wasn`t defective or damaged initially?

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I was amazed myself, but embers were coming out. I understand how they can come out of the tee with no gasket but the elbow had me scratching my head. I wish i had a video camera I would of shot a video so you all could have seen it. I spent two hours last night going through threads on here to see if anyone else had a problem like me. I found 3 threads where members had leaks as well as embers escaping in the same area. So I sent all those thread to engineering so Selkirk could see that im not the only one with a problem.

Well just a update I have been in contact with Selkirk, and there trying to help. I got a email from them telling me that my pictures look like my tee cap is in wrong. I explained to her it was in proper, the chimmney company even looked at and said it was in proper. I even showed her links here where folks here have had the same problem as me. I ran it in the dark and checked with a flashlight to see if I can see smoke and I see nothing now. The problem is its giving me a headache, and If you smell where the air comes out from the blower there is no smell on the right side, but a smoke smell on the left. I think there is a leak still some where and the blower is picking it up and blowing it out the front. Im about ready to pull my hair out, we have a frost warning tonight and I would love to be using it.

I can post some pictures vinny. I bleieve this is where the problem might be. Im going to put some more silicone around the flange of the combustion blower. I will post some pics of the setup for you. I think I have the pipe sealed, Im not seeing any smoke or embers from the pipe anymore. Anyway here is some pics of the setup. Thanks Vinny, Dexter, and everyone else that has replied thus far, Im so stressed and all help is appreciated.

vinny11950 said:

From here it looks okay. I don't see silicone in the space between the inner and outer pipe of the stove adapter. That could be the culprit. If there is a leak anywhere in the pipe, smoke will find its way out that space. If you are going to take it off, it is best to put a thick bead of silicone there.

As for embers, it is hard to imagine burning pellets making it to the tee. Maybe you saw the burning ash.

Let us know how it goes.

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Ya its hard to believe but before we siliconed it up you could see embers coming out of the tee. I have the ember problem taken care of now im just chasing a smoke smell. Im not planning on taking the pipe off I have so much sealent on that thing its not even funny. I took the stove panel off on the left side of the stove near the combustion blower per your post. I found some areas of silicone that look like it could of been missing. I siliconed the heck out of that, and If it cools down one evening I will fire it off and see If i have the problem solved. Im still working with Selkirk I think there going to send me some new parts. I thought this would be easy, buy the stove, install it, and done. boy was I wrong lol.

Well the way I have it I can still unhook the stove pretty easily. You only need to change the gasket on the combustion blower bi anuanaly correct. I will seal around the secondary adapter space, and see what happens. Were suppose to have a drop in temps next week so we will test it out and report back.