Vertical Venting height and smoke blow by the exhaust blower.

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PelletMike

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Oct 3, 2012
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Lurker here . Thank you for everyone that has helped support this forum, this place is a wealth of information. With that being said. I tried to search for my problem with not much luck. so here goes.
The venting on my pellet stoveis currently set up this way.
stove to 3" connector piece, to T, to a 90 degree the two foot section through my wall. (The pellet stove is currently 45 degress from the wall kiddy cornered)
The problem i am having is a smoke smell coming from the pellet stove at start up and seems to slightly linger while it is on.
when i first start the pellet stove smoke looks to come from the exhaust blower motor.I have foil taped all of the joints.
My question is this, is the shorter vertical height of my flue preventing the exhaust from exiting the house at start up. is this a common problem? should i increase the vertical height on the inside of my home.

thank you in advance for helping me out with my problem.
 
First welcome to the forum.

Second is that all of your venting and what is the stove you are talking about?

Usual culprits in smoke smell causing is the stove adapter not being properly sealed to the the stove exhaust (it needs a screw and sealant) then clean out tee caps which should have a high temperature metal foil used to make certain the cap is sealed, then failure to seal the outside annulus around the vent as it exits the thimble.

There are other things including smoke spillage out of air washes and wire pass throughs for the igniter wire. Usually a properly spinning combustion blower will make all smoke exit via the vent, but things can get in the way.
 
Smokey said it best. The Stove adapter is a Big Culprit. Did you seal it well with High temp silicone?

And also all joints need to be sealed. Sometimes tape is all it takes. But sometimes, even the factory crimps leak a little.

Get a very bright flashlight and restart the stove. Before the fires starts, is when its gonna be obvious.

What stove do you have? Add it to your signature. Helps us to diagnose problems easier without always asking.

Depending on the model and how the combustion blower runs or if it has a test mode, you can add a smoke bomb and just run the blower until you find it.

Welcome to the Forums
 
I think you'll discover that you need more vertical in your venting, the England manual should tell you how to properly vent that unit and Mike Holton from England would likely have dropped in and commented if you had included the stove model in the title. He is a regular here on Hearth.com

Back to back 90 degree turns can cause a slowdown in getting the smoke out in addition do you have that venting on a slight incline, venting is supposed to always be going up bubble.
 
Yes this is all of the venting that i used for venting out.
I have sealed around each of the joints with high temp tape. I have also siliconed a few of the crimped areas that i have noticed smoke coming from. The adapter to the stove has been taped with foil tape. I did not install screws or high temp caulking. I will try the flash light again right now and hopefully i can pin point the leak more accurately.
 
If you have crimped joints you should also check the saddle joint on the clean out tee, the normal practice on those is to seal the saddle joint before even installing the clean out tee as they tend to separate at that point.
 
The problem is the stove adapter. It NEEDS high temp silicone. NEEDS IT!

Tape is not sufficient there. It needs a good bead laid around the adapter. Period. Thats where your leak is. This is noted in the manual. Along with the need for 3 ft of vertical rise in your venting.
 
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Thank you guys for your quick response! I will be adding the high temp to the back of m stove this morning.
Should i add more vertical piping on the exterior of my chimney run?
 
The vent should likely be added inside and yes that means punching hole time (but before you do that make certain of your clearances on the outside where it will terminate).

You never mentioned where your OAK was or if you had one, it is required for that stove and should exit below (check clearances here as well) the vent. The goal is to provide a good consistent air flow avoiding any negative pressure situations that develop inside a house and to be far enough away from the vent termination to stop from sucking oxygen depleted air into the stove as combustion air.
 
yes. My OAK is currently to the left side of the exhaust. within 1 foot. I am reluctant to punch another hole in my wall. this is way i was first trying my other options if at all possible.

thanks again.
 
I do not believe that you are supposed to vent that stove the way you have and your OAK really should be below the level of your vent, not where snow and leaves can block it, and further away than that from the exhaust.
 
Yeah i didn't think i vented it properly. I don't have a problem punching another hole , i just wanted to make sure that it was critical before i did it. thank you everyone for your knowledge !
 
ok, first off "back to back" 90's (a tee is a 90) creates back pressure so any leak will be magnified. secondly, there needs to be a minimum of 3 ft of vertical in the system can be done inside or outside, but it needs to be there. another thing to look at, with the stove shut down, remove the "tee cap" fro the tee and check it by looking upwards through the gap between the innner "cup" which holds the ashes, and the outer shell of the pipe. they are notorious for having leaks there, simply fill the gap at the bottom of the cap with high temp silicone and this should fix that leak point.
 
Make sure you dont just add high temp with the stove adapter in place. It needs removed from the stoves exhaust collar and a good bead of high temp applied before putting back on.

I didnt want you to think that the silicone could be applied while the vent is still attached to the stove.

Your also going to be over the 15' EVL limit if you add another 90° or T outside and go up 3 ft. It would be better to add the 3 ft inside and punch another hole. Will help the stove breathe easier and keep you from needing 4" vent.
 
DexterDay said:
Make sure you dont just add high temp with the stove adapter in place. It needs removed from the stoves exhaust collar and a good bead of high temp applied before putting back on.

I didnt want you to think that the silicone could be applied while the vent is still attached to the stove.

Your also going to be over the 15' EVL limit if you add another 90° or T outside and go up 3 ft. It would be better to add the 3 ft inside and punch another hole. Will help the stove breathe easier and keep you from needing 4" vent.
Click to expand...

The vertical on the inside also lessons issues with ash buildup due to the ash settling out before a good amount exits the vent because the cold vent in the winter will cool the exhaust to the point that the ash settles out earlier while it is still inside the venting.
 
Thank you everyone for your replies. I siliconed every joint, rivet and seam that is on the venting. This has stopped the light smokey smell i had.

What issues can arise from not having the three feet of vertical pipe?

Thanks again.
 
PelletMike said:
Thank you everyone for your replies. I siliconed every joint, rivet and seam that is on the venting. This has stopped the light smokey smell i had.

What issues can arise from not having the three feet of vertical pipe?

Thanks again.
Click to expand...

Well that depends upon where the issues would come from.

First that smoky smell you just got rid of could come back to haunt you during a power outage.

The fact you didn't do the installation by the book could come back to haunt you with a code inspection or an insurance company.
 
I just added the three feet of verticle venting. stove is running like a gem. Thanks ALL
 
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