New Harman, Smoke smell in house

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P38X2 said:
Check your manual. Almost positive it shows the procedure for tightening the door.
Click to expand...

A lot of information in them manuals :). One bolt, one nut; I had to move it all the way back to get a tighter seal, I can still pull the dollar bill out but not as easily.

I will wait until tonight to fire it up as I have to get ready for work soon.

thanks again.
 
Harman pellet stoves work on negative pressure. That means when the stove is running if the door gasket is not set you WILL NOT get smoke in the house. The exhaust is under positive pressure when the stove is running so if you are smelling smoke as the stove is running look at the exhaust.

Eric
 
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kinsmanstoves said:
Harman pellet stoves work on negative pressure. That means when the stove is running if the door gasket is not set you WILL NOT get smoke in the house. The exhaust is under positive pressure when the stove is running so if you are smelling smoke as the stove is running look at the exhaust.

Eric
Click to expand...

Thanks, for the information. Is the door seal even that important then?
 
brokenknee said:
Thanks, for the information. Is the door seal even that important then?
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Yes, a bad seal will let air into the stove and disrupt the negative pressure. Lazy flame, black ash, incomplete burn, etc.
 
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subsailor said:
Yes, a bad seal will let air into the stove and disrupt the negative pressure. Lazy flame, black ash, incomplete burn, etc.
Click to expand...
....and a bad enough leak can result in no feed at all......
 
subsailor said:
Yes, a bad seal will let air into the stove and disrupt the negative pressure. Lazy flame, black ash, incomplete burn, etc.
Click to expand...


Good call from a "Bubblehead".

Eric
 
I've chased a leak for about 3 or more years. I've tried all the flashlight in the dark, rtv, tape etc.solutions. Duravent? Check.
After about a dozen bags early in the season, it goes away. So, there is a pinhole somewhere in the exhaust that gets plugged with ash sometime after a good cleaning.

Sorry that this doesn't help you much. Just an observation.
 
I have a harman xxv with duravent piping. I had a bit of smoke smell first few days of burning last year thag went away. Think ash plugged up the leak. This year had smoke smell again on startup saw a bit of smoke come from the cleanout trap. I siliconed every joint inside the house. Smoke smell gone.
 
Stoveman 77 said:
Is there a lable on the pipe,try to find the name of pipe it is pellet pipe correct
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The pipe was supplied by the dealer, I am sure it is for a pellet stove.

I thought the smell was gone, but the wife said she got a slight smell of it the other day. It was a little breezy outside, would it be possible the wind is forcing the smoke back in the stove and causing a leak in an area that normally isn't subject to any smoke so it is not sealed for it? We put in all new windows and doors this summer so it should not be coming in from any of those.

I am letting the stove cool off right now so I can clean it, I will take a look see if I notice anything out of place.
 
Can you tell us exactly what you've sealed/taped so far? Did you seal the wall thimble?
 
Make certain there is no joint inside the thimble.

The wall thimble should be sealed on the outside make sure the area around where the vent passes through the thimble is sealed.

Make certain the thimble is sealed to the house all the way around.

As for relying on the installer to have used the correct venting well we have seen all kinds of foul ups in that area.
 
I did not seal the wall thimble, it is an oak. I will have to feel down there to see if I feel a draft. There is some wind today so when I am cleaning the stove I will see if I can notice anything.

No joints in the thimble.

As far as the piping goes I think it said duravent on the box. It looks like the pellet pipe I have seen at the big box stores.
 
brokenknee said:
I did not seal the wall thimble, it is an oak. I will have to feel down there to see if I feel a draft. There is some wind today so when I am cleaning the stove I will see if I can notice anything.

No joints in the thimble.

As far as the piping goes I think it said duravent on the box. It looks like the pellet pipe I have seen at the big box stores.
Click to expand...

You also need to make certain your joints on OAKs are sealed as well along with where the OAK penetrates the house on the outside.

Please post a picture of your vent on the outside of the house along with a closeup of the thimble.
 
It's extremely unlikely you bought the wrong type of vent pipe...maybe the wrong brand though ;) One of my stoves uses Duravent. Before I went nutty with silicone and tape, it leaked in multiple places. My other stove has another brand of venting. No leaks.

Break out the silicone and seal up that thimble. If it's a tight squeeze back there and you don't wanna pull your stove out, you can get high temp silicone in toothpaste style tubes (as opposed to the tube and gun)
 
I would tape all elbow type joints and any seam duravent is known to leak you can paint all tape with high temp stove/grill paint as well as pipe. my 45' elbow leaked at swivel point big time before putting the foil tape on it.
 
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