Carbon Monoxide det. Keeps going off!!!

Do you have an OAK. If you don't these stoves pull a HUGE amount of air out of the house and if your house is well sealed the stove might be putting your house in a negative pressure condition causing your water heater or furnace to not vent properly (especially if it is vented with B-Vent).

Who installed the stove? How long has it been up and running?

Lots of recommendations to check seals, gaskets, etc. Now, I don't run a pellet stove, so I may just not understand the problem, however how can a bad gasket cause a CO leak? Isn't a properly installed pellet stove under constant negative pressure, like a wood stove? Chimney creates draft, which creates draw. Any leak will cause room air to get sucked into stove, and cause stove to overfire, not allow CO to leak out. If you have CO leaking out, you have a draft problem, not just a gasket problem.

As I see it, either something is preventing proper draw of the chimney (poorly configured chimney cap, wind, kink in the liner, etc.), or draw of pellet stove is causing some other appliance to back-draft, or some other appliance is causing stove to back-draft. Since it seems to be present in the stove room, I would see if the same problem occurs when I shut down all other drafting appliances (clothes dryer, kitchen range hood, water heater, furnace, etc.). Are you running any of these appliances when the problem occurs? Does the draft on your stove seem particularly weak?

Again, FD or gas co can bring in a better CO detector, which may help you identify the source of the problem much more quickly.

A pellet stove's combustion area is under negative pressure, up to the exhaust blower. Thereafter, the gasses are under slight positive pressure, including the venting.

Joful said:

Lots of recommendations to check seals, gaskets, etc. Now, I don't run a pellet stove, so I may just not understand the problem, however how can a bad gasket cause a CO leak? Isn't a properly installed pellet stove under constant negative pressure, like a wood stove? Chimney creates draft, which creates draw. Any leak will cause room air to get sucked into stove, and cause stove to overfire, not allow CO to leak out. If you have CO leaking out, you have a draft problem, not just a gasket problem.

As I see it, either something is preventing proper draw of the chimney (poorly configured chimney cap, wind, kink in the liner, etc.), or draw of pellet stove is causing some other appliance to back-draft, or some other appliance is causing stove to back-draft. Since it seems to be present in the stove room, I would see if the same problem occurs when I shut down all other drafting appliances (clothes dryer, kitchen range hood, water heater, furnace, etc.). Are you running any of these appliances when the problem occurs? Does the draft on your stove seem particularly weak?

Again, FD or gas co can bring in a better CO detector, which may help you identify the source of the problem much more quickly.

Click to expand...

There are gaskets at the combustion blower where the blower motor mounts against the blower cavity, the area between the blower cavity and the stoves exhaust system, then again there are some stoves that have a quick disconnect system that also uses a gasket. Most vent system have gaskets of one kind or another. All of these areas should be considered to be under positive pressure for the purposes of tracking down combustion byproduct leaks.

It is even possible that the room the stove is in to be a source of a pressure difference that can cuse combustion byproducts to exit the stove where they shouldn't. Basements are frequently a case of said conditions.

heat seeker said:

A pellet stove's combustion area is under negative pressure, up to the exhaust blower. Thereafter, the gasses are under slight positive pressure, including the venting.

Click to expand...

Good advice to drop by and speak with a crew member or Captain and explain what is taking place with your CO detector , generally up to 9PPM are acceptable in the residence over an extended period and workplace 25 PPm over a time of a shift- 8-10 hours , flew like symptoms and headaches are an indication of over-exposure and as stated it can become serious . I suggest when you make contact the department in your nearby area or through 911 explain the circumstances of which the alarm was and where both going off or just the one . Detectors for CO generally should be tossed and replaced at 5 years and I mark them with permanent marker to know when in service . If you made contact with the department and asked about billing to ensure you are comfortable and if need be have the heads up so you can start the stove and possibly find the cause - only when arrangement has been made ! Just so you know CO is a odourless with a specific gravity that is slightly lighter than air and will rise . Your body has an affinity to CO - meaning it will bind quicker with your blood- hemoglobin 250 times faster than oxygen and you will slowly render you unable to make rational decisions and will easily take a family . Ensure you make contact in person to discuss with a crew - thank them for all they do and deal with the problem as a team and until that is accomplished don't fire the appliance

WHAT STOVE MAKE? There is positive pressure stoves out there. Bigger pain to vent and even more so if in a basement install.

Odd there are no details like stove type, installation info. The silence is deafening. Code issue, self-install? Hope OP gets back to the board to let everyone know what happened. Info might be helpful to others that use the same model of stove.

Self installs are terrible for shortcuts. Venting into a existing chimney that is still servicing other appliances. No liner and now that warmer weather is there, the chimney has lower draft. The list could go on for a page or more on just venting mistakes let alone stove issues.

Kathryn8518 said:

Anything else that would go off would be upstairs. The stove is the only thing down stairs that sets it off. Our detectors are new... Only 2 months old... When the detector downstairs goes off and I bring it upstairs it stops, I take it back down to the stove area and within 5 min it starts going off again.
Are there things or reasons on the stove itself that causes carbon monoxide leaks? Short of cleaning everything we haven't tried anything else. It was cleaned to

Click to expand...

Somehow, exhaust gases are escaping into your living space. Any number of things can cause that.

Hole in your heat exchanger

Vent pipe sections not sealed properly

Combustion blower gasket bad or not seated

Door gasket not sealing properly

etc etc

Kathryn8518 said:

Anything else that would go off would be upstairs. The stove is the only thing down stairs that sets it off. Our detectors are new... Only 2 months old... When the detector downstairs goes off and I bring it upstairs it stops, I take it back down to the stove area and within 5 min it starts going off again.
Are there things or reasons on the stove itself that causes carbon monoxide leaks? Short of cleaning everything we haven't tried anything else. It was cleaned to

Click to expand...

The house is a system, one part is connected to the other parts. That basement first floor, upstairs demarcation line is a figment of the imagination. If your place is like most there are all kinds of leaks that allow gases to pass.

Don't play games get the people with the equipment that can pinpoint the source. I know of cases where the source was outside of the building. A lot of sick people at that game.

The fire department likely has the equipment to pinpoint the leak no guessing required.

Kathryn8518 said:

Bed time and3 children and working this morning. For some reason all these messages haven't come to my phone. The stove is a king 5502 I believe. I would have to double check when I get home, it has ran fine for a couple months with exception of we had moved the slide down in the auger which caused a lot of issues. The detectors don't go off all the time, only after the stove has ran for about 24 hours or so, and it's only the one download stairs. The detectors have all been checked they are working properly. So I don't feel there is a need to call a fire department when they stop going off after the area has been ventilated. We have a walk out basement, lithe detectors setting 5-10 feet from the stove , when its moved away towards our upstairs stairway it quits. The fore department will tell us the alarms are going off due to the pellet stove which we already know, what I was looking nor was suggestions on why it would be doing this? Someplace that may be loose, I don't know?

Click to expand...

Kathryn, what folks are trying to tell you is the gas is odorless and you won't "see" it or "smell" it, so either your local gas company or fire department will be able to bring a special CO detector far more sensitive that what we all use and in all likelihood trace the source of the leak. You can't screw around with this issue. Excuse the pun but you are really playing with fire here. Be smart please and get a professional to take a look.

As Smokey says they can pin point the leak, if its the stove or someplace on the venting. Can probably rule out door gaskets as the burn chamber is under negative pressure.

First off bring in a professional before someone dies!

Second, my guess is it is not likely the pellet stove itself but more likely the stove causing a backdraft of another device. First culprit is a water heater tank.

We went through this when we sealed up our house better. Alarms started going off from time to time. We traced it back to the water tank when either the bathroom or stove fan is on, causing a backdraft.

Gotta get this solved ASAP.

I don't understand the debate here,this is a clear no brainer! When the co detector went off the first time exit the area call 911 and do not re enter til the house has been cleared! End of story.

ken372 said:

I don't understand the debate here,this is a clear no brainer! When the co detector went off the first time exit the area call 911 and do not re enter til the house has been cleared! End of story.

Click to expand...

Yepper !

Nothing else makes a dram of sense

I had a coworker die on Thanksgiving from CO poisoning. I really hope your children are not sleeping in the house while this is happening. I would hate to hear of something awful happening. Please stay out of the house and call the fire department.

The Op asked for help, we told her what to do, she wants to fix it herself.

I hope it's painless.

Me, I just wouldn't run that stove until I knew what caused the problem and it was fixed. But that's me.

Something to keep in mind.

CO may not be coming from your pellet stove making any attempts mute.

It's simple. CO is deadly. You NEED to pinpoint where it is coming from before you assume.

I speak for everyone here when I say we don't want anything happening to you or your family.

There are something's you just don't mess around with.

Apply our advice and be safe.

Sincerely.