new stove burn before install to decrease new stove burn smell

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MikeK

Member
Oct 12, 2014
48
MN
I have read, I believe on this site, that it will help to decrease the new stove smell if you make some fires in the stove outside before installing. I have an Englander NC-30. I was thinking of attaching some single wall stove pipe to the chimney outlet and building a few small fires in the stove to try this. Is this a good idea? If there are any cons to doing this I will just have it installed as is and make some fires when still warm outside so I can open lots of windows.

Thanks again everyone, I have been lurking here quite a bit and learned a lot over the winter!
 
Some people prefer to cure the paint outside before bringing a new stove inside. Personally I did not do this (I had not yet found this site to give me the idea to do it..) and after 4-5 fires the smoke was gone. But there was certainly a good haze in the room on my first fire!

Andrew
 
Sure, go for it. Use 4-6' of pipe and dry wood. Depending on the wood and how dry it is, you may need to keep the stove door ajar a bit to get enough air moving with the short chimney. Make the first fire small to dry out the fire brick. Then let the stove cool down, Then build a lincoln log style stack out of 6-8, 2-4" pieces and fire that up. Take the stove top up to 500-550F for 30+minutes.
 
I broke both of my stoves in after being installed and I do not remember there being a problem with smoke. A smell yes but not smoke.
 
IMO not worth all the effort. We all get smells off the stove every year from the new high temp the stove runs at. Burn in are to cure the stove cement, so I wouldn't do it until the stove is in place.
 
Just do the burn in when it is warm enough out to leave all the doors and windows open (but not so warm that the fireplace turn your whole house into an oven). I can't imagine going through the trouble to burn it outside just to save some bad odor. Plus every year you'll have some dust burn off the first few fires anyway, not like your going to move the stove outside for that every time.
After a small fire or 2, make sure you get it hot, like 550-600.
 
I would burn it outside. Most high temp paints come with a warning to not burn without ample air exchange and not around women that are pregnant or soon to be pregnant. You can read about such warnings on Stove Bright paint Web site. May be listed under Forrest Paint Company. Enjoy the new stove.....in about 5 months.
 
You could break it in indoors with a box or window fan in the closest window exhausting the fumes. This is easier to do in warmer weather when one is not worried about having other windows or a door open.
 
I'd just install it and deal with the paint cure smell instead of the mess of cleaning it up, removing bricks to make it lighter, etc. And also risking a scratch or two from double-handling your brand new stove.
Not sure if its normal, but my double wall connector pipe (black) had some curing smell for quite a while during temperature peaks on both of my stoves. It eventually went away and that black satin look is now more flat black looking.
 
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