Insert blowing out rotting corpse stench!

So we have had a rat or a possum scratching around in our roof a few weeks back, then on Friday we had a slight smell of rotting flesh somewhere in our lounge area. Over the weekend the smell has gotten worse and I have narrowed the source down to our insert. When we turn the fan on it blows the foul stench, so I have taken out the baffle and cleaned the chimney but haven't dis lodged dead animals.

I was wondering where do inserts draw the air from and is it possible for an animal to get into the cavity that it does draw from. Out insert is set in a brick wall with a brick chimney. I had a quick look under the house but there is very limited crawl space below the insert. I am hesitant to remove the insert at this stage because there is tiles around the base that I would have to rip up...

If anyone has an installation diagram or any suggestions I would appreciate it!

dafattkidd said:

Oh boy. Sorry to hear that you've got this problem. Most inserts usally draw combustion air from the room they are installed in, unless an outside air intake kit is installed. There is a chance that a mouse or small rodent has died inside the insert- perhaps in one of the chambers where air comes in from the room is blown around the back of the insert and blown back into the room generally over the top of the insert. Are you burning 24/7 right now?

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Thanks for the reply....i am only burning on the weekends as it is only autumn here in oz...we have split system heating too so we aren't going cold.... but would obviously love to remove the dead animal from where ever it is...i took off some of the fascias of the heater before and couldn't see anything....at this stage it looks as though we wait the 2-4 weeks for the smell to stop...

Woody Stover said:

Eeeewww! Gross! You have a liner to the top, right? Could that possum (how do you know it was a possum?) have fallen down between the liner and the chimney tiles, to the smoke shelf of the fireplace? Have you got a "mirror on a stick" you can use to see on top of the smoke shelf if you have the surround off the insert?

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Guessing small possum or rat...heard some scratching in the corner of the roof a week or 2 back....then it stopped....then the smell came..

Grisu said:

If you turn on the fan and it blows the stench the dead animal may not be in your firebox/chimney but somewhere in the convection shell around the insert. If it would sit in the path for the combustion air the stench would go up the chimney. Have you pulled the blower and checked whether there is something there or behind it? You may also have to pull off the surround to look into the fireplace cavity.

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Yeah, i am with you. I did take one of the front panels off and could see the space above the insert. nothing but cob webs... Will have a go at some of the covers around the side of the insert tonight i think...

Update on the rotting corpse issue.

I pulled a few panels off the front of the insert the other night and apart form a lot of dust and cob webs there was no sign of dead animal. Just the smell. I cleaned things up and re assembled.

Then last night, no smell...none...i lit the fire, turned the fan on and still no smell..

So either lighting the fire (and not running the fan) as sped up the decomposing process, the dead animal has fallen into another area or, as I suspect, may have been taken away by another animal...

So good news, and happy burning at my house again!!