vent pipe leak discovered.

I have been burning my stove for awhile now, but every now and then the room just seemed to have a smell that I could not tell if it was still a new stove thing or a exhaust leak. I have Simpson Dura vent setup and had everything siliconed very well at every joint including connection to stove collar. I have a smoke/carbon monoxide detector in the room which never went off. At times the odor would seem to burn my eyes.

I just wanted share what I found:
I have a Harman Advance. I took the back panels off to get a better look at the vent pipe-to-stove connection. Even though I thought I had this sealed very well, I figured if I had a leak, this would be where it was. There is a 3 bolt exhaust collar with gasket back there and I had previously posted about finding only two bolts had been tightened from the factotry.

As it turns out it was my 'T' leaking. Once the back panels were off, I immediately noticed that there was a light brown ashy powder streak at the factory connection of the 'T'. This was easy to see on the black colored pipe. When I put my vent together I remember looking inside the 'T' and saw that the 'T' had orange colored silicone at the factory joints. I assumed ( and we all know what that means) I would not have leaks at those points...NOT!

I had the 'T' siliconed very well at all three connectors, at the top, at the stove side, and around the clean out cap on the bottom. Appearently the factory jounts need to be siliconed on the outside as well. Once I did this, all has been good. No more smell, and after being down here in the room all morning, no more eyes burning.

Long story short (and the moral)...don't take anything for granted. If you continue to smell something after your stove has been broke in, double check your vent for leaks no matter how small.

Hey, BTW Happy Black Friday!

I guess I can chalk this off to experience and I'll know better the next time. It sure is a better feeling knowing that I have eliminated the source of the fumes.

becareful... I went back through the thread that you mention. Lots of good suggestions. Your last post on that thread was interesting. My problem was primarily the fumes that I was smelling and thus the discovered leak. I don't seem to have a draft problem as my flame and pellets are burning good. Once I sealed the leak in the 'T', the burn did seem to become a little more fierce which is good.

I don't have the draft levers and adjustments on my stove as I saw mentioned as a way for you to check your draft on your stove. I am curous about the information you shared about basement pressure and should use 4" vent. Is there any articles on the internet that you learned this from? I would would like to check into that logic further. I have read articles in the past on being careful about negative house pressure. I would like to read other sources of information also.