Harman XXV mystery smell

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craigsward

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Apr 1, 2009
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So i have been running the Harman for 2 full seasons now and all of a sudden the other night while we had some company staying over, they woke up to a heavy smoke smell. The stove was on low jsut cranking through the night like usual. So yesterday i did a full cleaning, vent pipe etc. It had been a while and the vent pipe was real dirty. I thought maybe this was part of the reason. I fired it back up today and I am still getting smoke smell. I took out my HID bike light, which is a blueish real bright light and usually allows for me to see any smoke, and i couldn't see anything. I took off the rear panels and still couldn't see anything. However when i put my nose over the hot air being blown out i got a good wiff of smoke. Not the typical Okie smell. Witrh that said this is my fifth bag of Okies i have run ever, and i can't believe how hot they are. I wonder if the extra heat loosend up an internal seal somewhere. But i would think that would affect the vaccum that the stove is under and would shut it off.
So i'm curious where else could this strong smoke smell be coming from. My pipes are sealed with lots of high temp silicon because i battled a leak last year and fixed it this way.

I had the hopper replaced last season, so hopefully its not related to this. The tech said he would never replace another hopper on a XXV after he did my install.
 
If you're very sure the smoke smell is coming from the convection air, then you need to shut the stove off immediately.....the possiblility of CO streaming directly into the room is very dangerous!

There is obviously a breach of the firebox into this part of the stove. Since you mentioned that the hopper was replaced, my guess is that something related to that has finally failed (not enough silicone, or a weld, etc, etc.)

I would get in touch with the dealer, as this would seem to be a warranty item. Fireboxes in Harman units have a limited lifetime warranty, with a 3 yr. labor coverage.
 
Boy, this kind of tale sure makes me suspect that my 1st generation Whitfield must be built like a tank in comparison, since it's over 22 years old and going strong, possible with all original parts, though I haven't had it but a while and don't know its history. As for the smoke, I had an even more pronounced version of what you experienced. While sitting next to my stove one night I began to smell lots of smoke odor, -coming from the convection air. I shut it down but the next day the problem was gone. I haven't had a repeat of the problem since, so if it wasn't a bird or a cat in my un-screened vent, then it must have been the air outside -high pressure, inside; low pressure. But if you had a repeat the next day, it must be something else. While the convection tubes have no moving parts, if some point that seals them had its solder or welding separate due to the heat-cool cycle, that sure could cause the problem. Did you do the inspection with the lights off so any light leakage would be visible. In the dark the possible hole might be visible.
 
Check your intake air flapper, if it is stuck open it is possible for smoke to exit the stove from there and get sucked through the distribution blower.

I'm not saying this is what's happening but it could be. It would also require some other things happening, such as an exhaust fan running in the house (there are generally several that most folks don't think of, such as clothes dryers, other heating system burners, open fireplace dampers, etc ...).

You have to locate the source, where there are gaskets and any point where surfaces come together have to be checked out.
 
low burn and smoke smell, and seemingly distributed by the distribution blower sounds more like a leak in the pipe near the stove nipple or close to it to me.......let the stove shut down, cool off. Take the back panels off, turn off all romm lights (works best at night), then use that light of yours and look for a leak. I dont think its a intake leak, rather, an exhaust leak.
 
Lousyweather is correct....The exhaust (venting) is the only part of the stove that is under positive pressure which will allow smoke to to be pushed out through a leak. So if there is an air leak in the venting the distribution blower is just below the flue collar which would pick up any smoke or exhaust that would be present.

Just a side note - The firebox of this stove is under negative pressure which would allow for air to be sucked into the firebox not out.

SmokeyTheBear - Even if the air "intake" was stuck open its drawing air into it. The laws of physics wouldn't allow smoke to be blown out through this area as lonas as the combustion blower is operating properly.
 
FireJumper said:
Lousyweather is correct....The exhaust (venting) is the only part of the stove that is under positive pressure which will allow smoke to to be pushed out through a leak. So if there is an air leak in the venting the distribution blower is just below the flue collar which would pick up any smoke or exhaust that would be present.

Just a side note - The firebox of this stove is under negative pressure which would allow for air to be sucked into the firebox not out.

SmokeyTheBear - Even if the air "intake" was stuck open its drawing air into it. The laws of physics wouldn't allow smoke to be blown out through this area as lonas as the combustion blower is operating properly.
Click to expand...

Firejumper - You are assuming that the combustion fan is actually producing enough airflow to counteract any other air handling system. That wimpy combustion fan can loose big time to other fans in a house. It depends upon who is the bigger of the suckers.
 
I don't want to argue with you but all you can do is assume in a case like this. The stove ran fine for 2 full seasons. of course, unless something has changed within the home my bet would be that there isn't another fan in the house causing this issue. just my opinion...
 
no real argument....in-house fans can overload a pellet stove fan...air handlers, bath fans, furnace, dryer, vernt hoods, other stoves....BUT in this case, if that were the issue, there likely would be NO fire.....this would produce a reverse process in the stove, sucking the air DOWN thru the burn pot holes and out...where there is no fuel............Im putting my bragging rights on a exhaust leak.....
 
Lousyweather said:
no real argument....in-house fans can overload a pellet stove fan...air handlers, bath fans, furnace, dryer, vernt hoods, other stoves....BUT in this case, if that were the issue, there likely would be NO fire.....this would produce a reverse process in the stove, sucking the air DOWN thru the burn pot holes and out...where there is no fuel............Im putting my bragging rights on a exhaust leak.....
Click to expand...

If every one reads my post you discover that I said that other things would also have to occur, even further, what I'd be checking namely all joints.

It is not a violation of the laws of physics to have a reverse air flow through a stove that burns solid fuel, it can and does happen, the end result is smoke in the room with the stove, where smoke appears to exit the stove may not always be close to where the "leak" is, a convection fan (under the correct conditions) can also overpower a combustion fan. The end result is smoke in the room with the stove (once again there would be no broken seals or warn gaskets).

Also because the air flow can go the opposite of its normal directions doesn't mean the fire would necessarily go out.
 
I wish there was some authoritative information as to WHY in the world and HOW that occasionally happens. I was left scratching my head when it happened to me.
 
It's a bit esoteric, but one could install a magnehelic gauge to measure the pressure/vacuum in the house versus the outdoors. Of course, an OAK makes that pointless in our case.
 
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