Exhaust smell

[Rtanner0313]

Hi all, forgive me for my lack of knowledge and nuance. I've joined this forum specifically to troubleshoot my pellet stove.

It's our second stove, and the second one we've installed ourselves. Our first stove was so efficient, we decided to install one on the bottom floor of the house to completely cut out the heat pump use.

We got the stove used, it's an Englander with a hopper capacity of 240lb. It's installed with a T and an elbow, which seemed to be leaking the exhaust smell, so we used Hvac tape to seal up the pipe. We assumed that would fix the issue, but after 20 minutes of running it, the exhaust smell came upstairs and started burning my nose and throat, and I ran down to find the smell overwhelming and obviously not taken care of by sealing up the pipe.

What should I trouble shoot first? I'm not handy with mechanics, but have friends who are, though none of them are experienced specifically with pellet stoves.

Thanks in advance!

 

[gfreek]

The best time of find the leak/leaks is at startup with a flashlight. Is the HVAC tape you used rated for high temp ? There is high temp flue tape available and many here use it... You may have to disassemble the pipe and reconnect with sealant and tape.

 

[jackman]

Another thought is a leak in the stove itself. Perhaps the door gasket is leaking or, in my case, there were holes for bolting to the floor which needed to be sealed.