Harman XXV smoky smell on low fire

[Suie]

Hi all, I'm at my wits end trying to figure out what's going on with my XXV. When it's cold outside and the stove is cranking, everything is fine. But now that it's warmer, and the fire runs on the low maintenance burn (room temp mode), it has a strong smoky smell. This started in January right after I had given the stove a thorough cleaning. The fire itself burns well - a nice yellow flame. And all the blowers all seem to be working fine.

I replaced the window gasket, the ash pan gasket, and sealed up all the vent pipes with high temp foil tape. The smell is not as noticeable in stove temp mode, as the fire seems to burn more consistently and not throttle up and down as much.

One thing remember after the cleaning was that I had a really hard time getting the combustion blower back in correctly and wondered if that could be in wrong somehow. The manual says that the motor armature should be pointing up towards the hopper, but I'm not exactly sure what that means. Can anyone tell me what to look for there?

I had one tech out to look at it, and he couldn't figure out what's going on. (he was the one who suggested replacing the gaskets) He also said the blowers were all working fine. I notice there are a lot of XXV owners in the forum so I'm hoping someone here might know what's up. Thanks!!

 

[Lake Girl]

Welcome Suie - you have a leak somewhere...

Bioburner, the other moderator, swears by the self-adhesive high temp silicone tape for pipe joints. Have a roll but have yet to use it

There are a couple of methods for leak detection. Flash light in the dark looking for smoke. BBQ lighter near likely spots while running to see if flame is drawn in on the up side of the exhaust blower & pushed away on the down side. Smoke pen or incense stick too...

Hope Smoke and CO detectors are in place. Let us know how you make out...

 

[bogieb]

I've had foil tape crispify almost immediately - prefer the high temp silicone tape myself. If you have a T-cleanout, tape up the bottom of that (where the insert comes out), and the seams of any 45's or 90 degree pipe. It can be tough chasing a leak, and they usually are only noticeable during start up, or low burns - Lake Girl has mentioned the most common methods.. Good luck in tracking the leak down>

 

[mikesj]

What is your installation like? Is it possible that you are getting some smoke seeping back in from the outside? I have a through the wall horizontal exhaust on the windy side of my house. Under certain conditions I get a slight smoky smell inside.

 

[Suie]

Thanks for the replies! The exhaust pipes are all fine, including the clean-out T outside. Where I did find a leak is the lower part of the door. It starts under the latch and goes down to the bottom corner of the door. Holding a lighter there caused the flame to get sucked in. So it looks like the ash pan gasket may be the cause - I don't think I got installed properly on that side. I adjusted it a bit by hand and there was a noticeable improvement! So I've ordered a new gasket, and will see how it goes. Thanks again!!