Just cleaned my Empress FS and it smells extra woody while burning

[srjtr7]

I have a Empress FS stove that is around 4-5 years old.

I just cleaned it up for the season and it smells extra woody in the house when running.

Is there any reason it should be like this...some place I forgot to clean?

I have a CO2 sensor and it has not even blipped so I don't think it is exhaust.

Any suggestions?

 

[Nicholas440]

I would think if you smell wood burning odor you might look for a leak. My Quad did that after a professional cleaning and I had to touch up the silicone where the vent pipe attaches to the back of the stove , the woody smell went away after I did that.


Look at your exhaust joints they might need some silicone. Check your door gasket as well.

 

[srjtr7]

I did the flashlight in the dark around the stove and could not see any smoke.

I did sniff around more and closer to the stove and it seems like it is either coming from the top of the door or the heat tubes.

I seem to smell it from the heat blowing out at me.....and it's not just at the tube cleaning rod area.

How can I test the tubes and door seal?

 

[DexterDay]

Every year, I get a "smell" too. Could be dust accumulation from over the summer.

Did you have it cleaned by a Pro or did you do it? I clean mine so I know what I did. You dont know if he resealed everything.

Have you had a smell before? What type of Pipe do you own and how many joints do you have inside the house?

4-5 Yrs is a short time for something to catastrophicly fail? (Exchange tube, housing, etc)

 

[srjtr7]

This is more then jus the dust smell...I have had that before.

I am getting the smell even when the stove is off, so I think something in not sealed correctly.

I cleaned it myself...had it professionally cleaned last year and they guy said I did a better job cleaning it then they do...he vacuumed the tiny bit left and cleaned the flew pipe.

Not sure what type of pipe I have, but I have 6 joints that where all sealed when it was installed and the clean out on the T, that I removed and cleaned. I know I put it back on tight.

I cleaned the burn chamber, took out the back fire plates and cleaned back there, cleaned out the ash pan, took off the clean out T and cleaned that end with a small brush and cleaned outside with a small brush.

Got a ton out and it burns and runs well.

I know I do not smell anything at the back of the unit...just the front.

And it is more then then tiny bit I am used to smelling from the tube cleaning rod hole.

So...I am guessing 1 of these might be the issue: door gasket, door misalignment, seal around the glass, heat tubes.

 

[DexterDay]

I doubt its the door gasket or air wash itself. The firebox has negative pressure because of the combustion blower. It would be sucking in aid rather than blowing out smoke. It could be the exchange tube. If the plenum is not sealed correctly in the back, it could leak. Or its somewhere in the exhaust path. Either the stove adapter (1st section- goes on stove) or any of the joints.

 

[gyingling]

My Windsor gives the woody smell after I have had the pipe off and cleaned it. It goes away after a little while.

Is this the first time you have noticed it?

 

[jtakeman]

I betting its the tee cap leaking. The convection blower is drawing in the air (with the smoke smell) from behind the stove and expelling it out the front convection area. Very common. I use tape on the tee cap as silicon is harder to remove!

 

[Rooster286]

One thing I noticed causes this is pellets dropping on to a hot surface..they slowly carbonize instead of igniting and really give off that "wood" smell you're talking about...if you dropped any on the exchanger or another hot surface it could cause this...It continues to smell until the few pellets are completely charcoaled in my experience or you clean it out.

 

[Nicholas440]

I'm in agreement with J Takeman on this one, you dont have to see smoke to get a smell, you might want to give those joints a good bead of silicone or use the tape as J-Takeman says. Sounds like the odor is getting sucked into the convection blower and you smell it at the tubes. Door gasket wont leak as was mentioned because of negative pressure, usually check the door seal with a $1 dollar bill, close the door on it and the bill should be snug, if it slides right out your door seal needs replaced. Just answering because you asked how to check door seal . I bet most of your wood smell comes upon ignition like mine did until I re-sealed the joints with silicone.

 

[srjtr7]

I think I found it. Guess my installer did not do a great job sealing it and it finally leaked.

I have resealed it and am waiting for it to dry to fire it up and see if I got it.

 

[DexterDay]

Yep. Looks like that would definitely leak.

 

[ablejoy]

Looks like you better check everything again that,s some sloppy work

 

[srjtr7]

I will be checking everything again tomorrow.

Guess I got lucky...no leaks for years.

I tried to seal as much as I could get to and the smell is mostly gone.

I am going to see if I can get it 100% sealed up tomorrow.