Hey all,
This is my first post, and I couldn't find this question answered in a previous forum, so I appreciate any advice you can dole out.
My wife and I have a 25-30 year old Ashley wood stove that we just started using almost nightly this winter. In previous years, we've only burned a total of a half-cord all winter -- this year, we've burned at least a cord so far. Every year we get the chimney cleaned and inspected, and we had a stainless steel flue liner installed.
The problem is that we get this weird, almost chemical-ish odor coming from the stove on occassion. Last night was the fourth or fifth time it's happened, and it was really bad! We woke up to the smoke alarm going off, though there was no actual smoke that we could see in the house. The other times this odor has appeared, the smoke alarm has gone off then, too.
We have a CO detector, and that has never gone off. Last night, the smell gave me some mild chest pains, and my wife said she was a bit dizzy.
We've had our chimney guy out a previous time this happened, and he couldn't figure out what the smell is and ruled out paint or smoke blowback into an adjacent chimney. He said -- on an outside chance -- that it almost smelled like a decomposing animal that could be stuck inside the wood stove unit.
Last night, we had the stove burned pretty hot (though not to the point of making the walls glow) and the blower was at full blast. The times we've smelled this before, the blower was going strong and the fire was going hot.
Any thoughts on what the source of this smell could be and why the smoke alarm is triggered despite no apparent smoke?!? We love using the wood stove but can't deal with another night like last night (I didn't go back to sleep as we aired out the house and let the fire burn out).
Thanks
This is my first post, and I couldn't find this question answered in a previous forum, so I appreciate any advice you can dole out.
My wife and I have a 25-30 year old Ashley wood stove that we just started using almost nightly this winter. In previous years, we've only burned a total of a half-cord all winter -- this year, we've burned at least a cord so far. Every year we get the chimney cleaned and inspected, and we had a stainless steel flue liner installed.
The problem is that we get this weird, almost chemical-ish odor coming from the stove on occassion. Last night was the fourth or fifth time it's happened, and it was really bad! We woke up to the smoke alarm going off, though there was no actual smoke that we could see in the house. The other times this odor has appeared, the smoke alarm has gone off then, too.
We have a CO detector, and that has never gone off. Last night, the smell gave me some mild chest pains, and my wife said she was a bit dizzy.
We've had our chimney guy out a previous time this happened, and he couldn't figure out what the smell is and ruled out paint or smoke blowback into an adjacent chimney. He said -- on an outside chance -- that it almost smelled like a decomposing animal that could be stuck inside the wood stove unit.
Last night, we had the stove burned pretty hot (though not to the point of making the walls glow) and the blower was at full blast. The times we've smelled this before, the blower was going strong and the fire was going hot.
Any thoughts on what the source of this smell could be and why the smoke alarm is triggered despite no apparent smoke?!? We love using the wood stove but can't deal with another night like last night (I didn't go back to sleep as we aired out the house and let the fire burn out).
Thanks