Smell of smoke (a bit) coming from around the flue collar

[Diabel]

Last night & more so this morning I noticed a faint smell of smoke coming from around the flue collar. Definitely not the griddle but the collar. Not quite sure how to tackle this ...I know that there is a gasket between the stove body & the collar..could that be it.
Draft seems ok...

Any thoughts? Thanks

 

[tradergordo]

Last night & more so this morning I noticed a faint smell of smoke coming from around the flue collar. Definitely not the griddle but the collar. Not quite sure how to tackle this ...I know that there is a gasket between the stove body & the collar..could that be it.
Draft seems ok...

Any thoughts? Thanks

Could your chimney cap be alittle plugged? Does your chimney draft even when there is no fire? My guess is that your problem is one of those two (draft problem, or plugged). I doubt it is a gaskey problem. What kind of chimney setup do you have?

 

[Highbeam]

I've had this happen a couple of times during the mid stages of warm up so a ripping fire and a medium draft setting. It smells like creosote water and then goes away when the stove heats up. My vertical setup has tight seals everywhere. I almost thought it was coming from the telescoping slip joint of my double wall.

 

[Diabel]

Yeah, I think it is time to check the cap, thanks

As for the draft, I don't know I've been burning 24/7 in the past month. I know back in Oct I would actually get a back draft when stove was cold...I would just crack a window open before starting a fire.

This really blows the idea of overdraft & everburn crap it seems I get both from time to time :lol:

 

[tradergordo]

Yeah, I think it is time to check the cap, thanks

As for the draft, I don't know I've been burning 24/7 in the past month. I know back in Oct I would actually get a back draft when stove was cold...I would just crack a window open before starting a fire.

This really blows the idea of overdraft & everburn crap it seems I get both from time to time :lol:

Well for what its worth - based only on what you have written, I don't think you have an overdraft problem, the stove can hit 700 surface temp when running normally. The smoke smell is common with poor drafting chimney setups (you said it back drafts when cold). This is worse in more mild temps but can go away completely when it gets real cold.

 

[Diabel]

It sure sounds like it. But two weeks ago the stove went crazy (just as traliblaze in another thread described) Griddle read nice 600* but the stove pipe read 700*-750* with magnetic thermo. And yes the back of the stove glowed dark red. Naturally, I had no control over it.

 

[tradergordo]

It sure sounds like it. But two weeks ago the stove went crazy (just as traliblaze in another thread described) Griddle read nice 600* but the stove pipe read 700*-750* with magnetic thermo. And yes the back of the stove glowed dark red. Naturally, I had no control over it.

OK - yea any external glowing is obviously a sign of excessive draft. And an external stovepipe temp of 700+ is also very high (although 750 surface temp on the hotest part of the stove itself can be normal).

 

[Diabel]

I just re-read the article Gordo posted & I think I will let the stove cool for tomorrow...I will check the cap & take few measurements in terms of the air intake restrictor .

 

[Diabel]

Last night & more so this morning I noticed a faint smell of smoke coming from around the flue collar. Definitely not the griddle but the collar. Not quite sure how to tackle this ...I know that there is a gasket between the stove body & the collar..could that be it.
Draft seems ok...

Any thoughts? Thanks

So, cleaned the chimney & she's spanking clean!

The smell is still there...it just makes no sense...it should draw the other way.

btw I can only smell it when the everburn is working hard....

 

[tradergordo]

btw I can only smell it when the everburn is working hard....

Oh - that's a different story. This can happen due to a few factors - but basically what is probably going on is that you are getting buildups of combustible gasses in the main firebox that are then igniting in the firebox instead of the secondary combustion chambers - this creates a colorful explosion of secondary combustion in the firebox (if this is the issue, you can definitely see it happening) - this creates a sudden rush of pressure (a belch) that can cause a small amount of smoke to blow out the secondary air intake. Obviously its not supposed to do this. The problem could be that the firebox is too starved of air for the conditions at the time (wood species, moisture content, outside temps, etc) - if that's the case, you just have to turn the primary air up a little bit. The problem could also be that there is some obstruction of the secondary air or obstruction above the shoe, or in the rear secondary chambers. Your owners manual shows you how to clean out the rear secondary chambers - which is a pain because you have to remove the flue to do it. Its easy to clean above the shoe - just remove the grate at the bottom of the firebox (it lifts right out) and pull the shoe (back center of firebox) gently forward. Look for debris on top of it, clean everything out. Note that pulling the shoe out will most likely ruin the gasket on the bottom of the shoe - personally I think the stove works better without that gasket, but if you want to replace it, it could be an additional pain in the butt, so don't blame me - I warned you Finally, make sure all of the secondary air holes are clean - you can clear them of ash using a paper clip or maybe a q-tip.

 

[Diabel]

Thanks Gordo,

Yeah, I might be at fault here....ever since I covered the air intake (about 3/4) with aluminum duct tape in order to control the run-aways I started noticing the smell & those small explosions (never any puffing though!)

What to do now?

 

[tradergordo]

3/4 is probably way too much. Cut back to 1/3.

 

[Diabel]

Yeah, I just did that.

I also wanted to check the flue collar gasket, so I took it all apart. Gasket is in a fine shape! I figured I might as well clean the back of the refactory, again lots of those coin size pieces coming loose...

I also noticed that the refactory lines the cast walls of the side & back of the stove, but not the ceiling & that is the exposed part that glows red.