Smoke smell & whistling from top of Harman Accentra Pellet stove - can anyone explain how or why thi

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itjustfigures

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Oct 6, 2008
2
Southern MA
New Harman Accentra Pellet stove installed. Direct Vent - Stove adaptor to clean out T, to 90 degree elbow, straigt out through wall 4' to the great outdoors. (Every joint, including the 90 is sealed with high temp clear silicone.)

Smell of smoke in the house when the stove is lit. Visually there is no smoke (with the service covers removed on the back of the stove) anywhere inside our around the back of the stove. There is no leak from any of the stove pipes. There is an odor in the room the entire time the stove is running.

In the top right hand corner of the stove, where the top of the stove meets the back and right side wall, the stove has a whistle just under the stove top. You can put your finger under the stove top and stop the whistle. In further testing the whistle is caused by postive pressure (exhausting away from the stove) when tested with a blown out match. You can detect a smoke smell from the corner where the whistle is coming from. You can not see smoke anywhere though.

Can anyone explain why this leak would be "normal" or acceptable? The dealer says no problem, and that the leak is not coming from that whistle sound. I have looked at 2 other stoves (identical) and can not detect so much as a whisp of smoke when they are running. No whistle, no problems.

Paul
 
That does not sound "normal". There should be no cabinet leaks.
 
We have used our Harman Accentra Insert 3 times since it was installed in July, with no problems. I wish I could help, but that definitely doesn't sound right to me. Was it installed by the dealer or yourself? If the answer is the dealer (their own installers), I would bug them until they fix the problem. It should also be under warranty as well. Good Luck... ;-)
 
I agree with the above post, there should be no positive pressure leaks.
Get back to your dealer and tell him it is leaking into the room.
 
Call your dealer - or open it up and look for the leak in the exhaust ducts. If it is whistling you will find it pretty easy. My Accentra insert has factory silicone on a few duct connections.
 
sounds like its the distribution blower is the source of the pressure, try turning up the blower and flip the rocker switch to see if the whistle changes.. Could just be a bad seal.
the smoke is probably from a pipe joint..... most likely the starter collar leaking and since it's in close proximity to the distribution blower intake it gets sucked in and blown out into the room...
check the joints again........
 
Is this stove a insert or free standing accentra.
We have a new free standing accentra, new this year.
The first few times we had a fire we did have a smell of smoke and paint but that gone away.
Can you take a picture of the area that is leaking?
 
GVA said:
sounds like its the distribution blower is the source of the pressure, try turning up the blower and flip the rocker switch to see if the whistle changes.. Could just be a bad seal.
the smoke is probably from a pipe joint..... most likely the starter collar leaking and since it's in close proximity to the distribution blower intake it gets sucked in and blown out into the room...
check the joints again........

agree had very similiar problem... try tightening screws on the glass a little they can be tricky and tape/ silicone joints that worked for me i ahve a harman accentra as well
 
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