Strange smell, not smoke, mystery

[Moorboy3]

Hi. I wonder if anyone can help me understand this. I searched forum but no luck so far.

Jotul F3, double wall flue. Installed about 4 years ago. Our first wood burning stove...love it. But...

Since we had it installed it's given off a distinct metallic/chemical smell when first lit especially if not used for a couple of weeks. We did all the recommended staged burns to begin with. I assumed it was to do with the black coating "gassing off" initially. But it's still happening years after installing.

Second thing, possibly significant. Where the flue comes down into the living room it does a couple of 45 degree turns to get the stove away from the wall. I noticed some rust colored stains and occasionally see drops of water below these 45 degree turns. Initially I blamed the kids but now it dawns on me that this is probably rain water tracking down from the roof between the inner and outer skin of the flue. I'm wondering if the smell is caused by evaporating off some damp mustiness that accumulates between the walls of the flue. The smell goes away after about an hour's hot burn.

As I say, absolutely no smell of smoke. In fact, sometimes I open the front of the stove for a few seconds to get a little smoke smell into the room to mask the other smell.

Is this a normal thing? Is there some caulking that could be done to stop this? Or could it still be the stove coating gassing off?

Any guidance or opinions welcome. If there's a thread on this already please let me know.

Thanks
Ben.

Please see pics of stove and rusty stains on back of stove.

 

[coutufr]

I guess there is something wrong at the chimney level. Maybe have a certified chimney expert make an inspection of it

 

[Jan Pijpelink]

Looks like a leak on your roof around the chimney. I assume a Class A chimney? Is your storm collar installed correctly? Has everything been caulked? I had a similar issue. Was an easy fix. Was the flashing in my case.

 

[webby3650]

I see a leak like yours on occasion. If the pipe has a vertical seam that’s folded, not welded, then it needs caulked. Particularly if the pipe came from a big box store. It’s also possible the storm collar itself needs some attention.
Can you post a picture of the chimney?

 

[Jags]

The smell might very well be dust burning off of your stove. If my stove goes cold for a couple of days and then I light it up, I can get that burning dust smell. A damp cloth (lint free) run across the top right before lighting it off can help.

 

[sportbikerider78]

I don't get buying those pipe sections with a seam. It is not much more to get pre-fabricated pipe sections.

It looks to me like that small telescoping section is installed upside down...but it is hard to tell.

 

[webby3650]

I don't get buying those pipe sections with a seam. It is not much more to get pre-fabricated pipe sections.

It looks to me like that small telescoping section is installed upside down...but it is hard to tell.

What pipe with a seam are you referring to? And the slip is correct.

 

[Moorboy3]

Thanks so much for all your helpful comments. I think I need to get someone up on the roof and have a look at the storm collar. In the meantime I'll wipe off the dust. It'd be nice if it was something as simple as that!

If I can get a photo of the collar I'll post it.

Big thanks

 

[begreen]

What pipe with a seam are you referring to? And the slip is correct.

Some Selkirk pipe like Metalbestos has a seam. We had this when we moved into this house. In heavy rain we would get drips on the stove. I resealed the storm collar, but that didn't fix the issue. I finally ran a bead of silicone up the seam of the pipe section that went through the flashing. That worked.

 

[webby3650]

Some Selkirk pipe like Metalbestos has a seam. We had this when we moved into this house. In heavy rain we would get drips on the stove. I resealed the storm collar, but that didn't fix the issue. I finally ran a bead of silicone up the seam of the pipe section that went through the flashing. That worked.

Yes, I mentioned that earlier on in this thread.

I see a leak like yours on occasion. If the pipe has a vertical seam that’s folded, not welded, then it needs caulked.

I was referring to this statement:

I don't get buying those pipe sections with a seam. It is not much more to get pre-fabricated pipe sections.

 

[sportbikerider78]

What pipe with a seam are you referring to? And the slip is correct.

It looks to me like if moisture ran down the inside of the telescoping section, it would run on the outside of the lower section. The lower section outside diameter (OD) should be around the upper section OD. The lower section goes around the upper section.

Below is a pic of the correct install. In the posters picture, it looks upside down to me. I might be wrong..Kinda hard to tell.

 

[webby3650]

It looks to me like if moisture ran down the inside of the telescoping section, it would run on the outside of the lower section. The lower section outside diameter (OD) should be around the upper section OD. The lower section goes around the upper section.

Below is a pic of the correct install. In the posters picture, it looks upside down to me. I might be wrong..Kinda hard to tell.

View attachment 225672

This is single wall pipe. The OP has double wall pipe, it’s installed correctly.

 

[double-d]

I believe the Slip Connector is correctly installed, If one section of pipe is upside down, all of them would probably be backwards.

 

[sportbikerider78]

This is single wall pipe. The OP has double wall pipe, it’s installed correctly.

Ok. Thanks. It just looked funny to me.