U.S. Stove 5500m strong odor

[Allthewayfrompa]

We are new to the pellet stove world and purchased a home with a 2011 model of the 5500m from US Stove.

We followed the manual for cleaning and fall start up. The stove worked fine and has been for over 6 weeks using mainly at night to heat the house before bed. About two weeks ago we noticed the glass turn almost pitch black after about 5 minutes of use which has not happened before. Immediately I suspected a blockage and cleaned the exhaust tubing, blower and the entire burn chamber including the pot and housing. I noticed a heavy black coating on all items cleaned. We then reassembled the unit and started it and noticed a huge difference with the flame and no black on the window. But then about 5 minutes into the burn cycle we started getting a foul, chemical like odor that filled the house and gave us a headache but never set off the CO detector.

What could this odor be and how do we get rid of it.

I have tried replacing the gaskets on the exhaust blower and the blower itself which reduced the strong odor but there is still a smell about 5 minutes in. Any Thoughts!!

 

[bags]

Could it be the pellets you are using? I have recently read about a similar problem to yours. Which brand are you burning? You must rule out things in order to figure it out. What has changed or what are you doing different now than when the stove fired and worked well?

 

[Johnny_Fiv3]

That smell is the black coating you referred to burning off. Inside the stove, where you can't really get to for cleaning, there is going to be a buildup of that black crap. Since you are now running with good exhaust flow and have a nice, hot flame, that stuff is going to burn off.

The exhaust piping inside the house should be taped with either the high temp silicone tape or the aluminum tape. This will cut down on odors getting in. If you are confident with your exhaust blower gasket, the next thing to check is where the venting appliance adapter connects to the exhaust port of the stove. I siliconed mine onto the stove to prevent any kind of leakage.

Then on to bags question. What pellets are you burning?

What HR setting are you running at? HR-1 and HR-2 by default do not have adequate draft settings when in full auto for most pellets and this causes major buildup of the black crud. You can correct this by setting the draft fan (dF on the display) manually when using the lower settings. I do this and it'a like a different stove.

Lastly, this exact thing has happened to my stove with some really bad pellets I had last year. Black all over inside the box. After doing a deep clean, I ran the stove on HR-5 with the windows open and put a fan in the window closest to the stove blowing out. It stunk to high heaven for about an hour, but it burned all that crap out of the stove and it's been fine since.

 

[alternativeheat]

I agree you need a couple of really good hot fires to finally burn off all the gunk, then you will return to normal. but it sounds like you also need to get that stove on a regular cleaning interval. I suggest start with a weekly cleaning and get a handle on each type of pellet you use if that can be stretched out or not. But going multi weeks or a month between cleanings is not the normal cycle time. You learned why !!