Blower air doesn't smell right to me. Making me sick.

[mmeister55]

I just bought an Appalachian 52 Bay wood burning insert. It's my first insert and I'm really excited for it to get cold out!

This is a used insert. It's only a year or two old, but used nonetheless. I've fired it up twice since I installed it and I do not like the smell of the air coming out of the blower exit vents. It made me sick both times, and I think most people would feel the same about it if they experienced it.

I cannot find the source of the smell. I've taken out the blower motor and fan assembly and it doesn't seem to be coming from there. It's hard to tell about that though because it's blowing cold air in my face and the smell probably seems more intense when the air is heated. I've also looked around in the plenum area with a flashlight and I do not see any foreign objects. But I can only see maybe 50% of the air path there are many hidden areas.

I'm getting nervous that this could be a normal smell for this stove. Maybe just the smell of the heated outside of the firebox that the blower air passes by. I hope that's not it because it's pretty bad and I don't think I can live with it. It's not a smell that I'm familiar with, but I would have to describe it as more sweet than sour, bad, nauseating, and possibly similar to a melting or overheating smell of some kind.

Have you guys found that the air coming out of your blower vents smells pretty much the same as it it did on the way in? Or that it takes on an oder in transit through the insert's plenum area?

 

[fbelec]

is it burning dust? that smells a little sweet. it will also set off my allergies and it will block up my nose. if it smell like burning meat maybe you had a mouse in where you cant see. or mouse nest. try two things.
1 see if you can get some compressed air and blow thru the ports.
2 if nothing comes out, and or you get something out of there light a good hot fire with the windows open. get the stove up to what ever the stoves manual says it is for a high burn maybe for a short time 100 degrees higher and burn what ever it is out.
if those don't work there is always craigslist.

 

[Hogwildz]

Is there a chance the previous owner repainted it prior to listing in for sale? Does the paint look new?
May be the new paint curing?

 

[littlesmokey]

Man I feel sorry for you. Trying to find the source can be a real pain. First, was the stove installed when you bought it? If not was it in storage for a period of time including over a Winter? Sorry to do this, but you may have a nesting problem. Rodents, critters or some foul beastie. I have had to take more than one stove down to a truck wash and have the stove steamed. That's right, very high pressure steam cleaning. You may not have a dead critter, but you may have, erhh??? leftovers. Urine and feces when heated can take on some unusual smells. All make me want to retch. I have tried simple pressure washing, but ten bucks and a good engine cleaning run is almost a guarantee. Before you re-install. Run a couple of hot fires outside to be sure. If you have control boards or switches try to protect them as best as possible, but if they get steamed, they will dry.

If you have ever bought a car stored for years and restored it, you know what I mean. Same critters, different crevices.

 

[lexybird]

sounds like dust or possibly a hidden paint job,clean it really good and burn it HOT and watch over it so it doesnt overfire

 

[Fsappo]

if its a sweetish smell I would guess mouse or mouse nest maybe. The compressed air idea may work. Rotton mouse can really make you sick, so get to the source fast

 

[gzecc]

You should be able to burn off any normal smells in a couple of hi temp burns (if you can delay the fan from starting, without cooking the unit, try that). I would do that for a couple of days before taking it out for a bath.

 

[lexybird]

if its a sweetish smell I would guess mouse or mouse nest maybe. The compressed air idea may work. Rotton mouse can really make you sick, so get to the source fast

a good point ,yes a dead varmint stench is often sweet smelling

 

[mmeister55]

Thanks for the ideas. It actually smells like the burning of a man made substance like paint maybe, but this unit less than 3 years old and looks absolutely brand new. So I'm leaning away from the re-paint idea becuase it's so new.

The dead critter, urine, or feces idea sounds like a possibility. I also wonder if some little kid stuck a ball point pen or something like that in the vents. I can't see anything though. I'm going to try using a small mirror to look around in there some more. I might also experement more with the blower motor to make sure the smell isn't originating there, and I'll try the compressed air idea. As a last resort I'll uninstall the insert and steam it out. I'll post my results here.

 

[Hogwildz]

If that thing is 3 years olf and looks brand new, I would not rule out the possibility of a fresh paint job recently being done.
Unless the previous owner never used it at all, there would be typical minor scratches, ash in crevices, etc as least on the ash lip.
If its more a chemical type smell, I stll bet on fresh paint job, which will go away with a few hot fires run through it.
Can you call the previous owner and ask him if he painted it before he sold it?

 

[daleeper]

Thanks for the ideas. It actually smells like the burning of a man made substance like paint maybe, but this unit less than 3 years old and looks absolutely brand new. So I'm leaning away from the re-paint idea becuase it's so new.

The dead critter, urine, or feces idea sounds like a possibility. I also wonder if some little kid stuck a ball point pen or something like that in the vents. I can't see anything though. I'm going to try using a small mirror to look around in there some more. I might also experement more with the blower motor to make sure the smell isn't originating there, and I'll try the compressed air idea. As a last resort I'll uninstall the insert and steam it out. I'll post my results here.

When we bought our stove many years ago used, we had a friend help with the install who had worked for a stove installer in the past. When he saw the stove, he said it had never been burned hot enough to cure the paint. Sure enough, when we fired it up, it went through the stink of curing the paint. Every time we take that stove to a new temperature high, it will give off that same smell. Maybe you have been burning it a bit higher than the stove has been before if it was lightly used.

 

[tickbitty]

The used stove I am buying also looks hardly used. The people selling it bought the house 6 yrs ago and tried the stove once but the smell bothered them and apparently one of them has terrible allergies so they just never used it again. It looks to be in such good condition that I kinda wondered if it was the paint smell she was getting. Guess I will find out!
Let us know if you cure your problem!

 

[mmeister55]

I will let you all know what happens with this. I just hope it's not a permanent smell!

A friend of mine offered to let me use his videoscope which should allow me to look into all parts of the plenum area for some kind of foreign object. I don't know exactly how it works, but I should be able to use it tomorrow.

 

[EddyKilowatt]

My Avalon Pendleton makes an unpleasant hot dust/hot wax smell anytime it hasn't been fired for a few weeks. I think it's moisture being driven out of the thick layer of dust inside its air shroud... dust which may be stuck in the remnants of a wax firestarter that the previous owner mentioned. The smell goes away when the stove is in steady use.

I've tried the garden hose, compressed air, and long shop-vac brushes but there are areas inside the air shroud that are out of reach.... I think I may try Smokey's hot steam clean idea next off-season.

Eddy

 

[Chargerman]

I put new bay window gaskets in my BBF a couple weeks back and it gave off a bad plastic smell for several burn cylces and then went away.

If your stove hasn't not been used much or the gaskets are new that might be it.

 

[mmeister55]

I was able to get into the plenum area with an ACDelco videoscope and look all around everywhere in there. I found a little bit of dust, and nothing else. No foreign objects at all!

Although I couldn't smell much of a bad smell coming from the blower assembly itself, I decided to dissasemble it and take a closer look. After taking it apart as much as possible I blew it (the motor) out with a high power air hose and a ton of stinky dust-like particles came out. The more nooks and crannies I found to blow out, the more dust blew out. The dust smelled pretty much like the bad smell I had smelled earlier, which after more olfactory investigation was similar to a smouldering wood smell.

It's been quite warm out and I haven't burned another fire since then. But when I do I'll see if blowing out the motor solves the problem.

Thanks for all your ideas.