Break-in Fumes and Smoke Alarm

[OilNoMore]

Just did my most significant break in fire tonight, got my stove just past 200 degrees. The fume burn off smell was there, not too terrible though. Then, the smoke alarm went off. My question is, could this have been set off by the fumes? There was no real 'smoke' from starting the fire at all and the alarm did not go off until the temperature rose to just past the 200 degree mark for awhile. I just want to make sure I'm not doing anything dangerous with it. Thanks.

 

[fossil]

When I burned-in my workshop stove, the smoke/CO detector on the ceiling went off once. I opened up some windiws, aired the place out good...never happened again. Rick

 

[Jfk4th]

The fumes will set off the alarm and this will happen again every time you get the stove to a higher temperature than before. It will stop after a some more break in burns, No worries. Like Rick said open a lot of windows and that will help.

Plus, very important, make sure kids are not around when you do the break in burns, Pregnant ladies too. There are warnings that say keep them away from breathing in the fumes initially. I am sure you will see much more reports about this in years to come I fear. Gotta be careful 8-/

 

[n3pro]

WooHoo! I feel better now. My second fire set off the smoke detectors and of course the wife being supportive had the phone in hand and said "your burning the house down already!" I didn't see any smoke inside at all so I was a little confused. I thought I over-fired the stove but had no signs of redness. I since bought one of those magnetic thermometers but now reading here that might not be accurate enough to know more then I already knew.

 

[Redox]

Wow! Cold enough to burn already, and it's still August. Looks like it's going to be a rough one...

Ionization smoke detectors will go off on lots of other things besides smoke; they are THAT sensitive. Photoelectric detectors are more discriminating, but it's getting hard to find them anymore. There is debate about which is better in a real fire, but any detector is better than NO detector.

I broke in our stove with the windows open and a high velocity fan in the window and had no problem. The first burn is the worst and every successive burn will release additional fumes, but less each time you burn it. The fumes are generally not harmful, but moving sensitive people to another part of the house is a good idea. Also, birds are particularly sensitive to chemicals in the air and should be moved from the house for a day or so during the break in burn. We used to warn people of this whenever we started up a new furnace as there was sometimes visible smoke on first fire. Just let everyone know that this is normal for a new appliance.

Chris

 

[gary]

My smoke detector goes off everytime my wife gets around to cooking a meal. That's how we know it's ready

 

[begreen]

or not. maybe time to call the pizza delivery man.

 

[Opportunist]

I've burned the Oslo 5 times. Just little fires to heat it up. The paint smoked the first two times but not the 3rd or 4th. This last time I made a bigger fire and the place was filled with paint smoke. The smoke alarm was screaming.

 

[crazy_dan]

Open the doors and windows and let her rip get about 750-800 on the stove top and then call it good the no more fumes and you can let it rip this winter with no worries about paint fumes when you got to keep the house all closed up.

edited to say
I stand corrected by begreen you should listen to him as i have never had a soapstone stove.

 

[begreen]

750 - 800 is way hot for a soapstone. Not every stove cranks like a Summit . Let her get to 600-650 and it will be fine.

 

[OilNoMore]

Hearthstone (for the Shelburne) calls for the stove to get warm to the touch, but not too warm that you can't touch it for break in fires. When I left that low, we got no fumes. When I let it get up beyond 220 degrees is when the fumes started. I'm not worried about it though, it comes with the territory and it goes away eventually. I went overkill on the number of smoke alarms I installed anyway, so at least I know they work.

 

[jeff6443]

Had my 3 rd burn last yep house was 100 . friends over with beer , said Hey Jeff letter her chew .
2 logs in the morning still coals came home from work stove still warm . Nobody likes Vermount Castings Dutch west
If I dont You will know . I like the looks . so far its working but like I say I m a nubie .

 

[Heat Miser]

One of my first break in fires set off the smoke alarms, the carbon monoxide alarms, AND the LP gas alarm I have behind my gas unit. It was an alarm hat trick. The next couple burns set off the smoke alarms only. After the third burn everything was fine.