Clydesdale hybrid stinks

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JTBurns

New Member
Dec 15, 2022
3
Columbia mo
Hello everyone,

I’m new to this forum and just had a hearthstone Clydesdale installed about a month ago. I’ve followed manual regarding break in fires. I’m to the point where I’ve got this thing cranking out the heat. The problem is the smell. Hot metal/ chemical smell. I can’t sit and enjoy my new stove because of it. I’ve probably had 10 -15 fires by now. The Clydesdale doesn’t have a temp gauge but has a gauge for the catalyst that has three settings. I also bought an imperial stove thermometer which I learned later was meant to be used on a pipe. I’ve put it on the stove top and it is reading 550 max temp when catalyst thermometer is close to max. See pics

I’m a bit frustrated because manual discusses off gassing, but suggests this should dissipate after initial hot fire. We have had multiple hot fires and still getting the smell. I’m hoping this goes away because at this point I’m feeling a bit of buyers remorse because we bought this thing to enjoy a nice cozy warm basement and so far it has been lighting a fire and enjoying an initial 30 min burn and then having to leave the room. I’ve read various posts discussing stinky new stoves. Just wanting to get some perspective on when/if this will go away.

Thanks in advance

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The catalyst will spike toward the high end for the first few fires. after it's broken in it won't spike as high under normal use.

As far as the smell, the paint will continue to cure each time a new higher temperature is reached. So if you hit 500, 550, 600, etc during different fires the paint will cure more and give off more smells. Eventually the smell will go away though
 
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Thanks for the reply. I got things going pretty hot last night. Up to upper catalyst temp gauge and stove top temp topped out at 550. I haven’t been able to get up to 600 which the manual suggest is the top temp measured at the upper left side of stove under grill(pg 28 high burn rate section). I was thinking of getting a laser thermometer to get an accurate read as I’m not sure the thermometer I have is calibrated for measurements at that location. Any recommendations on a thermometer to measure the described area in the manual? Will the imperial stovepipe magnetic thermometer have an accurate read?

So far the catalyst thermometer tops out prior to getting to 600 degrees. I’m thinking I’m just going to get this roaring and try to keep the temp as hot as possible for as long as possible.

Glad to hear suggestions that the smell will go away in time. I think it is getting better at each hot burn. Just lasting longer than what we were expecting.

 
Thanks for the reply. I got things going pretty hot last night. Up to upper catalyst temp gauge and stove top temp topped out at 550. I haven’t been able to get up to 600 which the manual suggest is the top temp measured at the upper left side of stove under grill(pg 28 high burn rate section). I was thinking of getting a laser thermometer to get an accurate read as I’m not sure the thermometer I have is calibrated for measurements at that location. Any recommendations on a thermometer to measure the described area in the manual? Will the imperial stovepipe magnetic thermometer have an accurate read?

So far the catalyst thermometer tops out prior to getting to 600 degrees. I’m thinking I’m just going to get this roaring and try to keep the temp as hot as possible for as long as possible.

Glad to hear suggestions that the smell will go away in time. I think it is getting better at each hot burn. Just lasting longer than what we were expecting.

Just want to be clear I wasn't suggesting get it at hot as you possibly can. Just that each time it reaches a new high temp it'll cure more. Also, counterintuitively once things get going the lower you close the air down the hotter the fire will get. You're reducing the volume of air going up the chimney and you'll have more secondaries so a more complete burn.
 
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Thanks for the clarification. I didn’t take your response as a suggestion to get things as hot as possible. Rather I thought doing so might expedite the curing process and cure it to the highest extreme we might face. I’d just like to get rid of any fumes as soon as possible so the fam can all sit and enjoy the stove. Eventually,

It is a beautiful stove with an amazing burn but right now it just isn’t pleasant to sit in the room with the smell after about 45 min. We’ll keep lighting fires and hoping things improve over time.
 
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I installed mine in November and we've been using it as much as possible. We really only shut it down for a few days when the temps spiked into the mid 60's last week in Northeast Ohio. We only noticed the burn off smell @4 times. The initial break in and then the next 2-3 progressively hotter fires.
 
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Just curious where you're at with all this? Did you find a good way to monitor temps? Did the smell go away? I'm about to fire mine up for the first time this week, hopefully. looking for any tips.