Sorry I don’t know the lingo and acronyms so please bear with me. I went through and did a thorough cleaning of the stove yesterday. Cleaned the chimney pipe up to the block plate and everything.
Then I went to get something out of the kitchen and the countertop felt gritty. Well it was covered in soot. It was late so I shut down the stove and and we went to bed. Well this morning I pulled the stove back out and made sure everything was clean and tight. Started it back up and placed wet white paper all round the back decorative surround and then draped some over the heat vent (where the hot air comes out) . Sure enough it is coming through the heat vent. So now I am waiting for it to cool again but not sure where to start to look for issues?
To add a couple observations. When I pulled out the stove I didn’t see any smoke tracks or soot on the seal between the frame and the stove. I really tightened down the door that covers the exhaust blower and temp probe access. None of the wet paper towels showed soot accept the one covering the heat vent. I would think the house would fill with smoke but it isn’t. If smoke was leaking behind the stove, wouldn’t we see smoke coming out around the surrounding The smoke detector hasn’t gone off or anything (new batteries in those Feb 1st.)
Could it be there is hole between the fire chamber and heat chamber that the air flows through? That makes me nervous.
BTW the bottom plate was in place while running, I just didn’t put it back on to take the picture..
![[Hearth.com] Harmon insert soot problem](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/293/293158-d10bed9ddbb59af03f6d5dcd43e72526.jpg?hash=iCXILFRPE0 "[Hearth.com] Harmon insert soot problem")
Then I went to get something out of the kitchen and the countertop felt gritty. Well it was covered in soot. It was late so I shut down the stove and and we went to bed. Well this morning I pulled the stove back out and made sure everything was clean and tight. Started it back up and placed wet white paper all round the back decorative surround and then draped some over the heat vent (where the hot air comes out) . Sure enough it is coming through the heat vent. So now I am waiting for it to cool again but not sure where to start to look for issues?
To add a couple observations. When I pulled out the stove I didn’t see any smoke tracks or soot on the seal between the frame and the stove. I really tightened down the door that covers the exhaust blower and temp probe access. None of the wet paper towels showed soot accept the one covering the heat vent. I would think the house would fill with smoke but it isn’t. If smoke was leaking behind the stove, wouldn’t we see smoke coming out around the surrounding The smoke detector hasn’t gone off or anything (new batteries in those Feb 1st.)
Could it be there is hole between the fire chamber and heat chamber that the air flows through? That makes me nervous.
BTW the bottom plate was in place while running, I just didn’t put it back on to take the picture..
