how bad is off-gassing on a new stove

[tabner]

My stove is on a dolly in my garage waiting for install. Which gives me the opportunity to roll it out into the driveway and fire it up to cook off the new paint odors and other fumes. However, because it has soapstone on the inside there is a pretty strict break-in procedure with a couple small fires, working your way up, to push out the moisture and reduce the risk of cracking a stone. Plus I'm guessing, since after the driveway break-in it'll sit back in the garage for a few more weeks before install, I'll basically have to go through the break-in procedure again when it's finally installed, just in case moisture has found its way back into the stones.
So question - is it worth bothering with the driveway fires to cure the paint and burn off those chemical fumes outside? Or should I save myself the time and just do it after install?

 

[wagne223]

I did mine outside and am glad I did!
I was surprised how much the finish smoked.

 

[peakbagger]

Its been awhile but when I fired off my VC Defiant after its last rebuild I had a distinct smoky haze permeating my house for one fire and had to disconnect the smoke detectors.

 

[Highbeam]

I would not bother with a driveway burn unless you find or are told that Hearthstones are especially stinky. I would be ready to open windows to ventilate any stink that you may find excessive. My blaze king is fully painted and it just smelled like hot metal. My hearthstone heritage didn't have much paint but it didn't stink at all.

Either way the interior stove pipe is going to stink too, especially single wall.

 

[jetsam]

I'd burn it now, using as much stovepipe as you can get on there (like Highbeam said, it might stink worse than the stove).

It depends on the paint used, but it can be eye watering. And it stinks again every time you hit a new high temp. Whatever you can burn off outside is that much stink that doesn't go into your house and draw comments from your wife....

 

[tabner]

I'd burn it now, using as much stovepipe as you can get on there (like Highbeam said, it might stink worse than the stove).

It depends on the paint used, but it can be eye watering. And it stinks again every time you hit a new high temp. Whatever you can burn off outside is that much stink that doesn't go into your house and draw comments from your wife....

Thanks for the input. My wife does have a good sense of smell, and I will certainly hear about it!
Plus I'm obviously excited to fire this thing up, and this gives me an excuse to do it early.

I only have the damper/appliance adaptor, and two 18" long pieces of double wall. So i'll only be able to build a 40" chimney or so. Gonna be a problem? or no biggie since it's all outdoors anyways? i could stick the thimble on top too, and get another 20 inches or so

 

[begreen]

It varies with the stove paint used. There are some newer European paints that are said to not smoke as much. Hearthstone stoves are made by Hergom out of Spain so they may not smoke as much.

 

[jetsam]

Thanks for the input. My wife does have a good sense of smell, and I will certainly hear about it!
Plus I'm obviously excited to fire this thing up, and this gives me an excuse to do it early.

I only have the damper/appliance adaptor, and two 18" long pieces of double wall. So i'll only be able to build a 40" chimney or so. Gonna be a problem? or no biggie since it's all outdoors anyways? i could stick the thimble on top too, and get another 20 inches or so

I said put on as much pipe as possible so that you get some of the pipe hot and burn some stink off of it!

Stove should work fine with just a few feet on top.

 

[avsmusic1]

also, take pictures

 

[xman23]

Don't know this, just a gut feeling. The burn in, cures the stove cement, among other things. So I would do it when the stove won't be moved again. Some smell more than others. Mine just had a hot metal smell at each new high temp. and gone after a short time. But that' s enamel.

 

[vatmark]

We have a Jotul F 500. I don’t remember the smell being that bad when we did the break in and I am sensitive to smells.

 

[Shrewboy]

Don't do a burn in when it will be moved again, because I have read that the cement inside the stove can crack if you move the stove even a little bit once it has been cured. Could be wrong though!

 

[AndrewU]

My Blaze King Ashford and double wall pipe put off a bit of a light haze and a noticeable odor on the first fire. But after a day of steady burning there’s been nothing. It wasn’t too bad.

 

[buc74]

Our first 2 stoves we had stunk when new but I did not do proper break in fires. In our current home with the Kuma we did and the smell was minimal. So if ya do it only inside several small fires seem to make a big difference for us.