I have had a bit of a strange odor

[buckeye]

I have noticed that since I opened the damper that there is a somewhat strong odor. I have only had one fire so far this year. Since then, when Im in the house I dont notice the smell, but when I leave and come back in it seems to be a strong oder. This is our first stove and it may just be the smell of a fire that Im getting. Is there some type of "distinctive smell" I need to know about. I do have a CO detector, and everything there is normal. Do I just need to burn candles to cover the smell or get use to it?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

If this is a new stove, you need to have a couple small fires. The paint or finish on the stove or stove pipe will give off an odor at first. After a couple small fires you will not notice it or will get very little. You might get a little more when you have a hot fire but this too will pass very quickly. It is nothing that should harm you but it can be a bit odorous.

 

[budman]

If this is a new stove, you need to have a couple small fires. The paint or finish on the stove or stove pipe will give off an odor at first. After a couple small fires you will not notice it or will get very little. You might get a little more when you have a hot fire but this too will pass very quickly. It is nothing that should harm you but it can be a bit odorous.

(Odorous) thats a good one. ;-P

 

[Corey]

Depends on what the smell is. Does it smell like burning chemicals, burning wood, burning fur, or something else? You will definitely get some burning paint smell from a wood stove, but it will go away after a while. Sometimes in the fall / spring of the year you can get a flue reversal. Generally when the air in your house is cool and it may be slightly warmer outside, or if a rainstorm bumps up the humidity and makes the air less dense, then air can actually flow down your chimney and into the house - and pull some of the 'smoke' smell with it. This can be reduced by closing all the air controls on your stove. If it smells like burning fur, then something might be lodged in your flue.

Corey

 

[buckeye]

it is not a burning animal type thing, i think that it may be the flue reversal, it is a very distinct smell, just something different.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

i have in my time gotten used to the "hot smell" from a heating woodstove, stoves can have a tendancy to "cook" dust used to be if the wife was dusting there would be that "hot smell" from the dust cooking on the stove,usually if she neglected the dusting which is rare but does happen. just a possibility. now a new stove does need to "cure" as well but that usually is pretty noticable in the first fire or two , but goes away after the unit has cooked out. if the unit is new then this is a very viable possibility as well

 

[buckeye]

its not the new stove smell either, Like I said, I had a fire last weekend, and today when I got home from work it was very strong. It has been since we had the first fire. The other thing is that we had a problem with the flue not being completely covered and this week they came and fixed that. Thats another story. I think that it is just a different smell. I may just not be use to the smell of burning wood. I dont know, its wierd.

 

[KeithO]

Is the chimney mounted to an outside wall ? Or is it in a chase against an outside wall ? Or is it straight up and through the ceiling inside the heated part of the house ?

If it is an instalation where you go straight out through the wall and then up, it is not unusual at all that you will have air entering the house through the chimney, since the chimney will "back draft" when cold. Since no wood stove can be airtight, the back drafting will carry chimney odor into the house. The best way to combat this situation is to keep a small fire burning, the heat will ensure that the flow is always out the chimney and not the reverse.

Has it been hot and you have been running the air conditioner ? Even with a straight up chimney, having a house that is colder than outside is a great recipe to cool air in the flue and have it start sinking and backdrafting. Some people plug the bottom of the stovepipe during the "hot" season to avoid this happening.

Short of finding a damper that would seal really tight and putting that in the chimney connector, I'm not sure what effective solution there is if the stove is not continuously fired.

 

[Henz]

I think its just the smell of the chimney/old ashes in the stove..Its been pretty warm and slightly humid.

 

[Hogwildz]

Is that one fire on a new stove? If so, your still curing the paint, will take several more.