Is smoke in the house ever acceptable?

[benignvanilla]

I am a pellet stove newb, and have an interesting problem. We've had a few incidents where the pellets didn't burn well, and started to smolder filling the firebox with smoke. A few minutes later some smoke escaped the flue via minute cracks, and filled the room. My dealer says this is an overpressure condition and nothing to worry about.

What do you think?

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

I think you should add some pipe verticly to create a natural draft. Are you vented right out the rear strait back?

 

[benignvanilla]

The pipe goes out the back, then vertical for 4-5 feet, out the wall and then vertical again for 3 feet or so. This problem has only occured once or twice. Normally we get great burns. I am beginning to wonder if we just have a bad bag of pellets here.

 

[elkimmeg]

smoke escaped the flue via minute cracks, and filled the room. My dealer says this is an overpressure condition and nothing to worry about.

What do you think?

I'm sure a lot of "good advice" will be along shortly I can promise it will be more accurate than what was quoted

you mean the vent pipes joints are not sealed? Did you pay someone for installation. We need more info stove brand and model?
Is it new.. how is it vented .is it connected to outside air?

 

[benignvanilla]

Sorry, I am a newbie to wood stoves.

The stove is an Avalon Astoria pellet stove. I paid about $1000 to have it installed. It's in my finished walk out basement. The chimney pipe exits the back of the stove to a T. The T is for cleaning as I am told. The chimney then travels up 4-5 feet to the ceiling, turns out through the wall, and then turns upwards and ends outside about 3-4 feet off the ground. There is another 90 degree elbow there, so the chimney faces out not up on top. The vent pipe joints are sealed with a sealent that is visible on the outside of each joint.

The stove was installed in October of 2006. Since then, we've had this condition twice, where a bad burn resulted in a LOT of smoke in the firebox, which then results in the smoke oozing from the chimney joints. Once the burn catches, and goes wild, there is no more venting into the room.

I have a CO detector, and it's peak reading to date is 16 parts per million.

 

[begreen]

We would get this on rare occasion with a sealed system. Sometimes the pellets are a bit slower to ignite and fill the box up with smoke (wood gases) that can ignite with a bit more force than usual. I'm not sure the reason for this, perhaps more pellets got in the burn pot than normal? Or perhaps too little intake air? But from what you have described it sounds like the stove is installed correctly and as long as this is a rare occurance I wouldn't worry about it. If it is a frequent occurance, I would start by giving the fire a bit more air or reducing the pellet feed rate slightly.

For what it's worth, this can happen with a modern woodstove as well under the right circumstances.

 

[Andre B.]

I could write a bunch of stuff about two chimneys competing for the air in the basement, but in short if it were me.

First make sure the stove and vent are sealed as well as possible, you cannot get it 100% because at some point you will want to open the stove door while there is still some amount of smoke being generated.

Then I would put a draft inducer on the stove vent to prevent pressurizing the stove with respect to the room. Preferably right at the point where the vent leaves the room. This will get the fire going without the big pileup of smoke in the stove.

In big furnaces and boilers this is known as a balanced draft system, one fan to blow air into the firebox and a second to pull the exhaust gases out. The two fans are controlled so that the firebox is just a little lower pressure then the room it is in. This prevents combustion gases from getting out into the room while minimizing the amount of uncontrolled air getting into the firebox and cutting down efficiency. A small stove like this would not need the two fans to be controlled nearly as closely main thing is that the stove be at a negative pressure.

Others will have other opinions.

 

[GVA]

We would get this on rare occasion with a sealed system. Sometimes the pellets are a bit slower to ignite and fill the box up with smoke (wood gases) that can ignite with a bit more force than usual. I'm not sure the reason for this, perhaps more pellets got in the burn pot than normal? Or perhaps too little intake air? But from what you have described it sounds like the stove is installed correctly and as long as this is a rare occurance I wouldn't worry about it. If it is a frequent occurance, I would start by giving the fire a bit more air or reducing the pellet feed rate slightly.

For what it's worth, this can happen with a modern woodstove as well under the right circumstances.

What be green says ....
My stove gets real smokey on startup when it is dirty and needs to be cleaned, it's a condition caused by the fresh air being restricted because the stove is just filthy.
If it's new than I would say you don't have enough fresh air getting into it. And being in the basement it may be fighting other appliances for combustion air as Andre.b says.

Also update your signature with your stove in it you have multiple threads going here and in each people are asking what kind of stove it is.

 

[elkimmeg]

direct cut and paste from your manual 3 90 and a tee is one too many but you be the judge

Page 10

No more than one tee and 180° of elbows (one tee with two 90° elbows, one tee with one
90° and two 45° elbows, etc.).


page 11

Must have an approved cap (to prevent water from entering) or a 45° downturn.

Page 12

HINT: Travis Industries strongly suggests outside air for all residential installations

Page 13

The exhaust restrictor “fine tunes” your appliance, ensuring it pulls the correct amount of air through
the firebox. Altitude, vent configuration, and other factors make restrictor adjustment necessary for
every installation.

 

[GVA]

direct cut and paste from your manual 33 90 and a tee is one too many but you be the judge

Page 10

No more than one tee and 180° of elbows (one tee with two 90° elbows, one tee with one
90° and two 45° elbows, etc.).


page 11

Must have an approved cap (to prevent water from entering) or a 45° downturn.

Page 12

HINT: Travis Industries strongly suggests outside air for all residential installations

Page 13

The exhaust restrictor “fine tunes” your appliance, ensuring it pulls the correct amount of air through
the firebox. Altitude, vent configuration, and other factors make restrictor adjustment necessary for
every installation.

I think he may be ok on the 90's the third would be the same as the end termination but with less backpressure.
outside air I'm not gonna touch that one...... although, it is in the basement.
So benignvanilla what else is in your basement?........

 

[benignvanilla]

What else is in the basement? As far as appliances? A gas fired water heater with a power vent. Our heat pump is down there too, but it's not in use.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

a few things to check, im not familiar with the model myself , but some of these may apply
1 if the unit is dirty, clean it out well, and frequently
2 if the unit has an ash drawer or ash dumps into a drawer, make sure they are seated correctly
3 if the unit has a removable burn pot , also make sure it , or whatever grate it has is seated correctly
4 if it is slow starting check position of igniter or blockage in igniter tube if applicable
5 if unit has a manual draft adjustment ensure it is opened sufficiently
6 check pellets for moisture, ive posted a trick in other threads on how to do so

hope this helps

 

[HarryBack]

no...smoke is never acceptable.

 

[hearthtools]

is you home Newer and realy air tight?
Do you have outside air?

What # do you have the air rod pulled out to?

If you are getting a good draft will no leaks in the stove you will see A diffence in the burn when you change the air rod in and out.
Test
with a High burn and the stove running hot for a min of 20 minutes
Push the air rod in.
You will see the fire Tall Orange and Lazy.
Then pull the air rod Out and the Fire will Drop lower and be a More yellow and intence.
if you see this change then your stove has a good seal and drafting well.

If you dont
Check the ash pan
Check your door for snug fit. (do you have a door handle, one Latch or two latches?) ther has been three upgrades in the door in the past few years.
Check to see if there is a screen in the cap if there is Clean it.
Check to see if any Horizontal pipe is running Downword. You want a slite rise
if your home is tight and you dont have out side air. Open a window a crack and see if this helps.

 

[BrotherBart]

is you home Newer and realy air tight?
Do you have outside air?

What # do you have the air rod pulled out to?

If you are getting a good draft will no leaks in the stove you will see A diffence in the burn when you change the air rod in and out.
Test
with a High burn and the stove running hot for a min of 20 minutes
Push the air rod in.
You will see the fire Tall Orange and Lazy.
Then pull the air rod Out and the Fire will Drop lower and be a More yellow and intence.
if you see this change then your stove has a good seal and drafting well.

If you dont
Check the ash pan
Check your door for snug fit. (do you have a door handle, one Latch or two latches?) ther has been three upgrades in the door in the past few years.
Check to see if there is a screen in the cap if there is Clean it.
Check to see if any Horizontal pipe is running Downword. You want a slite rise
if your home is tight and you dont have out side air. Open a window a crack and see if this helps.

Pellet stoves have air rods?