Melting plastic smell on new install

[afk314]

Hi everyone,

Just installed a stove in our house. After lots of lobbying, I won the right to put a small stove in our living room. I purchased a used Morso 3440 and brought it home. The stove has seen use over about 7 years during the winters but looked to be in very good shape. Upon receiving it, I cleaned it up (steel wool, vacuum, etc) and then applied Rutland Stove Polish to bring it back to a nice rick black on the cast iron.

The installer ran the pipe and also replaced the gasket. I don't know what type of rope he used but he used Red Devil Gasket Sealant and seemed to apply it pretty liberally from what I can see at the application site. And of course, the pipe is all new.

I'm about a week into using the stove and every time I fire it up, I get this rather noxious smell which reminds me of burning plastic. The wife does not approve, as you can imagine. It requires us to open the windows and doors and is bad enough to set off the fire alarm.

Right now the stove is burning pretty hot (undampened) and I'm hoping that I might be able to just burn off whatever it is. But its not the first time I've tried this, either.

So the variables at this point are:

1. Used stove
2. Stove polish
3. Gasket
4. Gasket sealant

The chemist in me says just keep it burning hot and eventually you'll burn it all off but I've been working on it for awhile and still no dice.

Any advice?
-Adam

 

[electrathon]

Red devil silicone? On the pipe joints? Silicone is not rated for stove pipe. If the installer used it to seal the pipes, I would question his knowledge on the rest of the install.

 

[English BoB]

Hi everyone,

Just installed a stove in our house. After lots of lobbying, I won the right to put a small stove in our living room. I purchased a used Morso 3440 and brought it home. The stove has seen use over about 7 years during the winters but looked to be in very good shape. Upon receiving it, I cleaned it up (steel wool, vacuum, etc) and then applied Rutland Stove Polish to bring it back to a nice rick black on the cast iron.

The installer ran the pipe and also replaced the gasket. I don't know what type of rope he used but he used Red Devil Gasket Sealant and seemed to apply it pretty liberally from what I can see at the application site. And of course, the pipe is all new.

I'm about a week into using the stove and every time I fire it up, I get this rather noxious smell which reminds me of burning plastic. The wife does not approve, as you can imagine. It requires us to open the windows and doors and is bad enough to set off the fire alarm.

Right now the stove is burning pretty hot (undampened) and I'm hoping that I might be able to just burn off whatever it is. But its not the first time I've tried this, either.

So the variables at this point are:

1. Used stove
2. Stove polish
3. Gasket
4. Gasket sealant

The chemist in me says just keep it burning hot and eventually you'll burn it all off but I've been working on it for awhile and still no dice.

Any advice?
-Adam

Hi and welcome to the forum,
The chemist in me thinks that you would have burnt all you suggest at the first maybe second burn at least.
Could the stove have a leak ? and the plastic / acrid smell be from burning wood at the start of the fire.
Try the dollar bill test around the door gasket. place the bill all around the gasket and close the door, if the bill pulls out it indicates the gasket may need replacing.
Or is the stove in contact with anything / or close too anything getting hot ?

bob

 

[bholler]

stove polish and paint curing on the pipe. Possibly the silicone to but i doubt that unless he did use it on the pipe which i didnt think so from your post

 

[afk314]

The gasket sealant was used for the gasket around the glass only, not on the pipes. The installer has been in the business for many years, and is the son of the local Morso dealer so I have high trust in that.

The stove is positioned about 8" from a brick hearth (painted) with the single wall pipe being about 11" from the bricks. Just behind the flue connector on the stove the bricks are hot to touch. I can leave my hand there for 5 seconds or so before I want to pull it away. Could it be the painted bricks are fuming? Using an instant thermometer, I'm measuring temps in the 120 range at that point (don't know how accurate that measurement might be).

I'm hoping the issue is with the stove polish, gasket sealant, and paint on pipes. I've fired the stove five times now, whats a reasonable goal to hit before I pull the stove out and check everything?

-Adam

stove polish and paint curing on the pipe. Possibly the silicone to but i doubt that unless he did use it on the pipe which i didnt think so from your post

 

[English BoB]

The gasket sealant was used for the gasket around the glass only, not on the pipes. The installer has been in the business for many years, and is the son of the local Morso dealer so I have high trust in that.

The stove is positioned about 8" from a brick hearth (painted) with the single wall pipe being about 11" from the bricks. Just behind the flue connector on the stove the bricks are hot to touch. I can leave my hand there for 5 seconds or so before I want to pull it away. Could it be the painted bricks are fuming? Using an instant thermometer, I'm measuring temps in the 120 range at that point (don't know how accurate that measurement might be).

I'm hoping the issue is with the stove polish, gasket sealant, and paint on pipes. I've fired the stove five times now, whats a reasonable goal to hit before I pull the stove out and check everything?

-Adam

Ask the installer to take a look when you start a new fire, see what he thinks.

bob

 

[mitchell721]

I got off gassing on mine the first probably 5 or 6 times. And would come once I hit higher temp since I worked up in temp (learnino ins and outs and didn't want a runaway) then it stopped. Thing is with so much being new to you it's going to be hard to narrow down. If pipe is new that will off gas. Not sure how long or if gasket sealant off gasses haven't had to replace mine yet. Or it could be the paint on the brick. Seems like the painted brick would peel though

 

[jb6l6gc]

Does smell happen at lower temps or only at new highs?

 

[firefighterjake]

Does smell happen at lower temps or only at new highs?

This is a good question . . . if you smell the stink mostly at higher temps I would guess it is the polish and paint smell. Some smell might be noticeable at loer temps, but it should be more distinctive at higher temps . . . or more specifically as you reach higher temps.

 

[afk314]

The smell is present each time I fire it up. Once I move from light kindling (sticks) to small splits with a modest fire going, the smell is back.
But it was a great question since it clearly demonstrated the painted bricks behind the stove weren't even a tad warm and the smell was present.

I'm completely at a loss right now. And losing patience. Any other experiments come to mind?

-Adam

 

[mitchell721]

Maybe a long shot but is there anything else close to it or pipe. Light fixture or anything. Maybe post a picture so ppl can throw out some ideas.

 

[Xc1974]

Just had an install done. My installer left a sticker on my double wall stove pipe which melted on first fire before I noticed it. Now every time it gets good and hot it smells like burning plastic.i can't get it off since its melted. I'm hoping it burns off completely soon cause I'm tired of the smell too. I also set off my smoke alarms for the second time tonight.