need help with exterior exhaust smell issue

[Kringle]

Greetings All,

I recently moved to a home with a Harman 43-C pellet stove. I am brand new to pellet stoves. Loving it so far I have figured out most of its functions.

I just cleaned my stove - good scraping and vacuuming on the inside and cleaned out the exterior exhaust vent. I now notice a chemical smell from the outside exhaust. Not sure what this is? I have not switched pellet brands and I have no exhaust or smoke smell in the house, its just a very odd chemical smell from the exterior exhaust pipe. Can anyone help? Thanks in advance folks.

 

[Washed-Up]

Pretty hard to diagnose over a screen…is it possible there was oil sprayed on the inside of the stove for summer storage? Some here do that to keep rust down. Other than that, maybe creosote however you said you cleaned the pipes as well. Chemical smell similar to???

 

[Kringle]

Pretty hard to diagnose over a screen…is it possible there was oil sprayed on the inside of the stove for summer storage? Some here do that to keep rust down. Other than that, maybe creosote however you said you cleaned the pipes as well. Chemical smell similar to???

Thanks for the reply. I have been running the stove with no issue thus far so it could not be from oil. I'm thinking it must be creosote, it is a similar smell, I think. This is the first time I cleaned the exterior vent which has started the issue. Maybe I didn't clean it as well as I should have, it did not seem too dirty from the previous owner which is why I am a bit confused.

 

[maraakate]

Is the smell outside of the house or are you smelling at the connections at the stove? Are there 45 or 90 degree elbows involved? Did you disturb them? Did you take any part of the pipe off? Maybe you didn't put it back together as tightly as it should be.

 

[Washed-Up]

Just run it a bit hotter than you normally would and keep an eye on it, an hour or so should bake it out

 

[Kringle]

The smell is just outside, nothing inside. All interior pipes and seals look good. I only removed my exterior pipe cap for cleaning. I thought maybe the O ring was burning but that is not it, ring is fine. There is a 90 degree pipe angle inside the house. Friend with a stove says it is just some pellet residue from cleaning and that I should try and burn it off, similar to what Wash-up says. I will try that tonight and report back. Thanks y'all

 

[Mt Bob]

What Washed -up said. Or, use manual mode and run on high for an hour. Many stove owners, especially ones that the stove runs in a lower mode a lot, know to do this before cleaning.

 

[Oregun]

Did you use a brush with plastic bristles to clean the exhaust?
If so perhaps a plastic bristle broke off inside during cleaning the exhaust.