Noticing more smoke smell on cold start ups lately

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Old rusty bolts, and its always the last one that gives you the trouble. I've seen old metal "sheet" off so maybe that's what you found? Maybe your door adjust is causing a leak while the flue is cold that you don't get after its warm and drafting good??
Yes you are right about that last bolt, I am understandably reluctant to mess with it for that reason lol! If it was a baffle that could easily come out I would've done this long ago, but this looks in place so I'll let it be. Hopefully by pushing whatever that was towards the back of the baffle will render it "harmless".

I wonder about the door adjustment too, but then I think back to how it wasn't an issue with the first few fires, how it only now is causing issues as the weather has changed to more cold, damp heavy air days? But I did add more gasket to it as a "hack" so maybe that is a factor but I don't think so as that only makes for a better seal, I don't know now....

I will start it soon and see what happens now that this piece of whatever has been moved back hopefully out of the way. If it still acts wacky maybe I'll one day try to remove all of the added gasket and return the latch setting as close to where it was before this season started. The ironic thing is that I adjusted it so that it would close a bit looser, but by adding some gasket here and there to make sure there was enough gasket and tight enough it's almost back to where it was before lol!

And yes one day "off season" I will bite the bullet and take the door off, remove and replace the gasket and wrestle with getting it to line up again, that is a real bear to do on this stove and at times I wish that the latch and door were NOT adjustable, that way I wouldn't run into some of these issues!

Thanks for the help, if you think of anything else please post it! It's not a huge issue but one that I'd like to remedy if I can, and you know how sometimes things like this gnaw at you until you fix it!
 
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This isn't much help but since I ran into it...

 
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It has three rows of metal with holes in them, not tubes but one tiered piece of metal with rows of holes. On top of that held in place with metal "clamps" is the insulated blanket, but I never touch that when cleaning, never though that I should fool with it and I think I read that once about it.

Nothing has changed in the house. I had started using the top down starting method late last year and have continued it this season, perhaps I will try the "tee pee" method like I used to do and see if that makes any difference?

I also want to add that the pipe comes out the back of the stove, not straight up the top, there is an elbow there that goes into the back of the top of the stove.
Thanks, sounds like the secondary rack is similar to some Jotul designs. Make sure the blanket is still laying flat and has not bunched up a bit toward the rear of the stove. I'd also check the elbow for accumulation.
 
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This isn't much help but since I ran into it...

That is the last time I recalled hearing about this stove. Alladin Hearth sold them. They became Quadrafire and continued to sell some Dovres until fairly recently. The Isle Royale was the last model.
 
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That is the last time I recalled hearing about this stove. Alladin Hearth sold them. They became Quadrafire and continued to sell some Dovres until fairly recently. The Isle Royale was the last model.
You are the man when it comes to this stuff! Does that basic style suffer from a common problem draft-wise?
 
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Well, you will probably like to hear this and most likely get a little (or more) laugh out of it....jatoxico said in post #25 about maybe the door latch adjustment causing a leak, so I did the dollar bill test today and some spots that previously had been good were now loose, and the one spot was right in the middle on top of the front door; I know the left side always seemed to be looser from the start 27 years ago, but the middle and right side always were good. Some of the spots on the bottom are also loose, but they are about 5" lower than the metal "wall" on the floor bottom near the front, but I am assuming that the top middle spot being loose may either have contributed to uneven draft on start up or somehow some smoke smell WAS making it's way out there, I never saw any but who knows?

Well, since I said I had put some gasket material on top of old gasket material I thought I'd take that off and try to "reset" the door close to the way it was before I had the brilliant idea 7 weeks ago of adjusting it, but they won't come off! It was thin rope gasket with tape on the back so it really is stuck on there, if I would've forced it sections of the old gasket would've came loose and I don't have any gasket cement so I thought I'll have to put more of that gasket across the top and adjust the latch again. I put it across the top, have the latch as loose as it will go, and it closes, but it is pretty tight; that bushing still moves but it is a bit tighter than I would like but that's the way it will be for now, and even my wife said the new gasket will compress and flatten out and she is right, it will just take some time. I lit a fire, stayed in the room, didn't turn the little muffin fans on to move the air to the ceiling fan upstairs so I could smell for any smoke and it really was improved, the only time I seemed to notice any was twice when I opened the door to add some more wood, but other than that it was better than it had been so I believe my friend jatoxico was on the right path!

I said "I'm not too pleased with this right now, the door latches a bit tighter than I want." I also asked her to recall the time we took the door off and I thought it was to replace the gasket but I now recall it was to change the glass on the door so I had to take it off and lay it flat, it had cracked years ago for some reason, even the dealer was shocked and I told him a piece fell into it at that spot but he said "it still shouldn't have cracked" but it did. I remember when I replaced the gasket I did it right there with the door on, tore the old rope gasket off, used a steel bristle brush to remove any old cement, put new cement on and pressed the new gasket into place. I remember it wasn't that easy because I couldn't just close the door and adjust the latch and everything was fine, I had to take the other side of the stove off (the sides lift up and off, pretty cool) and loosen two huge hex bolts so I could move the door around and try my best to align it, it is not easy to do, but I see myself doing that in the near future now.

And my wife said that "it took 3 hours when we had the glass replaced and tried to get it back on and lined up, a lot of swearing and we almost got a divorce" and I believe that, so I am not real eager to play that game again even with the door staying on the stove but I'll have to.

I should've just left it alone 7 weeks ago, but I thought "I can make this better". Yeah....sure.....<> :rolleyes:
 
If it ain't broke...done that enough times myself. Well at least you know what to do.
 
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You are the man when it comes to this stuff! Does that basic style suffer from a common problem draft-wise?
Not particularly, afaik, but I have never seen the stove in operation. Sounds like PA W. solved the issue.
 
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