Older Resolute (1978?) smokes from griddle top

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gshav

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Nov 20, 2012
8
I've had this reliant since 1987 with no problems for 25 years. This year, noticed the griddle and corners of the stove smoking when I put it in long burn. changed the griddle metal fiber gasket, but still smokes. Here's the sequence:
1. when it's burning fully open, it works fine.
2. when I close the damper for a long burn with the fire hot, it immediately smokes from the griddle
gasket and 2 of the top corner seams.
3. It continues to smoke until I lower the temperature until the temperature gauge is near the "+" mark
on the stove. the smoke stops, but the temp. goes way down. when I try to increase the temp., the
smoking starts again.

I'm not sure if something internally is partially blocking the exit to the chimney as the air increases, or what?
any advice would be appreciated.

thanks,
George H.
 
So George, um the Reliant was V.C.'s pellet stove introduced in 1993. Could it maybe be something else? They all say what they are on the sides. Resolute maybe? Or Resolute Acclaim?
 
The stove cement in the corners has probably deteriorated to the point that it doesn't seal anymore...As far as the griddle, it may be warped, maybe the wrong size gasket was used, or maybe the new gasket didn't seat properly. It should have been replaced with 5/16" diameter armored gasket. All of the old gasket & gasket cement - including any dust has to be removed to seal right.
 
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I probably need to re-cement the corners. the griddle seems ok. I reamed out the old gasket material and i did use the 5/16" armored gasket. could it be a partial ash blockage inside the circulation system? I'm going to remove the stove pipe and vacuum all of the air tunnels as best I can, and see if that clears it up.

Does that sound logical?
 
True dat on the recementing, BUT the bigger problem w/Resolutes is thAT there's a part of the rear smoke chamber which can only be cleaned by removing the fireback. Fly ash settles in there, and you can't get at it from the flue or the firebox. Even if the seams were good, smoke would find its way out of the stove somehow if the smoke chamber is obstructed. So, looks like you got some cleaning to do ! By the way, does it have 1 front door or 2?
 
There are 2 doors, and on the inside back wall is the date 1979. Do you have any documentation on how to remove the fireback? Is it as simple as removing the upper back plate and cleaning out? I have a heat shield attached to the back, so I don't have a good view of the back of the stove.

Appreciate your reply and any other advice.

George
 
I took out the stovepipe and removed the (only) one door on the back, which is above the damper. Opened the damper and vacumed out the ash. Not much there. Vacuumed out all air passages inside the stove. Checked the airway behind the temperature gauge on the right hand side that goes (I think) from the left lower inside of the stove upward to to the chimney. Opened the damper and was able by puttting my hand down below the open damper over to the airway coming up, I could feel ash in the smoke chamber but the vacuum could not remove it all, due to the constricted area. tried to clean it out, but only partially succeeded. then re-assembled everything and restarted the fire. I had partial success. the stove still smokes from the griddle when i set it for a long burn, but starts to smoke at a higher temp. than before. any other suggestions?

thanks,

George
 
The basic thing to keep in mind is that neither the gasket nor the furnace cement is air tight - nor is it meant to me. I've even seen smoke pour out right through welds!

Rather a stove is supposed to always maintain a negative pressure - that is, any small holes should be sucking in air as opposed to letting smoke out.

Your problem is most likely with the draft or chimney than with the stove.
 
The stove works great when it is in the open mode. No trouble with the draft then. It's when I close it for a long burn. I've found that before I close it, I let the temp. go down a bit, then close it, it doesn't smoke very often. the problem then is that with it closed, the temp. will drop to about 200 degrees, even when the temp gauge is wide open. It won't hold a higher temp. I'm thinking that somewhere there is a partial blockage in the internal baffles.
Problem is, there isn't any easy way to clean it out from the outside, even with the stovepipe removed. there's only one removable plate behind the stovepipe, but doesn't allow much room to work.
A previous message mentioned having to remove the fireback. Is that possible? If so, how?

Appreciate any helpful info...
 
Everything you said points to a lack of draft - there is not enough "pull" to make the wood burn hot or pull air in through the cracks. But that does not mean the stove is clogged. It could very well be that your stovepipe and chimney are not drafting properly...

You didn't mention what your venting system is?
 
Have a stovepipe going into a metal asbestos chimney Just cleaned it all in October. Stovepipe is upside down "L shaped- 4' high, then 2' to the outside chimney. Chimney is approx. 14-15'high. I also have a rain cap over the chimney. Could that affect the draft?
I've run the stove for 25 years in this same configuration, and this is the first trouble i've had with it.

Thanks,

George
 
A correction. The vertical pipe from the stove is 3 feet high, not 4 feet high.

Thanks,

George
 
Ok, start with the basics.....

You have two els in your chimney- the one above the stove and the one outside where it turns up from the tee.

An old rule of thumb was that each el takes 5 feet off the effective height of a chimney. That means your chimney is effectively 4 or 5 feet tall.....

It may have worked before, but weather condition and other factors (the sealing of the stove, wood, etc.) change and you were right on the brink.

Based on what you are saying - my guess is that you need more draft. Assuming the cap is very clean, that should not hurt the draft too badly.
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/articles/chimneys_an_unexact_science/

You will find lots of info on our QA and elsewhere about this. In your case, my initial suggestions would be:

1. Add a couple feet to the top of the chimney if possible.
2. If it can work out, use two adj els instead of the 90 to slope toward the chimney instead of having it straight up and then level into the chimney.
3. Seal all stove pipe extremely well (including elbo joints) from the inside with furnace cement - same for the joint where the pipe goes into the chimney.
 
There is one passage in the smoke chamber behind the fireback which is NOT possible to clean w/o ut removing the fireback. You must remove 1st the left, then the right inserts inside the firbox. Each is held by a single screw. Screw in l. insert is pretty much dead center, r. insert screw is centered but below the exhaust opening.

Remove screws, pry out inserts, pry out fireback, vacuum and replace. Sounds easy but it's a HUGE pain.
 
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