On and Off Odors

[erika]

Hi, everyone. I was just wondering if anyone might be able to help me.
I have a pellet stove and every once and a while ( not even every week ) just randomly my house will get this Odour.
It seriously smells like someone took a giant fart and it's going though the vent's I just don't understand it because there is no rhyme or reason when it happens it just all of a sudden stinks. It smells even worse downstairs ware the stove is. Any suggestions as to what it might be or what might be causing this?
( and no it really is not a fart. ) LOL! Oh and it sticks around for about 1 hour to a few hours and then dissappers.
Thank-you

 

[hearthtools]

You did not give info on what kind of stove you have or how it is installed
Dierrect vent? Connected to a chimney?
Outside air?

Could be a venting issue
could be smoke coming back into the house from outside
Could be Negative house pressure when a Kitchen hood fan is on or a Fart fan is on and it is sucking air from the stove because your home is do tight.
Or even when your forst air heating unit is running.

 

[erika]

It is running though my furnase so it' s though the vent's . I really want to know if it is dangoruse or if I can fix it.

 

[bret4]

If it smells more like sewer gas and not the stove it could be that your are pulling some air through a septic vent pipe. If you have any sinks, toilets or showers that do not get used often, maybe the water in the trap has evaporated. You would get that smell and it may not even have anything to do with the stove. Put some water in those items if you have them to refill the traps.

Just another place to look other than the stove.

 

[pegdot]

Good call! If it doesn't have an OAK I think it's likely that it's a negative pressure issue and the odor certainly sounds like it could be sewer gas. If there is an OAK then I'd have to wonder about it's proximity to the plumbing vent on the exterior of the house. Wind could be causing the kit to pick up the plumbing exhaust when it's blowing in a certain direction or when there is no wind to carry it away from the OAK if they are near each other.

 

[hearthtools]

Give us a discription of your install and type of stove and we can help you better.

 

[erika]

The Stove is a Treager Modle # GBU070 I am kind of new at this and I can not for the life of me find the papers I recived with the stove I will keep looking. I did have them not to long ago. Thank you. I will check i to these suggestions.

 

[erika]

My Husband and I did some brain storming and discovered in the bathroom there is a drain that does not have a p-trap. and it's close to the ground not to far away from the furnace vent. We think what might be happening is the air from the drain (whitch goes strait down to the septic tank ) might be getting pulled up the drain, then down the vent and then circulated though the house. We are going to cover that drain when we are not using it and see if it solves the problem.

 

[bret4]

Yep, that could be the problem. Even on a windy day smells could be pushed out that pipe into the house. Your going to need to get a trap on that one.