Our vent pipe leaks a little - is there a sealant for these pipes?

[gman88]

This is pretty basic....revealing how little I know about what I'm doing, here. I installed everything for this King 5502M a number of years ago. There's a very small amount of smoke smell in our den - which is normal, I suppose. I recently did some work on the thing (the igniter went bad, the igniter was fused to the housing, and the fire box all got screwed up from an enormous clinker). I put it back together and, to be honest, now the thing makes me nervous. I fired it up I noticed that there's a little bit of soot at the junctures of two pipes. There's a very small leak, I guess. Could I - and should I - get some sort of sealant for these joints? It's just pellet smoke so it's not like carbon monoxide or anything. Does it even matter?

 

[Clarkbug]

This is pretty basic....revealing how little I know about what I'm doing, here. I installed everything for this King 5502M a number of years ago. There's a very small amount of smoke smell in our den - which is normal, I suppose. I recently did some work on the thing (the igniter went bad, the igniter was fused to the housing, and the fire box all got screwed up from an enormous clinker). I put it back together and, to be honest, now the thing makes me nervous. I fired it up I noticed that there's a little bit of soot at the junctures of two pipes. There's a very small leak, I guess. Could I - and should I - get some sort of sealant for these joints? It's just pellet smoke so it's not like carbon monoxide or anything. Does it even matter? View attachment 285735

It looks like that pipe joint is not fully seated. You need to push those together further and twist them. That should help stop the issue. However, yes, there is carbon monoxide and other bad stuff that can come from it, even though its just pellets.

If it turns out you need sealant, you can use high temp RTV or you can use foil tape on the exterior, but the first step is to get that pipe fully seated like it was intended. See if that makes a difference.

 

[ABusWrench]

Yes, it looks like the piping isn't all the way together. You can also use silicone tape to seal the joints, once together correctly.

 

[jackman]

Do what the previous posters suggest. I then use foil tape to seal the joints.

 

[gman88]

Do what the previous posters suggest. I then use foil tape to seal the joints.

I've got it squared away, I think. I got the pipes you see in the pic together, almost 100 percent. I believe these pipes are called Dura-vent and they have two layers, concentric circles, in the pipe. In the top piece the inner circle was bent. I got the thing together, screwed the thing together, and used something called Rutland sealant - good for up to 500-degrees Fahrenheit to seal the seam. You can't see it very well in the pic bit it is sealed, completely. This stuff is advertised and being specifically for fireplaces. And, I bought a carbon dioxide alarm, it works (I tested the thing), and it's peak level with the stove running for five hours is zero. Anyway, this is how I put together and it certainly isn't leaking, at all, based upon the C02 meter. Thanks for the various ideas.

 

[mtnbiker727]

I used SharkBite siliocon tape from Lowes. It's not sticky, it's just clear silicone to wrap around whatever. You can stretch it super tight, then stick it to itself, and it'll chemically bond to itself.

 

[Ocelot]

It's already done, but no screws should be used on Duravent because they can pierce the inner lining. Usually making sure the pipes are twisted an locked together along with sealant on the outside is enough. If it's the regular Duravent, the rope seals inside each joint may also be damaged or pushed in too far.

Ray