I love my stove - love the heat, love the coziness, love how relatively quiet it is. What I don't love is the smell. I have read many times over that there should be no smell from a pellet stove but it seems we have always had one - always. No matter what we do we can not get rid of that burning smell. We have checked every inch of pipe, sealed and resealed them, checked all the seals on the stove. How do we still get a smell? Recently it wasn't just an ignition smell but an exhaust smell. Made my house smell like a campfire. How is that even possible that the exhaust would mix with the hot air coming from the stove? All I can think of is that the smell is getting blown back in through the soffits but it doesn't seem like it should be such a strong smell if that is the case. What else can it be? How can I fix this? Please - any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thank you! Everyone here has always been so helpful.
Quad MVAE - what is with the smell!
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Mt Bob
Minister of Fire
Well,not having much info(such as,do you use outside air),I can give a little info.A combustion motor,in these stoves,has no "seal".A power outage,or,on startup,a bit of smoke can escape,especially if the stove and flue need cleaning.Have seen lots of ruined stove pipe,where people use long screws,it deforms the inner liner,causing smoke to get into the insulating area,and,the leak can be some wheres else in the pipe,as the smoke gets between the layers.Only takes a tiny hole/crack/ripple in sealing tape,you can have smell and no visible smoke.Another big thing,even if you have an OAK,many many windows are poorly installed.Nothing wrong with the windows,just poor installation.You can buy duct work smoke bombs,to check stove and flue(the smoke does not last long,and does not linger),or,you can start a fire in your stove,pull the plug,fire will go out,but smolder.Best to do this in low light/overcast/night.Shine powerful flashlight over stove and flue.If you see smoke at the combustion motor shaft,that is OK,see above.Also,most door gaskets seep a little,under a test as this.They are not airtight,irregardless of what people here say.
I had noticed smoke smell from my stove. Followed my nose and found out my windows were leaking where they slide up and down on the guide. Stuffed a little toilet paper in the gaps. Problem solved. kap
Thank you both. We do have an OAK. The windows by the stove are awning windows so no sliding. The windows on the floor above are double hung so maybe that accounts for the upstairs odor. As for downstairs, it sounds like it may just be something we have to live with but we will check the door gasket and pipe with a smoke bomb just to see if there is a leak, as well as the combustion motor area. I don't believe that long screws were used.
We've been trying KAP but I'm thinking it might be coming in from outside. The stove is on the lowest level of our home and sometimes with the way the wind blows, it is probably coming in through the soffits or vents or leaky windows. Don't think we can do anything about that. Upon initial start-up though, there is definitely a strong odor and we are just going to have to keep trying to find it.
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