Sealing leaky pellet vent

[Ctwoodtick]

Have had my basement pellet stove for about 7 years. Works well. I do get some smoke in room on start up. It dissipates pretty quickly. I had put some high heat silicone tape wrapped around the venting last year. At first there was a smell from it but then it was good for rest of season with slight improvement to smoke. I started up the stove for first time this evening and the silicone smell seems to be back. I also know I could be burning some settled dust off with first burn this season. Wondering if there is a better way to seal up the joints of the venting without taking it all apart. Would applying some high temp silicone liberally to the joints, as assembled, be effective. Not worried about how it looks bc venting is mostly hidden away.

 

[LoganAtHome]

Smearing silicone over the outside of the joints usually won't fix it, because on double wall pellet pipe the smoke is leaking from the inner pipe and the outer shell doesn't seal anything. The spots that leak most are the adapter at the back of the stove and the cap on the cleanout tee, so I'd pull just those and reseal them with high temp RTV rated for vent pipe, then let it cure before firing. That tape is probably what you're smelling too, since it cooks off again every season. Does the smoke show up right when it lights, or does it puff out later once the stove ramps up? Worth checking either way.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

Thanks for your thoughts on this. The smoke is noticeable right at startup. Then in dissipates and is absent. I notice it again if stove runs out of pellets. It will be a roasted wood smell at that point. Due to this, I try to manually shut off stove before pellets run out because the fan goes into a faster mode and I don’t smell any smoke with that process. I may just take the tape off bc I don’t know that it’s doing much and, I agree, it does smell on its own which can’t be good. I have CO detector in the stove room and in other parts of house and nothing there. But yes, the smoke is a mild to moderate annoyance .

 

[Whitenuckler]

Thanks for your thoughts on this. The smoke is noticeable right at startup. Then in dissipates and is absent. I notice it again if stove runs out of pellets. It will be a roasted wood smell at that point. Due to this, I try to manually shut off stove before pellets run out because the fan goes into a faster mode and I don’t smell any smoke with that process. I may just take the tape off bc I don’t know that it’s doing much and, I agree, it does smell on its own which can’t be good. I have CO detector in the stove room and in other parts of house and nothing there. But yes, the smoke is a mild to moderate annoyance .

if you ever change it look at Excel Pellet Vent Pipe https://icc-rsf.com/chimney/residential/excelpellet/ That is what my guy used and it is good stuff.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

if you ever change it look at Excel Pellet Vent Pipe https://icc-rsf.com/chimney/residential/excelpellet/ That is what my guy used and it is good stuff.

I appreciate it. I remember seeing that mine was Ventis brand from the box the installer used.

 

[ARC]

Really look closely at connection of vent pipe and stove a large majority of the time that is where the leak is. Pictures of your venting would help.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

Really look closely at connection of vent pipe and stove a large majority of the time that is where the leak is. Pictures of your venting would help.

I’ve attached some pics of the venting. The gasket coming from the bottom of venting is excess from my stuffing it into there to try to plug up any gaps there. My understanding of why the venting is as wonky as it is because it’s a basement install.