Slight Smoke Odor in House

[MarkF48]

For several days I've been smelling a very slight odor of wood smoke in my house and naturally was thinking it was the pellet stove. Yesterday morning I noticed it and shortly after went outside to get the morning paper. Got outside and there was a fairly strong odor in the air of wood smoke from surrounding neighbors that have wood stoves. Now I'm wondering if it's my pellet stove that has a slight leak or if it's just outside smoke leaking into the house that I'm smelling. My pellet stove piping has all the joints well sealed with silicone and the flange is tight to the stove, so I wouldn't think I have a leak, but not 100% positive on this and if it's outside smoke I'm smelling, not sure how I can positively eliminate my stove as the source. It doesn't seem the the odor in the house is there all the time and it's pretty faint to begin with.

 

[Jp16]

Do you have an OAK? If no then your stove may be pulling in the outside air from small leaks in the house as it exhausts. The air it blows out has to be replace from somewhere...

 

[MarkF48]

No OAK as of yet. 1800's built farm house, so yup I know it's leaky.

 

[The Village Idiot]

Take the time to do a "Dollar Bill Test" on your pellet stove door.

 

[hoverfly]

Tough one, if the house is air tight two things are happening. You might not be using an OAK, causing a negative pressure in the house to draw some smoke some where from the stove. Or the house is allowing smoke form your neighbors bring drawn into the house from some opening in the house. Or your house is leaky, then its just might be form the neighbors, again if you don't have an OAK the stove might be pulling the outside air in from the cracks. Or a gasket has failed/failing some where in the stove in this case form the blower out and along the venting, which is under positive pressure. I been able to find leaks in the stove in two ways, take the panel off nearest to the exhaust blower and used my nose while working my way up the vent. In which it means you have to get close and be a contortionist while not burning yourself. Or with the lights out in a dark room take a flash light and scan the stove and observe for puffs of smoke.

 

[moey]

Does not take much. I don't run our pellet stove much closest house with a wood burner is 50 yards away I smell it regularly its very faint but if you go up and give the door a thorough sniff you can smell it quite often. Of course his wood stove I call the dragon. I also have smelled our pellet stove on the second story windows if I do the sniff test wind has to be just right. I have a very sensitive nose.

 

[camdids]

I've had the same thing. Surrounded by houses with wood stoves or just a fireplace. Get it usually on very cold mornings and the wind is in my direction.

 

[Ett]

My exhaust vent is on the south west side of the house and when we first had it installed i noticed a smoke smell in the house only when the wind was coming from the SW and when the stove was off. Since then here is what I did. I tightened up the ash box a lot which in turn gave me a nicer burn and also stopped most of the smoke smell. Well 99% of it. On a very windy day I then changed the angle of the 45 degree elbow vent slightly and it has eliminated the smoke smell completely.. (BTW. I am very new at this. That that's my two cents...)

 

[Bioburner]

I panicked one day smelling smoke week before Christmas. Was from a cabinet shop 2 1/2 miles north. Idiots were welding and caught the place on fire. Still to cold to do the final demolition. This was the second fire in ten years, the first was spontaneous combustion of rags but only some damage to separate finishing structure. This fire finished it off.

 

[mikesj]

My stove vents on the same side of my house that the wind usually hits. Like you, I've got a poorly insulated farm house. Under certain conditions I occassionally get a slight smoke smell that seeps in from outside. It isn't usually a problem, but once or twice I've had to shut the stove down.

 

[hossthehermit]

Blame the neighbors ............