Should you be able to smell the wood burning from a pellet stove? I recently changed the door gasket on my pellet stove. I notice a smell of the wood burning that is a bit stronger than it ever was before. I did the paper test and couldn't pull it out of the closed door but the smell is making me nervous that the gasket isn't sealed properly.... Any thoughts?
Smell from pellet stove
- Thread starter JohnD
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Bioburner
Moderator
Most stoves run with a vacuum in the fire chamber. Check the venting seams as that is under pressure. Self fusing silicone tape or high temp metal foil ducting tape on seams to keep any exhaust products from entering the home.
MikeNH
Burning Hunk
The only time I've ever been able to smell that smokey wood smell is when I had a small leak in the vent pipe, and that was only on startup. Are you smelling this the whole time the stove is running, or on startup (when it produces the most smoke)? I would think that a leaky gaskey would have the opposite effect - sucking IN air from the room.
I can smell it all the time.... I will try the silicone tape on the venting joints and see if that helps... Thanks
MikeNH
Burning Hunk
One thing I did to check for smoke leaks in the venting... At night, dark room, take a flashlight and shine it around the pipe, especially during startup. It was the easiest way for me to locate the leak
Bioburner
Moderator
If the door is a bit loose air can get In and not properly through the fire loosing some efficiency. If to loose on most stoves the vacuum switch won't close the feed circuit shutting the stove down. Would help us if we knew what stove we are trying to help you with. Some stoves have some strange maladies.
Jason845845
Feeling the Heat
Jason845845
Feeling the Heat
Because i took the air conditioners out.
Boomer Sailor
Member
I've already had my stove on 2x so far... Monday and Tuesday for about 2 hours in the morning to take the chill off! Ok maybe not a huge chill... but enough for the first burn of the season
In a negative pressure firebox like a pellet stove the smokey smell ain't gonna come from the door gasket. The pressure is in the combustion blower and the pipe.
Glad I found this post.... I have the same problem on my new P68. There was the initial burn in of course but then I noticed I would smell a whiff of smoke on a cold start. The initial burn in smell was then replaced by a faint wood burning smell which I thought was normal until I seen this post and others like it. I followed MikeNH's advice and did a cold start with the lights off and found the smoke right away. It's coming from two locations (picture attached), where the 3 meets the 4 inch pipe and at the clean out tee.
Question... should the installer have used high temp silicon on that joint? Should the clean out tee be taped? This is my first stove but this seems to be a reasonable assumption right?
Thx
Question... should the installer have used high temp silicon on that joint? Should the clean out tee be taped? This is my first stove but this seems to be a reasonable assumption right?
Thx
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Tape the seams using the high temp metal foil tape. It will be easier to remove later on if you have to dismantle things. Truth be known you shouldn't smell anything when it starts or when burning but some stoves are made so they suck a small amount of air from near the glass in the door to create a soot barrier to aid in keeping the glass clean. If you have a lot of smoke swirling in side the stove before ignition it can puff a small amount through that small leak.
So tape at both spots? I was thinking silicon at the adapter and tape at the clean out.
I'm not smelling smoke but burning wood..... And not all the time anymore...
I can see a small portion of the rope gasket from the top of the door....can't remember if the other gasket was visible or not....
Where are your windows in relation to the exhaust. I would occasionally get some smoke smell that would come back in my windows which did not seal perfectly. I was within all the clearances and the wind had to be just right.
I don't think it's coming in the windows...I find it funny that this just started after I replaced the door rope gasket...
Tried the flashlight trick but there was no smoke....like I said, I smell burning wood and no smoke...also, how hot does the vent from the rear of the stove to the outside get. If I use metal foil, is 200* tape enough or is the vent hotter than 200?
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MikeNH
Burning Hunk
I was always told to use 600 degree F high temp tape. I can't answer about the temp of the outside of the pipe.
Deromax
Burning Hunk
I also have some slight burning smell with my new install. I wonder if some errant pellet might have lodged itself somewhere in the heat exchanger or another hot area and is very slowly burning up.
MikeNH
Burning Hunk
MikeNH
Burning Hunk
"Burning wood" smell to me is that whiff that you get when you know someone in the neighborhood lit a fire in their woodstove or is having a campfire. That smell is the smell I could perceive when I had a very small smoke leak out the vent pipe. I would think it unlikely that your door gasket was causing you to smell this beyond a cold startup, as once a draft is started, ether by the combustion fan or by say, a chimney stack, leaky gaskets cause air to be sucked into the stove, not pushed out. The weird part is that it sounds like the only change that occurred since the issue started WAS the door gasket. Is that correct or can you think of anything else that changed?
Just the door gasket.... The stove did get a bit rusty inside...first time it's rusted since I've had it. Must not have plugged the vent pipes well enough this summer. Also very little bit of paint rub....could that be the problem. Smell doesn't smell bad, like burning wood....Safety is my issue!
