Smell from pellet stove

[Deromax]

Yours could possibly be paint curing. What does the smell smell like?

It had the classic "new" smell the first and second burns, but the burning wood smell stayed. It's more pronounced at startup but continues all the time it's operating. Will have to try the flashlight trick!

 

[alternativeheat]

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!

I had some burnt wood smell that came on last winter in my P61, it was pellet dust under a pot we keep on top of it. But this spring I started getting a stronger smell of smoke on start up , that is /was teh vent joints leaking. Two different smells, the other was kind of nice actually but the vent leaking was too strong a smell. Didn't always do it but I did find it with a flash light as suggested above. I have siliconed all those joints in question but have not lit the stove off yet this season. I too got some rust inside my stove ( very humid summer back in I don't know some month, it's all a blur !), rather sad but it's there and I need to wire it off or something before I build more ash up in there.

 

[JohnD]

I had some burnt wood smell that came on last winter in my P61, it was pellet dust under a pot we keep on top of it. But this spring I started getting a stronger smell of smoke on start up , that is /was teh vent joints leaking. Two different smells, the other was kind of nice actually but the vent leaking was too strong a smell. Didn't always do it but I did find it with a flash light as suggested above. I have siliconed all those joints in question but have not lit the stove off yet this season. I too got some rust inside my stove ( very humid summer back in I don't know some month, it's all a blur !), rather sad but it's there and I need to wire it off or something before I build more ash up in there.

Once the rust is in the stove, how do u get it off? It's in the entire inside of the stove, ash pan, fire pot... Do I just use a wire brush, Brillo pad?

 

[alternativeheat]

Once the rust is in the stove, how do u get it off? It's in the entire inside of the stove, ash pan, fire pot... Do I just use a wire brush, Brillo pad?

Depends how heavy it is. Mine is not too bad and I intend to use a brush in my drill. I have some on each side inside. The burn pot has some too. Some people paint the inside of their stove with high heat paint, I have not. Maybe should.

 

[Wilbur Feral]

I have an older stove in the basement, and smelled smoke last year. After checking all vent seams and finding no smoke, I switched out the door gasket. Cured it. The "negative pressure in the fire box" theory sounds logical and is certainly what I initially thought, I admit - but my experience didn't support it. Check your door gasket again.

Re: rust in the firebox, that old stove had that as well. A steel brush fixed it. And the manual of my newer stove (Quad) says to paint all exposed surfaces - even the cast - inside the firebox. They supply paint for it, and say that other high temperature paint is also acceptable.

 

[Harvey Schneider]

Re: rust in the firebox, that old stove had that as well. A steel brush fixed it. And the manual of my newer stove (Quad) says to paint all exposed surfaces - even the cast - inside the firebox. They supply paint for it, and say that other high temperature paint is also acceptable.

Painting over rust will not stop the rust. The painted over rust will continue to eat away at the cast iron.
It is necessary to either remove all of the rust mechanically or convert the rust chemically to some more inert form.
I don't think I would paint the heat exchanger plate, for two reasons. First, I don't think the paint would survive direct exposure to the fire and second because the paint may interfere with the performance of the heat exchanger. I certainly wouldn't expect paint to survive the fire pot.
Let us know what your experience is with painting interior surfaces.

 

[Jaymaine34]

Speaking directly to my experience with the cb1200 .
Every smoke leak / smell I've ever had was solved by reseating the cap on the clean out T . They make a small orange gasket your dealer should have them ( my dealer just gave them to me no charge )
At test run this year after cleaning my stove was leaking smoke at all 3 connections at the clean out T . Was thinking I needed to seal all 3 points . Called my dealer he said to just put a new gasket in the clean out cap and all will go away . Didn't make sense to me but seemed easy enough and to my surprise it worked and I have fired the stove several times sense .
As for door gaskets I have had a puff of smoke at startup before ( after a missed ignition with to much fuel in pot )
But never after stove has come to temp .
So in my mind the question is do we have smoke at startup only or all the time and has the stove passed the dollar bills test and what does the flashlight test tell you .
On the paint / rust subject I've gone both ways with this . First no paint will survive the fire chamber temp . What the paint will do is protect it in the off season and make it look pretty . Also if you are just talking light surface rust a lot will burn off during the first long run of the stove . In my option the paint is a end off season thing not a start . I would wire brush it now and at the end of year clean off all if any that is left then paint and use damp rid .
Sorry so long guys !

 

[rona]

Have you looked at your outside exh pipes to see if a bird could have built a nest inside? That has happened and caused a restriction. Sometimes if the stove doesn't ignite right away smoke will build up and you will get a Poof when it ignites. When that happens you can get a small amount of smoke pushed out from around the door.

 

[Harvey Schneider]

Have you looked at your outside exh pipes to see if a bird could have built a nest inside? That has happened and caused a restriction.

Yellow jacket and wasp nests can also be a problem.

 

[TimfromMA]

Yellow jacket and wasp nests can also be a problem.

I plug my vent over warm weather months to prevent just such a thing.

 

[Wilbur Feral]

Gave stove a test fire, and no ill effects from the paint. As noted above, paint is primarily for off season protection. And Harvey, note part about steel brush for rust removal PRIOR to paint.

 

[briansol]

on startup, a little 'smell' is normal i think, simply because the combustion chamber hasn't fully reached vacuum state yet. This is especially true if you don't have a sealed OAK. Since going OAK, i don't have nay smell on start up any more.

post-start up (full run), you shouldn't smell anything.

First, get a CO monitor or 3 in the house.
Seal the joints on the exhaust as others have stated, as you probably do have a leak some where.

If you didn't smell it last year, and now only after replacing the gasket smell it, start there. Maybe it's not the gasket but the door latch that isn't all the way sealing in on all corners.

 

[Wilbur Feral]

on startup, a little 'smell' is normal i think, simply because the combustion chamber hasn't fully reached vacuum state yet.

Must respectfully disagree. If you smell smoke, you have a leak - the blower just overcomes it once it's running. Best to correct it now, before cold weather is here. Otherwise you smell it for the whole season, often several times per day. Not healthy, either.

 

[Harvey Schneider]

Must respectfully disagree. If you smell smoke, you have a leak - the blower just overcomes it once it's running. Best to correct it now, before cold weather is here. Otherwise you smell it for the whole season, often several times per day. Not healthy, either.

I have to agree with briansol.
When either of my stoves first ignites there is smoke in the chamber followed by a rapid expansion of the flammable gasses (whoosh). That rapid expansion momentarily presurizes the chamber and overcomes the seals. As a result there is a faint whiff of smoke on ignition.
I really don't see this as a problem and I don't feel that it needs correction.

 

[Wilbur Feral]

I have to agree with briansol.
When either of my stoves first ignites there is smoke in the chamber followed by a rapid expansion of the flammable gasses (whoosh). That rapid expansion momentarily presurizes the chamber and overcomes the seals. As a result there is a faint whiff of smoke on ignition.
I really don't see this as a problem and I don't feel that it needs correction.

Well. We are at "agree to disagree". I would attempt a fix while the weather is nice. To each their own.

 

[stellep]

Every fall after a deep stove clean, I get a slight smoke smell just at startup. I've tried all the solutions to find it -- dark flashlight etc.-- to no avail. After burning 6-8 bags the leak goes away until the next year. I figure that the tiny pinhole that I can't find gets plugged with ash. I still look to find the leak every year.

 

[Jaymaine34]

Having a smoke smell for me is not normal ! In my experience a smoke smell means a leak !

 

[ldman]

have ash smell coming from blower - checked every seam in flu checked and no leaks. it happened last year at end of season after burning all winter. had a good cleaning early in season and then again just now since the smell was back. Smell not going away. is the air mix wrong? have a warmland PS45.

 

[Bioburner]

All your joints taped with either high temp silicone or high temp silver ducting tape? I gave up on trying to use tube silicone and silver duct tape. The silicone tape stretches tight avoiding the pesky pin hole leaks. I have no idea of that stoves engineering to be of much help

 

[ldman]

All your joints taped with either high temp silicone or high temp silver ducting tape? I gave up on trying to use tube silicone and silver duct tape. The silicone tape stretches tight avoiding the pesky pin hole leaks. I have no idea of that stoves engineering to be of much help

hmm - all done with tube high temp silicone and silver duct tape....

 

[Jack Morrissey]

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?

If I overfill the hopper on my Quad Castille, I can get pellets laying atop a little shelf over where the heat tubes come out and they just heat up and kind of smolder...