Smell in heated air being pushed into the house.

[Tom88]

3 year old Hearthstone Heritage and when I cranked up the stove this year there is faint smell in the air that is meant to heat the house. This is not a smokey smell like the one you get when the stove starts, it is not necessarily a bad smell but once it had run for an hour or so, I kind of felt a scatching in the throat like it was irritated by whatever is being put into the air.

Do I have a leaky heat exchange?

 

[DAKSY]

Could be the smell of the dust that has settled in/on the heat exchanger & is getting burnt off.
Does it continue to smell after an hour's burning?

 

[DneprDave]

Dead mouse?

 

[Tom88]

Could be the smell of the dust that has settled in/on the heat exchanger & is getting burnt off.
Does it continue to smell after an hour's burning?

I shut it down to be safe. I will fire it up again and see if something changes. It has to be very fine as it isn't a smoke as I did the flashlight test and there
was nothing. Dust makes sense to me so I will give it a try. Thanks!

 

[Tom88]

Dead mouse?

Not likely but a mouse could fit in the tubes. I would think a dead mouse would smoke up quite nicely and in my case you do not
get any smoke just an odor. I have burned a few tons of pellets so it isn't the paint either.

 

[alternativeheat]

3 year old Hearthstone Heritage and when I cranked up the stove this year there is faint smell in the air that is meant to heat the house. This is not a smokey smell like the one you get when the stove starts, it is not necessarily a bad smell but once it had run for an hour or so, I kind of felt a scatching in the throat like it was irritated by whatever is being put into the air.

Do I have a leaky heat exchange?

On fire up of any stove after being off for some time there is the distinct smell of hot metal, dampness, some dust etc. It always has happened at my house anyway. Especially so at seasons beginning . Same with the vent pipe , it gets warm after being cool all summer, then the convection fan picks up elements of the odor. I imagine even inside the heat exchanger has it's own odors. The same thing happens with car engines after sitting for an off season. open the hood and start up in the garage, it will smell different than a constantly used vehicle, rusty header pipes etc all put off an odor. It should go away soon.

 

[titanracer]

Stink Bug

 

[Tom88]

Stink Bug

Funny you should say that as we do get a few in the house every winter. Honestly though, the smell isn't that bad but you can tell the heated air has a smell to it.

I think I will just fire it up and run a full bag and see if something changes.

 

[Tom88]

On fire up of any stove after being off for some time there is the distinct smell of hot metal, dampness, some dust etc. It always has happened at my house anyway. Especially so at seasons beginning . Same with the vent pipe , it gets warm after being cool all summer, then the convection fan picks up elements of the odor. I imagine even inside the heat exchanger has it's own odors. The same thing happens with car engines after sitting for an off season. open the hood and start up in the garage, it will smell different than a constantly used vehicle, rusty header pipes etc all put off an odor. It should go away soon.

We have baseboard heat so I know that the dust on the fins need to get burned off a bit and you get a dusty smell until it is all gone. The smell isn't like that but you never know. I'll burn a bag and see what happens.

 

[alternativeheat]

We have baseboard heat so I know that the dust on the fins need to get burned off a bit and you get a dusty smell until it is all gone. The smell isn't like that but you never know. I'll burn a bag and see what happens.

I bet it goes away ! Hot metal after sitting, I'm telling you but I will wait to hear back. The smell has a light almost chemical to musty smell to it. Not strong and not real bad but it's there. When you fire it up give a good hot burn for a few minutes, it should go away.

 

[Tom88]

I bet it goes away ! Hot metal after sitting, I'm telling you but I will wait to hear back. The smell has an light almost chemical to musty smell to it. Not strong and not real bad but it's there. When you fire it up give a good hot burn for a few minutes, it should go away.

I hope your right and your description is pretty good. My installer keeps pushing me to buy a new stove and I told him if I had to do that he would have to take me in as my wife will kick me out of the house.

 

[alternativeheat]

I hope your right and your description is pretty good. My installer keeps pushing me to buy a new stove and I told him if I had to do that he would have to take me in as my wife will kick me out of the house.

I'll be waiting to hear back.

 

[ohbix]

You might have a small leak around the exhaust fan or fan housing. The convection fan can then pull that tainted air through the heat exchanger. Someone posted a similar scenario w/ an enviro M55. Mine had a tiny leak in the same spot. At low levels, couldn't smell anything, but felt the irritation in the throat. I cleaned the suspected seam, and after running the stove saw soot in that location. Caulked, problem solved.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Got cats? Could be that a cat whizzed on the cabinet and once warm, the cat whizz is vaporizing off..... Cats do that....

 

[Tom88]

Got cats? Could be that a cat whizzed on the cabinet and once warm, the cat whizz is vaporizing off..... Cats do that....

No cats.

 

[alternativeheat]

No cats.

Hmm, wonder what that's like.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Hmm, wonder what that's like.

I wonder myself (what no cats would be like......)??

 

[alternativeheat]

I wonder myself (what no cats would be like......)??

For 60 years I've had someplace between 1 and 13 cats in my life at any given time.

 

[TimfromMA]

I cant stand cats. I do love my pooches though.

 

[alternativeheat]

I cant stand cats. I do love my pooches though.

Some dogs are really cool. My wife and I have had a couple in our 41 years together. My daughter used to raise German Short Hairs. We just find cats easy and we like the personalities.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I'm here to tell you both that we have both in the house, all together with us and everyone gets along...most times. 2 pooches, a anciet chocolate lab and a middle aged basset and various cats, all discards.... dogs too.

One reason every year the stove gets completely gone through... lots of animal hair in the works.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

You burning skunk spruce?

 

[alternativeheat]

I'm here to tell you both that we have both in the house, all together with us and everyone gets along...most times. 2 pooches, a anciet chocolate lab and a middle aged basset and various cats, all discards.... dogs too.

One reason every year the stove gets completely gone through... lots of animal hair in the works.

We had a mix, this guy used to breed Collie Shepard's. Well this dog looked like a black lab but really powerful. The doc one day said nice looking lab you have. We just looked at each other ( wife and I). That dog died in my arms one day carrying him into the vets. I never lost a child, don't want to but it tore on my heart like I might imagine doing that. Head flopped over and that was that. Deader than a mackerel at the fish counter. We don't know if he sucked something in or what but he had big trouble breathing so we were taking him in.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I have a big soft spot for dogs, not so big for cats. Problem is, they don't live as long as you'd like them to so you get to watch them grow up, grow old and then pass and it's always hard, the passing part....

My bassett mix has sugar, She gets humalin 2 times a day, 27 units each time. No sugar dog treats, the wife makes all her treats, special food, vitamins. she averages about 600 bucks a month in meds and vet visits, I can understand why people put diabetic dogs down, it's hard for most people to afford, but we aren't most. we've been blessed monetarily so it's a non issue. Besides, she's my buddy and she's blind now (diabetic dogs get cataracts). We might take her in to have her eyes done if she gets distressed too much but it seems to be a non-issue. The nose has taken over for the eyes....

You just have to not change the furniture around and talk to her so she hears you and not let her get excited.

She's parked in front of the stove right now, in her doggie bed, nose on the hearth pad butt toward the humidifier..... Hot on one end, cool on the other..... Thats her spot every evening.

 

[Tom88]

I'll be waiting to hear back.

I think I am all set. I burned a bag or 2 and to help with the smell I ran my a/c fan to allow the filter to pick up some of the particles in the air. I will check the filter in a day or 2 to see
if there is black soot or any thing else. Now if I could only get the ash pan sensor to stop going into error I will be all set. My stove is cranking out heat and burning so much better this year but the stove keeps going into error for "too little air". I am thinking I will change the rope gaskets on the door to rule that out. The ash pan is in cleanly so it shouldn't be the reason for the error.