Smoke in the room St Croix

[LuvMyPellets]

This will be the 6th year for this St Croix Afton Bay. I think I got so used to the smoke in the room on startup I am not really sure when it started. It may have even done it when it was new. At any rate this year I decided I was tired of it and determined to fix it. The exhaust blower was new end of season last year. I pulled it anyway and replaced the gasket. Previously my pipe ran straight out the wall and no oak. The pipe now runs straight out and 7ft up and I installed an oak. The good news is the stove has never burned this clean. I am amazed the difference this has made on combustion. The problem is the damn smoke is still coming into the room on startup when the inside of the stove fills with smoke. The door gasket was also new last year. The pipes are all sealed with High temp RTV. As luck would have it you can not see the smoke. It is just enough of an odor to drive you nuts. Every time it starts I have my head and nose sniffing to see where it is coming from. The first place I can smell it is just inside the access door. I have attached a picture. There is no odor when it is heated up and running. I am guessing it could be one of the welds or maybe that gigantic gasket around the hopper. Any guesses?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Frequently stoves get their venting improperly installed and lack sealant and/or screws/and/or a stove adapter where the vent system joins to the stove.

With the lights out (dark stove room) and using a strong flashlight run the stove through a few start up cycles using the flash light to back light all of the seams in the venting inside the house.

Also be certain that there are no joints inside the thimble and that the area around where the vent pipe passes through the thimble on the outside of the house is sealed with a high temperature sealant. Check the area around the thimble on the outside making certain that there is a bead of high temperature sealant around where the thimble sits against the house.

Also your OAK needs its mount to the house sealed and the joint at the stove clamped or high temperature tape sealed.

Smoke can also escape through the igniter wire pass through hole if conditions are right.

It is also possible for the gasket that goes between the stove and the combustion blower chamber to be bad or the bolts to have loosened or not originally being tightened properly (note, this is not the combustion blower gasket).

Negative pressure in the stove room can also draw smoke out through the hopper and or an air wash that is open to room air. If enough smoke is made during start up it is possible that some will come out of the air wash even without there being a negative pressure situation in the stove room.

The cure for a lot of smoke being formed at startup is to make sure that the igniter is positioned and the stove clean enough such that the start up is as fast as possible (lessen the smoke generation time and volume).

 

[bbfarm]

I was going to guess the gasket between the vent outside and the stove.

Afton Bays dont have an airwash system.

You could check to see it each piece of glass is tight. They have tiny little gaskets around each one.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

I was going to guess the gasket between the vent outside and the stove.

Afton Bays dont have an airwash system.

You could check to see it each piece of glass is tight. They have tiny little gaskets around each one.

The operation and maintenance manual says they do.

 

[LuvMyPellets]

All good advice and I appreciate it. If they have an airwash it does not work very well. The glass is usually filthy in 2 days. I always suspected the open space around the pull out rod in the front. You can actually see the fire through that hole when the room is dark. The smoke on start up is also dependent on how clean it is. The very design of this stove ends up dropping a load of ash in and around the igniter and pulling open the trap door helps some but not as much as the weekly clean. When it is really clean their is much less smoke on startup and very little escapes into the room.

 

[krooser]

All good advice and I appreciate it. If they have an airwash it does not work very well. The glass is usually filthy in 2 days. I always suspected the open space around the pull out rod in the front. You can actually see the fire through that hole when the room is dark. The smoke on start up is also dependent on how clean it is. The very design of this stove ends up dropping a load of ash in and around the igniter and pulling open the trap door helps some but not as much as the weekly clean. When it is really clean their is much less smoke on startup and very little escapes into the room.

I hope you're not running your stove with the "grate scraper" (ash dump) open… that would be one reason for a smokey burn… the stove needs vacuum to draw out the spent gasses and an open ash dump won't allow that to happen.

Those small gaps around the ash pan clean-out and heat exchanger tube scrapers are nothing to worry about. The stove operates on negative pressure and will actually pull room air INTO the stove when running… common deal on most stoves.

The air wash is overrated on any stove… a simple wipe with a dry towel each day will keep the window reasonably clean.

 

[rickwai]

Did you fill the gap in the vent pipe between the inner and outer liner before you installed on the back of the stove? If not fill that gap where it hooks to the back of the stove and that will probably solve the problem. I made the same mistake.