Smoke smell frustration with Sante Fe

[stansj]

I have a Quadra Fire Sante Fe which I have owned for two months. I had no problems with the stove for the first month or so and then the smoke odours appeared. It seems to be an intermittent problem. I had a couple of bad weeks, then nothing and now am into another bad spell.

I am more then one hundred miles from the dealer. I have been cleaning and looking after the stove as per the specifications. I have lots of experience from cleaning and maintaining a Whitfield that I used for ten years. I have checked all the venting over and over and can't find anything wrong. I called the dealer and they told me to try checking for leaks with a flashlight during startup ( when some smoke it produced). I still can't find anything.

Can anyone offer some useful suggestions for this problem? Returning the stove is not an option.

Its a long story, but some of the pellets I am burning have been sitting here for two years. Could that be a part of the problem?

Thanks

 

[pkitfox]

Maybe it is a cleaning issue. I am sure you know pellet stove cleaning, but every stove is different. From what I have read, your stove has baffles that have caused smoke. I am including a link to a thread.

It seems like a couple of months would not be so long for the baffle cleaning to go, but experienced owners of Quads are saying they clean them every ton. You may have already cleaned them, even so, you might find the thread interesting (it's on a Castile, same design from what I hear),

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/27619/

 

[Raven20]

Do you clean the burn pot after every cycle?....When i don't clean mine and it fires up again I get alot of smoke in the box until the pellets ignite, Then I get a little smell coming out of it.....

 

[crausch]

Does the odor change come and go with weather conditions?

A small vent leak might produce emissions right after a cleaning then eventually seal itself with ash build up. Also, a small vent leak might not leak during a good draft, but on days where the wind gusts are wipping around, you may be getting a back draft at times causing the exhaust to weap out the small opening.

 

[kgaines]

I recently found that when I dumped the burn pot (on my castile) that any unburned pellets that fell into the ash tray would smolder when I started it up and give of a burning woods smell. It would only happen when the ash pan was getting full enough that the pellt would sit up high next to the igniter. Don't know if that helps.

 

[fluemasterjr]

what brand of venting are you using? and how is it vented,

 

[stansj]

Thanks for the input folks. This is helpful. I have tried emptying the ash pan ( including any unburnt pellets) and no change in smell.

I will have to look at the info regarding cleaning the baffles, but sheesh, the stove is so new...

I have taken the back fire brick out a few times and cleaned behind it already. I have also cleaned out the chimney.

Here is a bit more info about my installation for the techies. It is a basement installation. The stove outlet is 11 inches above the hearth pad. There is the adapter at the back of the stove which connects to a short horizontal pipe ( less than a foot) and then a Tee with a removeable cup at the bottom. From the Tee the chimney goes straight up six feet to a 90 degree elbow then outside through the top horizontal pipe. The top horizontal is less than three feet total. It is Security brand venting 3".

I used a similar chimney with my old stove for ten years without issue until I overheated it. Then I ran into chronic smoke odor issues with it. I fought with it for two years then finally gave up and bought a new stove. As one can imagine I am not welcoming smoke odor issues with this one.

Thanks again for all the info.

 

[fluemasterjr]

does your glass get dirty fast? how tall is your flame?

 

[crausch]

My original thoughts about a possible back draft is probably not the problem. It sounds as though you have a proper vent setup and a good natural draft. If you feel as though you have the pipe sealed good, then I can only think of one other thing to consider... is it possible that you might be drawing the fumes back in from outside? You didn't mention if if had an OAK installed or not.

 

[stansj]

HI again

I don't have an outside air kit. I have been sniffing around the nearest basement window to see if I can smell smoke coming back in and I can't say that I do. The nearest windo is around the corner from theoutput of the stove too.

The stove appears to be burning the old pellets with ease. The flame is perky and the glass does not get black, but does slowly cloud over, starting from the top. The stove seems to be designed with an air flow at the bottom of the window and it does a good job of keeping thse window clear.