Smoke Smell in House With Harman Accentra Stove

[millhouselives]

Hi All,

This is our second season using our Harman Accentra (installed new last year). Last year we really enjoyed our Pellet stove and the very nice heat that it provided. Early this Oct. I did the recommended cleaning of the stove and pipe. Followed this procedure (broken link removed) to do the cleaning.

Now, we have been using the stove here in New England more then we expected too...we have had quite a few colder then normal days here in Vermont. Since we first turned stove on we have been having a fairly strong smell of smoke inside the house. I thought that maybe in the process of cleaning that enough soot, etc was loosened by the cleaning and would need to burn off before the smoke smell disapatted.

Anyway, the stove has been burning for quite a while now and we still have the smoke smell. Last year no smell or very very little smoke smell once in a while.

Anyone else have this happen to them? Oh! by the way the stove pipes were all resealed with metallic tape and on close inspection while stove is burning I do not see any signs of smoke coming from pipes or door frame.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Delta-T]

there is an extremely high probability that the smoke is leaking from the pipe. the stove itself is under a vacuum. You may not see the smoke but its likely coming from the pipe. dab some extra silly-cone onto the flange where the pipe meets the stove.

 

[tkrock]

there is an extremely high probability that the smoke is leaking from the pipe. the stove itself is under a vacuum. You may not see the smoke but its likely coming from the pipe. dab some extra silly-cone onto the flange where the pipe meets the stove.

Agree.... make sure its high temp silly-cone of course!

 

[sydney1963]

I had the same thing at the beginning of last season, resealed everything again and no more smoke smell. I would trust the RTV silicone more than the tape. Goop it up good and I bet your problem will be solved.

 

[flowercat]

Would the use of a match or something help determine where the issues is? I know I tested the window and put a match up to it and if there is air flow from the window it would pull the flame toward the window. Can this be tested without actually running the stove by completing a dry test and run a component ionly like the fan? Obviously if you have a smoke problem you don't want to actually run the stove as usual.

 

[tchdngrnby]

Shut your stove down and allow it to cool. Remove or open any access panels so you can get a good look at your exhaust system. Darken the room then start up your stove. Using a flashlight carefully begin inspecting each and every joint during the period the stove is coming up to temperature. You will find the leak...its there somewhere!

PV

 

[millhouselives]

thanks for reply, I will double check all pipe joints this weekend. I prefer the tape as it is easier to remove when the stove and pipe need cleaning. Not having used the high temp silicone..would I be right if I guessed that once that stuff is on it is on for good?

thanks for the replies everybody!

 

[tchdngrnby]

The silicone can be easily removed. Using a good bead of the sealer as you are putting the vent sections together and then you can tape them if you wish. I have not needed to use tape as of yet. I use a level to ensure any vertical rise is plumb and true. This ensures that your vent connections are seated together properly. Use a level to ensure you have a slight rise in any horizontal run but not to such an extreme to place any stress on the vent pipe joints. I initially had smoke leaking from several joints only to find out that the installer used pellet vent from different manufacturers and then painted it over. I also found that the holes cut for the through wall thimble were off to such a degree that I had a down hill run. This put stress on the 90 degree elbow which was my major source of leakage. After trimming the holes to allow for a slight uphill run my problem was partially solved. I ended up removing all of the vent piping and replaced it on my own with new Simpson Duravent and have not had any other problems with the vent pipe connections leaking. Now I am jousting with the dealer for a refund on the vent piping.... May have to take him to small claims court to obtain relief.

Why is it that so many dealers are eager to sell you a stove and then you are on your own after the sale? What ever happened to standing behind your work? I can understand that some dealers can become "two blocked" at times but doing things right the first time goes a long way toward word of mouth referrals and repeat customers... Don't get me wrong, I think the stove is great, just the hobo clowns who installed it did not do a very good job (IMHO).

 

[courtsandan]

Hello,
I have been reading this forum for awhile prior to purchase of my used stove and pipe. I know have a used Castille and simpson duravent pipe. I hooked it up a couple weeks ago. Cleanout T on the back, verticle rise of about 4 foot, elbow, horizontal run out the wall of 3-4 foot. SMoke was coming out of the seams of the elbow on first trial run. The pipe joints were hard to put together. I cleaned them up, put high temp never sieze on them and re assembled - elbow smoking again - not at the in/out joints only at the seams. Called Simpson - talked to Dale he said use sealant on all the inner wall joints. I used a generous amount of silicone on everyjoint, neversieze on the outside interface. Seemed to smoke worse than before from the elboe joints. Replaced the elbow once also. Horiaontal run is slightly up-hill.
I disasembled it all last night to see if there are any obvious gaps where the silcone set-up - seemed to be lots of silcone in the gaps and none where the metal inner liner were tight.
Any ideas out there? Or do I try it again with silicone?

Sub note - I can not see smoke from the elbow on start-up - slight smell but not visable. After it is running for 15-20 minutes you can really see the smoke coming from the seams of the elbow.

 

[Lousyweather]

just for fun, open the fines container in the rear of the stove, and remove the slide plate......inspect it.....is it covered in any kind aof b/ack/brown residue? Also, empty the hopper, inspect the bottom of the hopper. Does it have any light yellow-brown residue?
The posts above are most likely right...that aluminum tape does loosen after a bit, buuuut, it could be something else....worth checking, evenso......let us know....the veterans of this board and harman know where Im going with this one...

 

[courtsandan]

This is a quadra fire castille - is that comparable to a Harmon? I will check as directed.

The stove output goes directly into the inner sleeve of the clean out tee. When the Simpson rep told me to seal the inner liner joints with HT RTV to keep the smoke from getting between the two walls it made sense to me. Smoke is exiting at the seams of the elbow not at any of the out sleeve connections. The elbow seams being the path of least resistance. I really snotted up the inner wall seams with RTV except for the bottom of the clean ouy tee. Now I am reading about loose rivets and clean out tee inner wall interface leaks.

Why wouldn't the smke leak out on start up? Not sure I understand why it takes a good 15 minutes of operation before the smoke starts coming out of the elbow seams. Which seemed to increase after the RTV.

I plan to re RTV every joint. And RTV the outside seams of the elbow. WIll see why the path of least resistance moves to.

Have considered removing the rope between the walls - foil taping all the seams and letting the smoke between the walls find its way out side. Simpson rep said the rope seal is overrated on these stoves and opening it up would not hurt anything if it was sealed on the outside.

What a poor product. Any type of backpressure and you have seal everything after the fact.

 

[Lousyweather]

This is a quadra fire castille - is that comparable to a Harmon? I will check as directed.

The stove output goes directly into the inner sleeve of the clean out tee. When the Simpson rep told me to seal the inner liner joints with HT RTV to keep the smoke from getting between the two walls it made sense to me. Smoke is exiting at the seams of the elbow not at any of the out sleeve connections. The elbow seams being the path of least resistance. I really snotted up the inner wall seams with RTV except for the bottom of the clean ouy tee. Now I am reading about loose rivets and clean out tee inner wall interface leaks.

Why wouldn't the smke leak out on start up? Not sure I understand why it takes a good 15 minutes of operation before the smoke starts coming out of the elbow seams. Which seemed to increase after the RTV.

I plan to re RTV every joint. And RTV the outside seams of the elbow. WIll see why the path of least resistance moves to.

Have considered removing the rope between the walls - foil taping all the seams and letting the smoke between the walls find its way out side. Simpson rep said the rope seal is overrated on these stoves and opening it up would not hurt anything if it was sealed on the outside.

What a poor product. Any type of backpressure and you have seal everything after the fact.

actually, Hawg, was replying with respect to the OP.....sorry about the confusion

 

[courtsandan]

No worries