Smoking XXV year two

[mtnbiker727]

So last fall/winter, I don't know when, we bought a used XXV off Marketplace. The seller claimed he got it from a previous Harman Tech who replaced all the parts with new. The stove didn't outright smoke, but every time we used it we could smell the smoke and it burned our throats and eyes. I cleaned thoroughly and found the stove was treated terribly in the past. I checked the door gasket and replaced the ash pan gasket, cleaned the combustion fan and replaced the combustion fan blade. I siliconed and resiliconed the vent multiple times before giving up on it as a loss.

This fall we still hadn't decided what to do, and after a lead on a good used P43 fell through, I decided to reach out to the seller. The seller apologized and said he didn't know the stove had issues, because he had never used it. He offered me some money back. So at this point I decided to dig even deeper into the stove. I ordered a new combustion fan and the metal plate it goes through.

Here's what I discovered when I removed the burn pot after I had a suspicion there was an issue with it.

Still to come is redoing the vent pipe (again), and replacing the combustion fan.

 

[Washed-Up]

Hope you took some cash back, not good and was that gasket in on piece or as in the photo?
Looks like it was run on a super low setting…reminds me of the $200 P61A I refurbished….drippy creosote

 

[johneh]

Used and abused. I have seen some beat-up and poorly taken care of stoves in my years .
I would never sell a stove that I personally cleaned, repaired and tested. I hope you did get some cash back .

 

[mtnbiker727]

Hope you took some cash back, not good and was that gasket in on piece or as in the photo?
Looks like it was run on a super low setting…reminds me of the $200 P61A I refurbished….drippy creosote

That's how it came apart. and it took a lot of effort to get that mess scraped off of it.

I still have to shine up the rust on the burn pot and it has some minor pitting I'm going to try to fill in with extreme heat JB Weld.

 

[NS P-68]

We're the nuts loose on the burn pot by chance? Looks like that burn pot gasket has been leaking for some time.
Leaking pipe probably doesn't help either...
Previous Harman tech..?

 

[zrock]

Use the tinfoil tape on your chimney joints in the house instead of fighting with silicone. Been leak free since i installed. Probably not that gasket that is causing smoke issues as pellets stoves usually bury very clean with little to no smoke unless on a startup cycle.. How close is your fresh air intake to the exhaust?
If your smelling smoke its either not burning efficient and smoke is trickling up though the heat exchanger, or you have a leak on the exhaust side of things. Know anyone with a fog machine or any place to purchase a smoke generator you can light and toss in the burn pot and close the door. Then you will visually see the leaks, empty your hopper out and turn it on so the fans are running and it should tell you pretty quick where the leak is

 

[mtnbiker727]

We're the nuts loose on the burn pot by chance? Looks like that burn pot gasket has been leaking for some time.
Leaking pipe probably doesn't help either...
Previous Harman tech..?

They were not loose. It took some WD40 and some cranking to get them off. It doesn't help that I needed an extension and a universal joint because the burn pot is in the way of hitting them straight on.

Oh yeah, the seller claimed he bought it from a harman tech who had replaced all the parts with shiny new ones.

 

[mtnbiker727]

Use the tinfoil tape on your chimney joints in the house instead of fighting with silicone. Been leak free since i installed. Probably not that gasket that is causing smoke issues as pellets stoves usually bury very clean with little to no smoke unless on a startup cycle.. How close is your fresh air intake to the exhaust?
If your smelling smoke its either not burning efficient and smoke is trickling up though the heat exchanger, or you have a leak on the exhaust side of things. Know anyone with a fog machine or any place to purchase a smoke generator you can light and toss in the burn pot and close the door. Then you will visually see the leaks, empty your hopper out and turn it on so the fans are running and it should tell you pretty quick where the leak is

I started out with my exhaust straight out the back, then after having smoke, I elevated it above the roofline, and the smoke situation didn't change. I spent a lot of time behind the stove with a flashlight looking for wisps of smoke on startup, but could never see anything. But the burning throat and eyes is pretty telling. No burning sensation in that room when the stove is off, but burning sensation when it is on.

I do not know anyone with a fog machine, but I had that thought. Maybe a smoke bomb made for flushing groundhogs out of their holes????

The interior of the stove is covered in thick black creosote. I just replaced the combustion fan motor and blade, but don't have the burnpot cleaned up yet, so I can't turn the stove on yet. Hopefully the combustion fan from 2008 was the main culprit this whole time...

 

[zrock]

I started out with my exhaust straight out the back, then after having smoke, I elevated it above the roofline, and the smoke situation didn't change. I spent a lot of time behind the stove with a flashlight looking for wisps of smoke on startup, but could never see anything. But the burning throat and eyes is pretty telling. No burning sensation in that room when the stove is off, but burning sensation when it is on.

I do not know anyone with a fog machine, but I had that thought. Maybe a smoke bomb made for flushing groundhogs out of their holes????

The interior of the stove is covered in thick black creosote. I just replaced the combustion fan motor and blade, but don't have the burnpot cleaned up yet, so I can't turn the stove on yet. Hopefully the combustion fan from 2008 was the main culprit this whole time...

THey make smoke bombs for this type of thing.. Should post some pic's of the rest of your setup..

Do you have smoke detectors and a CO detector in your home? One or the other should be going off if their is smoke in the house

 

[rickwai]

The source of the leak is somewhere between the tail pice and where the pipe exits through the wall. From the front door to the combustion fan is under a vacuum. Smoke can not leak out, if a gasket was bad it would suck fresh air in. Post some pics of your piping set up and a pic of your pipe connected to the tail piece