Smoky smell from pellet stove

[Crys]

Hey guys, hoping this is the right place to post. I own a quadrafire pellet stove which I haven't been using now for about a month due to the warmer weather here. Anyway, I come home today and I started to get a really smoky smell from the pellet stove, when it hadn't been burning? Does anyone know what this might be?

 

[begreen]

Could be negative pressure pulling air through the stove. Is this in the basement or lowest part of the house? Is there a whole attic fan running?

 

[heat seeker]

Have you give the stove its summer thorough cleaning?

 

[johneh]

Downdraft from the chimney?
I take it there is no OAK?

 

[Crys]

Hey, thanks for the reply. The pellet stove is on the main level, there is a basement below. We have an attic but there isn't a fan running.

 

[Crys]

Hey, I hadn't yet as there were a few nights with a frost advisory but it didn't click on the stove. After I smelled it I vacuumed out the inside of the stove and the ash pan. It seems to have dissipated today. Just seems so strange as I've had this stove for 4 years now and this is the first time I've ever smelled that in the off season.

 

[Crys]

No oak. I'm assuming the downdraft may be the case?? It just seems odd as it is the first time I've ever smelled that and I've had the stove for 4 years. Would that mean there could be a leak in my gasket?

 

[begreen]

Do you have a high powered kitchen fan? Or were multiple exhaust appliances running at the time (dryer, bath and kitchen fans)?

 

[Crys]

No other exhaust fans were running at the time. Apparently the person at a local shop said there is probably some creosote build up in the flu and with the humidity we've been having (we're in the middle of a heat wave) it could be sweating? Does this sound right? I cleaned the flu in mid January. And we've had summers like this before and I've never smelled it before.